Seize your writing Ideas by the ‘tail’ before they escape

Capturing your ideas when they strike is essential for anyone who takes their writing seriously.

It’s not just about remembering an idea; it’s about seizing it at the moment it’s most potent.

To understand the full depth of this, I always remind myself od this inspiring story of the American poet Ruth Stone, as highlighted in Elizabeth Gilbert’s insightful book, Big Magic.

Stone depicted her creative process in an extraordinarily vivid manner. Amidst her work on a rural Virginia farm, she often felt a poem thundering toward her, much like a wild horse galloping across the plains, untamed and uncontrollable.

Imagine the scene: Stone, feeling the surge of inspiration, would have to dash, matching pace with the incoming poem.

Her goal?

To reach a piece of paper and a pencil before the poem stormed past her, leaving her in its creative dust. If she wasn’t quick enough, the poem would simply roar through her and dissipate, perhaps to find another, readier poet.

But when she did manage to catch a poem “by the tail,” the scene changed. She’d almost physically pull it back into her, transcribing the words onto the page in a reverse sequence — from the last word to the first.

I could almost imagine the sigh of relief she uttered as the last captured word was written.