Thursday, September 1, 2011

Madeleine L'Engle on Ideas

(excerpt from The Literary Ladies)

"...I am somewhat like a French peasant cook. there are several pots on the back of the stove, and as I go by during the day's work, I drop a carrot in one, an onion in another, a chunk of meat in another. When it comes time to prepare the meal, I take the pot which is nearly full and bring it to the front of the stove.
So it is with writing."

What do you do with the ideas that come to you? Do you have more than one story brewing on the back burner?
I tried to have a notebook specifically for my ideas when they came along. But I didn't carry it everywhere so my ideas are in one story's notebook or on the little pad of paper in my black purse or on the restaurant napkin in the butterfly purse. When I'm ready to put the whole story together, I usually glance through my notebooks and purses to find my ideas. I've come to enjoy my time spent searching for tidbits. It's almost like searching for gold; even a little nugget is worth it's weight or wait. :)

Are you more organized than me? Do you have any tips on keeping ideas or on how to come up with ideas?

2 comments:

Scott said...

I have a folder on my computer for ideas (backed up, of course). One problem, though, is ideas are best dealt with when they are new. If I go back to them in a few years, they don't always make sense and I wonder how I ever thought the idea was worth writing down. It takes so long for me to write anything that any new ideas are destined to go stale.

Taffy said...

I agree, Scott! I glanced at my folder the other day and didn't connect with the ideas I wrote down.