How to collect and store ideas for your writing

Well, I promised I would be back and here I am so let us get down to business. Hands up any of you who have suffered from writer's block. Yes OK, everyone is told to carry around a notebook to record your thoughts and observations but what about this idea, typing them out so you can actually read them. How often have you looked at something a few days later and cannot for the life of you read, let alone recollect what it was about?

The next question is where to store them, create your own book of ideas or diary. I say diary because each idea can be allocated in the month you thought or had that brilliant brainwave for an article or piece of fiction. For a start, buy yourself or acquire second hand, a large ringbinder if you want prefer to be green. Perhaps your workplace is getting rid of their old ones so if they are in reasonably good nick, that means the ring clasps are not strained beyond repair or use, then ask if you can buy them perhaps. Ask if your company has a special charity they support so you can donate a reasonable amount of money in exchange. Now divide your folder into twelve months of the year, label them appropriately, January to December. You can do a separate one for non fiction if you prefer but believe me, you will be surprised how this fills up. Next time you have that wonderful flash of inspiration, jot it down in your little notebook and type it up as soon as you can.

In the Writer's Bureau, the general suggestion amongst many is to look at your newspapers but there are other forms of media as well, even commercials might give you a jolt. Here is an example to perhaps consider perhaps. About ten years, there was a Ski yoghurt commercial featuring young children enjoying the flavour, there was one cute little boy kneeling on the grass in his garden, his mother or father comes out with a yoghurt pot, he is jumping around with joy but my imagination started working, what happened before, there was a look as if he was being compensated for something, had he been unfairly blamed for something he had not done and his parents were saying sorry when it was discovered who the real culprit was, perhaps his older sister. Had the child been through a medical ordeal, had a minor operation or treatment of some kind? What about programmes such as Location Location Location, Escape to the Country, Grand Designs, Property Ladder, the list is endless but observe their behaviour closely. These programmes may pick the worst of people in most people's opinions but human psychology is quite enlightning, ask yourself how you would behave if the house you earned for, fell through for example or your feelings if your decision to build in a certain way did not tally with the estate agents and they gave you a lower assessment in terms of cost or someone objected to your plans to the local authority so you could not do an extension, perhaps there might be an aesthetic reason but maybe your neighbour had been denied the right and he or she is jealous of your plans. There is always an underlying motive - getting the drift? The current situation in Afghanistan with so many mothers, wives and fiances loosing loved ones. While it is painful to see, envisage what might be going on behind the scenes. Again, study human behaviour. Sometimes I am lucky when going into our local town to get a ringside seat in our local car park while I wait for my mother to do her shopping, people come and go, some have children in push chairs or if they are old enough to walk, helping with taking bags out, do the mothers look harrassed, perhaps their husbands are bringing home the boss to entertain in the hope of promotion - you think that does not happen, think again. Imagine what their homes might be like, maybe if it is Christmas or Easter, relatives are coming, children are excited with the prospect of Father Christmas or Easter eggs, depending on the season. Are they docile and co operative or are they harranguing their parents for anorthorized treat, perhaps the parents don't believe in such things for fear of spoiling them on any account. Last night for instance, I was watching Place in the Sun, at Home or the USA. The couple concerned were deciding whether to buy at home or America, they both said that they centred their life around their children. Now whether or not you feel it is right for children to manipulate your minds, that is up to you but that could be the focus for a story or article. Remember what Shakespeare said in As you Like it, 'All the world's a stage and all the people are players' How true this is, whether you are outside in town or watching television, look beyond the actual picture. Remember, even in an art gallery, there is far more in the picture than what you immediately see which is one of the reasons you should never go up to the canvas, you step back.

I hope that this has given some food for thought when you sit down one day and think 'Oh lor' what can I write about today. Next time, I am going to consider collecting information for research and sources to consider - in other words, do not dismiss the humble picture postcard, there is far more than you think!