Writing during Seminars and Meetings

by Kay

Part of my job involves meetings and seminars, especially that we are now in job interview season. So I might be taking dual notes, one set to keep me focused and a second running set of ideas for a story.

I also write in the car. There wasn't much traffic in most of New Mexico when I did that, but I had to give it up in Alaska. Not enough of a shoulder and it was bumpy enough to render my journal unreadable. These days I'm more likely to pull off the road and write a note, but I have set off the horn more than once. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

QOTW: Writing on the sly

Debbie writes: Have you ever found yourself furtively jotting down an idea or phrase when you were supposedly doing something else?
Ruth answers: Often. I can't help it; I've been doing it since I was a kid. Today there's even more reason because my Ellie McDoodle books are full of games, jokes, pranks, trivia and require a lot of research. I keep my writer ears on all the time, and if I hear or think of something that turns into something that might someday be useful, I write it down fast.
And even if it won't be useful in an Ellie book, maybe it'll become part of another story.
I keep a notebook on the car seat next to me and can write without looking, thanks to frequent practice writing in the dark, in bed. (Note to April: Try Post-It notes on the steering wheel. No need to hold them in place while you scribble at traffic lights ;)
The most egregious intrusion of my writer self into my personal life is when I'm tucking my kid into bed. As soon as I kiss her goodnight the last time for the night, I run to collect all the gold I've just mined and stash it in a notebook.

How to Drive & Write by April

Furtive Writing

I'm the Queen of Post-Its, but also of napkin-writing and hand-writing and up-my-arm writing; whatever is available, really, and whenever -and wherever- I can. This includes while I'm driving. Yes, that's my dirty little secret (and now yours, too). I grab paper from my purse, from a tiny notebook which has been used by my children, whose squiggles I must write around, or yank a napkin from the passenger side glove compartment --the reach itself is pretty treacherous, but what I do next may make the weaker-hearted of you not wish to read on.
While handling the driver's wheel with my knees, I pinion the paper to the horn with one hand, hold a pen cap in my teeth, and jot down notes, dividing my "eye time" equally between paper and that yellow line. All while hurtling down the road in a thousand pounds of metal.

And yes, I've accidentally honked the horn during particular moments of eureka euphoria.

Coming to you from Under The Teacher's Desk

By Lori

Probably the most guilty pleasure of my job as a substitute teacher is snatching a moment to jot notes during the school day. This is not so easy to do, unless the kids happen to go to gym or music. But, occasionally, I do it when the students are still in the room because I'm afraid I will forget. It seems a little naughty, but I do have justification.

One of the reasons I sub is because schools are a veritable story minefield. I'm a kid in a candy store (an author in a story store?), and I'm only a sub, which means I have time to allow the seeds to plant themselves in my brain. Instead of going home to grade papers, plan tomorrow's lessons, take parent phone calls, do parent teacher conferences, have curriculum meetings. . . .and on and on and on, I can go home and write away.

"What are you doing Mrs. Van Hoesen?" A student said, catching me in the act one day not long ago. He was done with his work and came to look over my shoulder. I wasn't grading papers, that much was clear to him.

"Um, well, just writing down some ideas."

"For what?"

"Stories. :o)"

"OH! Mrs. Van Hoesen is writing more stories!" he announced to the class. "Maybe if we're good she'll tell us one."

And so, really, even though I sometimes feel a little sneaky, it all comes full circle in the end.

Question of the Week: Writing on the Sly

Ideas often come to writers at unexpected times, a writer-reality that gives us this week's Question of the Week for Write Brainers:

Have you ever found yourself furtively jotting down an idea or phrase when you were supposedly doing something else?

Readers of Write Brainers, feel free to share your own furtive writing confessions in the comments section.