Making the Most of Inspiration

I apologize for my absence.  Life, as usual, seems to get in the way and magically make time disappear with a poof!

While I haven't been blogging much, I have been writing some.  I was pretty stagnant for a while dealing with various activities and life happenings.  And then, one night, inspiration struck.  Typically, I would just continue to lie there, tossing and turning, too tired and lazy to get up and make some notes on what popped into my head. Because, of course, it was such a great idea that I would no doubt remember it in the morning, right???  I am guessing you can all relate to that idea.  I don't know about you, but, more often than not, that wonderful idea is but a distant memory come morning with no ability to recall the specifics or ideal title I just knew I would remember.

This time, however, I leapt from bed to write down my title (which is still my working title, and I love it), so I wouldn't forget.  I crept quietly back to bed so as not to wake anyone only to spring from the covers once again as ideas started pouring and the story started to unfold begging to be written.  IT WAS FUN!  It has been a long time since I've been this excited about a WIP, and I know it helped that I had no pressure to make it any certain level of greatness.  I just wrote and shaped my story from the ideas that flowed.  I am learning to (or trying to!) ignore the pressures and self expectations to have my first drafts be great from the get go and just write, butt in chair.  Revising and editing can come later; hence, the quote above is my new mantra.   I certainly don't write well every day (maybe any day, for that matter), but it sure does help to have words to work with rather than a blank page staring back at me.

I'd love to hear about your writing process when ideas come knocking!