I'm sure you're wondering what the heck dishes has to do with writing. Let me tell you how I found out how it does relate.
My dishwasher decided to spring a link and so until hubby checks it out I'm washing by hand. In my household this means--in the words of Jimmy Buffett--It's a permanent solution to a temporary situation.
While I have a pile of dishes to wash, I brainstorm. Now this has been going on for most the summer--yes I did say permanent solution--and yet it took we a while to realize that every time I'm there, my brain is working. Whether it's figuring where to edit next. What scene I need work on. Or what scene I'm going to write, my brain is processing.
The other night my husband got up from dinner grabbed a dish towel and helped me. I resented the intrusion. I told him "Oh go watch your sports, I can handle the these." But he was in a helping mood. So we chatted, because you can never tell a husband to get lost when he wants to help. Because if you do, when you really need his help you're not going to get it. However it really surprised me how much I had to force my jaw to relax and let myself enjoy a little quality time with Ron, when what I really wanted was to think.
I find myself looking forward to my time with the dishes. I used to think the shower was the best for brainstorming and ideas. But by the time I dress, feed whatever kids I have at the house, or hubby, do a few housecleaning chores, I've lost whatever thought I had. With the dishes, as soon as I'm done, most the time I can race to the computer.
My problem is getting it down on paper the way it is in my head!
So what is your favorite place to brainstorm?
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My van! It sounds crazy, but I when I started writing~it was in my van during my kids sports practice and then it carried over into school car line. Now that my boys are older and I don't have a car line, I will pull into a parking lot and write away....d
Great post Mary! I love to brainstorm in the car. Not when it's full of crazy loud kids I have to drop off, but on my way back when it's peaceful and quiet.
I also brainstorm while taking a walk, cleaning the house, and taking a shower.
I really think when you sit at your desk and stare at your computer, your mind draws a blank because you're trying too hard. While when you're busy doing other things, the answers come to you because your brain isn't fully focused on just one task.
I call it percolating and when the coffee is ready....so am I!
Me too Tonya. I love when my husband has a turn taking my daughter along to one of our boys practices, so I can go to one of the others and just sit in the car and write.
It's amazing what you can get done when someone isn't constantly saying Mom! And sometimes being home alone has too many distractions. In a car, you're stuck there without much else to do :-)
My muse will brainstorm almost anywhere I can find time for myself - problem is it usually invades my space when I'm doing something else, like reading, or watching a TV show I recorded a week ago and its time to record the next one. Then of course I have the problem of getting it from head to paper.
This is so true. I get the dishes bit, Mary. I have a tendency to do the same thing with laundry. I sort, plop it into the washer, fold the stuff from the dryer and by the time I've done that, ideas rush at me. The problem is---the clothes stack up on the dryer and don't make it into the drawers!
You know both of you are right. I didn't realize it, but now I stay home and write I've replaced driving to work with my dishes. LOL
All the way to work my mind would always be busy with stories. I do miss that. Not work though.
For me, I have to be horizontal. If I'm stuck on a scene or plotting ahead, it's usually that time right before I fall asleep (nap included) that the best ideas come to me.
As for the car, I have a favorite story about that. When I was writing my first sex scene in my very first story ever, I just couldn't get it. I tried everything suggested - candlelight dinner, lingerie, even naughty movies - with no success. I was just about to give up. One Saturday morning I had to take my daughter to the orthodontist for a quick braces adjustment (I thought) and I grabbed my writing pad on the way out the door. Now you have to know I am not a morning girl who wakes up beautiful, I have to work at it (LOL.) So I stayed in the car rather than let anyone see me with no makeup or hairdo. ("You're So Vain" is playing in my head right now.)
Her five second appointment turned into a forty-five minute ordeal. Mind you, I live in Texas and this was August when the thermometer sometimes is still 99 or higher in the morning.
Guess what? I was drenched in sweat but I had written the best sex secene I have ever written - bar none. Go figure.
Great thought-provoking post, Mary.
And for the record, my hubby does the dishes every night while I put things away and wipe the tables. I've trained him well.
Liz, that is a great story about the sex scene! But for your ideas before sleep, I can never remember what I was dreaming right before sleep though. It's good I'm not that way.
Cassy, my hubby does the laundry, I've trained him as Liz would say 'well'!
Mary Ellen, I'm like you I can brainstorm and come up with fantastic ideas and then when I'm in front of the computer my brain freezes or something.
I'm big about brainstorming in the car. Luckily, there are stoplights I - thankfully - get caught at so I can quickly jot down notes. Yeah, I hate those same stoplights when I'm not brainstorming, oh, and when the lights stay green when I'm brainstorming. I'm also a shower brainstormer as well.
S
Guess I'm not the only one who finds the car best for brainstorming. I have an app on my cell phone that turns it into a recorder so I can dictate if I have to.
The other place that's good for me to brainstorm is when I go to sleep. As a drift off into nothingness I'm able to easily work through a hard scene.
Oh, and Liz, we all know why you were 'drenched with' sweat.
Folks: Pasted below is Doug Lyle's comments for yesterday. It turns out he was traveling and couldn't get Internet access. That's something I can totally relate to. But, here he is.
Doug:
Sorry to be tardy in replying but I was traveling yesterday. I'm up in Corte Madera for the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. Thanks to everyone for all your kind words.
Liz--No I won't be at Crime Bake--never been but I hear it is very good. As for books, it depends. The Dummies book is fun and easy and the Howdunnit book is like Dummies on steroids---covers things much more deeply and has more forensic history. The two Q&A books are fun and should hopefully help writers generate new stories. That's the hope anyway. I've signed a contract for a new Q&A book that is due next June. Not sure when it will be published yet.
And some other news--you heard it first here--I just finished hammering out a deal to write two novels for Royal Pains---the USA TV series. The first will be out next June and the second toward the end of the year.
Again, thanks for all your comments.
Doug
Mary, I've been doing dishes by hand for years, and I like how it lets my mind go off and do its own thing!
I always say a lot of my writing involves staring out the window, and standing there washing the dishes lets me do just that! :)
Donna,
I have a pile right now so I'll be staring out the window for a while. Wish me happy brainstorming! I need it.
Thanks for all the comments guys!
I just finished my dishes from late last night. Got nothing.
The best place to brainstorm is in the car on a long commute, I think.
Hi Ladies (and visiting gents),
Sorry I'm so darned late but I've just had a long, fun, action packed day and I'm finally winding down. Didn't write a single word.
Well except a couple of very important emails.
I confess, I do some great thinking while my hubby does dishes and laundry! ha ha It's true. Honest.(And fair because I do all the driving in the family).
But I do my best brainstorming horizontal, while a man, a dog and a cat all snore.
Waking up too many mornings, having lost that 'fabulous line' that was there in my pea brain before I fell asleep taught me the value of a notebook open with a pen on it at my bedside. Often writing in the dark, by feel, using a whole page for a couple of sentences in block letters works.
... getting ready to call it a day... a really great day!
cheers
kathy
Kathy, Since I also do horizontal plotting, my daughter bought me a gadget that has a note pad and a pen at the tip. When you pull out the pen, it lights up. It is too cool and great for middle of the night "ah ha" moments.
Wipe that grin off your face and edit!!!!!LOL
nuh uh, that grin's not going anywhere for a while. Won't get in the way of editing at all.!
Gotta find me one of those nifty bedside gadgets.
night.
K.
Liz,
I had a good night editing. Got a little over 3 pages done which puts me at the half way point. And I didn't have to use any fancy glow in the dark pen either.
Thanks for all of your thoughts on brainstorming. Very interesting to hear.
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