….and this is a terrifying prospect.
I have never in my life had nothing to say.
I have opinions on everything!
Normally when I want to write I can sit down, look around the room, spot a paper clip/mould/cheese/turnip and start tip-tap-typing away and rattle out a book on the subject.
I have this fear.
During the last few years, I’ve had lots of ideas and when I have the idea I think “Wow, what a great idea! I must commit this to memory, ponder a while and then turn out some excellent prose inspired by said idea!” (I’m very, very formal in my head.)
I wish I could be formal(er) in real life, but you can’t do that with a Dublin accent or you’re a ‘spa’. (look it up, non-Irelanders!). Like if I had my way, I would use words like “marvellous” and “wretched” in everyday speakings, as well as phrases such as “simply awful” and “delightfully splendid”.
But that’s another story.
Back to my theory.
So yes, I’ve been having lovely good ideas for stories and blog posts, but since I have the memory of an inflicted-with-dementia goldfish, 98% of these ideas float away, never to be idea-ed again!
And my theory: what if all the good writing ideas I’m supposed to have in my life all came in the last few years? What if I was supposed to save and use them then and now my store has dried up and my creative organ is now menopausal?
Quelle horreur!!!!!
It is quite possible that the higher powers bestowed the wonderous gift of literary creativity on me, but wanted to be sure I was worthy of the bestowal: if I used the gift they gave me during that time, then I would be given it for life but because I dwindled it all away and took it for granted, it’s been snatched from my grasp!!!!
This makes me sad.
And totally messes up The Novel dream…. *sigh*
A Chick Named Hermia 
Nah I don’t think that is the case. The best ideas surprise you and if you, like me, stress over ‘The Good Idea’ then it’ll never arrive. After all JK Rowling’s Harry Potter idea ‘fell into’ her head on the train one day and Stephanie Meyer’s idea came to her in a dream.
For the former I think that’s a bunch of crap because most of the HP universe is plagerised and for the latter that’s a lot of balls because that story has been done but I’m on a slippery slope to Tangent Town.
In short – keep the faith. It will happen. The fact you are able to churn out a post at all means you haven’t got Blank Page Disease just yet.
I’ll write your Novel if you write mine?
Ah now here… Dramatic, much? 😛
Catherine. YOU NEED A NOTEBOOK. Moleskine do teeny weeny ones you can slip easily into your pocket and then nick one of those tiny Argos pens. Bingo! All your wonderful ideas in one place.
You’re not alone! I have the same fear. During college and for a few years after, I wrote like mad, and had genius ideas, and was constantly jotting new ideas down in notebooks, but now – nada. I feel like I have nothing to write about. I think at times like these, all I can do is go out and experience new things, because doing something unusual often spurs me on to write.
I think all writers have this fear, especially if you have head like a sieve (like moi!) so what i do is i keep
a] a small notebook (like a tiny journalist notebook) and pen in my bags so i always have something on hand (problem here is i end up a] never looking at them again b] end up losing them c] write one idea connected to novel on one and then rest of idea on the other lol).
b] i have a nokia phone and use the reminders function on calender yoke to type in any ideas that pop into my head. V. Useful cause you even have date when thought occurred to you and its all in one place.
Although i’ve gone through Writer’s block for past 8 months, i don’t think we ever stop having good ideas and like WR said, you won’t let the really excellent ideas go. Life breeds experience, and experience breeds ideas – IMO the longer you live/more experience you have – the more your mind becomes a perculator of ideas. So IMO you have lots more ideas on the horizon
My most recent idea for a book has been festering for past year. I had idea for short story the last time it snowed (jan 2009 i think) – wrote crap short story down. Fast forward a year and i’ve think i’ve got something now but the concept has changed loads over past year from the original short story, it was only when i relaxed and stop worrying over the idea that it came to me.
A moleskine, a cup of good coffee, maybe a cigarette…?
I think it will be fine!
I think about this all the time, similar to the times when I wonder how there could ever be more songs to be made – won’t people eventually just start writing the same chords?! Is music gonna run out?!
ahh writers block
but really that is hard to read, ive only been reading this blog gfor a while now but still the ideas keep on rolling.
How bout a note book for you handbag?