A Familiar Scenario?

If you’re like most writers, ideas pop into your head at the most inopportune times:

• while you’re standing in line at the bank
• when you’re driving to work
• just as you’re falling asleep

No worries. Here are a few tips that will help you remember those ideas before they disappear into Lost-Idea Netherland.

Tip 1: Set up a text file or app on your computer, or join an online website that allows you to keep notes.

Important: Don’t create enigmatic notes that won’t mean anything to you when you access them at a later date. Some apps and websites used by authors include:

• Evernote
• Google Docs
• Google Keep
• Index Card
• Pocket
• Scrivener

Tip 2: Maintain a supply of sticky notes in your bathroom, kitchen, living room, desk, purse, pocket, glove compartment … Collect the notes periodically and add them to your text file or app.

Tip 3: Text or email yourself. Anywhere you can access a cellphone, you can send yourself a text message.

Don’t text while driving.

Tip 4: Ask your smartphone to take a note. With Apple IOS 8 and higher, you can activate Siri by saying, “Hey, Siri.”

Enable in Settings: Siri: Allow “Hey Siri.”

To record, say, “Hey, Siri” and ask her to “Take a note.” Dictate your story idea. She’ll record it in your Notes app.

Other smartphones offer similar virtual assistants or apps.

Tip 5: Remember your dreams. Some of the best stories started with dreams:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Misery by Stephen King

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron

Stuart Little by E. B. White

Twelve Stories and a Dream by H.G. Wells

A dream may haunt you for a few moments, but its memory usually disappears faster than an ice cube on a hot griddle.

If you’re not sharing a bed with someone, you can turn on the light and scribble your idea on a sticky note — you do have a stash next to the bed, right?

If you’re not alone in bed, you might resist the urge to record your idea because turning on the light might wake your partner.

I’ll remember the dream when I wake up in the morn …

Morning dawns.

Now, what was that dream? … Uh … Nope, it’s gone.

Tsk-tsk.

No need for this scenario.

While you still remember your dream, go into the bathroom and grab a sticky note.

Don’t want to turn on the light? Whisper your idea into a mini voice recorder. You’ll find them at online retailers like Amazon.

Tip 6: Try the old-fashioned way. A mini memo pen will fit into a pocket or purse. Some writers prefer memos to sticky notes. This is another item available at online retailers.