Jotting down words when off the clock.

Once, a long time ago on a message board very much like this one, Fenian wrote that he keeps a legal pad on his nightstand in case a word or sentence, phrase or paragraph came to mind.

And to be honest, I cribbed the man's idea and it has helped tremendously. There will be times that I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a word or thought in mind and I'll immediately jot it down.

I was wondering what other people here do. Do you keep a pad on you at all times? Do you text yourself thoughts (starting to do that) for future reference? E-mail yourself sentences?

Or am I just out of my gourd?

 

If I'm on a computer and a phrase or word really screams at me, I'll probably type something up. Usually though, I insist on having paper and something to write with.

I've probably bought more pads of paper and notebooks than anyone else I can think of.

 

I don't keep one by the bed, but if I get a thought or an idea, i'll scribble it on a notepad or e-mail it to work. I have a notepad with me pretty much all the time and use the time travelling to work on the bus to sometimes scribble an idea or a chunk of a column

 

Do it. Then, kill your darlings. Or, to save time, think of them but don't write them down.

 

Why kill them?

 

Sometimes I talk into my voice recorder, even coming up with ledes on the drive back to the office. One time I even did a column just speaking my thoughts into the recorder.

 

When I'm at home, early in the morning or late at night, and a story idea comes to me, I'll email it to myself.

I'll do the same with better sentences for features I have on the go saved on my work computer.

I used to read all kinds of newspapers when I had more time. I'd keep a file on my desktop and add words or phrases I liked. It was good for the vocabulary.