Tip O'Day #25

I got to know Laura Schultz through her role as one of founders/directors of the Writers Etc group on Facebook. She is a writer, a poet, and the most supportive mentor a person could ask for. (I'm not sure she knows I think of her in that way, but the cat's out of the bag now.) She encouraged me to start a discussion thread on Writers Etc and to be a more consistent blogger.

She sent me two tips and the second one will appear in a few weeks. Here's the first:

Several things have been very helpful to me in my writing and I am sure a lot of folks do this, but who knows? I carry a pad w/me at all times -- car, purse etc. -- in case a poem or article idea comes to me. Otherwise I’m liable to lose the idea later.

There is so much truth in that brief paragraph. Writing instructor, novelist and screenwriter Dennis Foley channels Laura when he says that, after age 40, you only get one shot at every new idea. If you don't write it down PDQ, it will be completely lost.