JOT Thoughts When They're HOT

Saul Bellow said, "I never had to change a word of what I got up in the middle of the night to write." Agreed. This was the only thing our Maui Writers Conference authors agreed on.

Terry Brooks would take the stage and say, "You have to use an outline." Terry McMillan would say, "I never use an outline." Frank McCourt would suggest, "You have to write first thing in the morning." Dave Barry would confess, "I'm a night owl."

They all agreed on one thing though.

INK IT WHEN YOU THINK IT.

We make our living from our mind.

Our life is our lab.

When we're out and about, we notice things and think, "I've got to remember that."

But if we don't write it down, it's gone, perhaps forever.

That's why we've got to jot thoughts when they're hot.

National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones is a walking-talking example of the importance of this. We were enjoying a walk/talk on a Maui beach the day before his opening keynote for MWC. All of a sudden, he stopped, whipped out a little notebook and pen from his pocket, and scribbled something down. We continued walking and a few minutes later, he did the sane thing. I was curious, “Dewitt, what are you doing?”

He said, “Sam, I used to get a good idea, and think, 'That should go in my presentation' or 'I want to mention that in my magazine column', but then I'd get busy and forget all about it. So, now I write everything down so it's waiting for me when I'm ready for it." Smart man.

Anyone who knows me knows I always carry a notebook with me. The moment I get a "dot thought," (more about that here), I jot it down.

And if someone around me says something compelling, I tell them to jot it down.

If we don't, the muse gets ticked. She thinks, "I'm sending you gold here and you don't value it enough to write it down? I'm outa here."

We don't have to understand where these "dot thoughts" come from. We may not know when, where ow how we'll use them. It's just that recording them in the moment is a way to keep the faucet of flow flowing.

Some of our greatest poets and philosophers have paid homage to the power of doing this.

Mary Oliver said, "To pay attention is our endless and proper work."

Ralph Waldo Emerson suggested we "watch the gleams of light which flash across the mind from within."

It's not enough to watch those gleams of light, we've got to capture them.

After all, they don't call them fleeting thoughts for nothing.

Joni Mitchell was a real fan of "inking it when you think it."

Her friend David Crosby said something interesting, and later that day she asked him to repeat it. He couldn't. She got upset, "If you don't write it down, it didn't happen."

You may be thinking, "I agree with this. But how do I know what to write down?"

If something gets your eyebrows up, it means imagination is knocking on your mental door.

It's worth noting these aha's that "come to your attention" because they're original enough to break through your mental filter. That means they're not same-old, same-old. They're fresh.

When you honor these AHA's, you tap into the zeitgeist.

Your writing becomes even more relevant, more eloquent, more transcendent.

Because you're not doing it alone, you're partnering with what wants to be said.

P.S. Want another way to capture thoughts when they're hot? Check out the free Otter.ai app which gives an instant voice recording and written transcript of what you say.

Many clients tell me this they used to feel they didn't have time to write.

I told them, "Let's reframe that. You have time to think. And that's all writing is. You THINK it up first, then you get it down on paper and the screen. The THINKING is as important as the WRITING."

Now when my clients go for a walk, or an idea occurs to them, or they get an insight in the middle of the night, they just turn on Otter.ai and start talking. Voila. It's a godsend to have a easy, quick way to capture insights while your mind is alive with them.

(And no, I'm not on commission, although I wish I was because I've recommended Otter.ai to so many people.:-)

Margaret Atwood said, "If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word."

She's right. It's time to stop waiting for perfection and start recording thoughts the moment they occur. When we "muse in the moment," we experience Anne Morrow Lindbergh's epiphany, "Writing is more than living, it is being conscious of living." Hear, hear. Here, here.

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Want Sam Horn's top 10 Do's and Don'ts on writing? Find them here.