The Vault

I think this post will serve as a good counterpoint to my last one, which saw me feeling somewhat discouraged but ready to plug ahead at my own pace, once that pace revealed itself. It did just that a couple of weeks ago.

I was having a conversation that somehow meandered its way into writing. Some brainstorming ideas were tossed around, somewhat jokingly at first, but a few things stuck. I started getting that feeling that one of those ideas was coming to life a little stronger than the others, so I rode with it for a few days. 

Like so many other writers, I have a Vault. That place we keep the ideas that we might be able to use someday. Maybe they don't feel right for what we're working on at the time, but maybe someday they'll come in handy. It's probably more accurate to say I have three vaults: A mental one up in the old noggin, a digital one spread out over at least three hard drives, and a physical one made up of two big cardboard boxes kept in my office. These boxes contain notes and stories and doodlings and lists I decided at some point not to throw away. Some of them go back decades. 

I spent an evening digging those vault boxes, and found a puzzle piece that clicked right into place with all the other loose pieces rattling around in my head. From there, I thought back to a moment about a year ago when I noticed some details about a landmark I know well that made me curious. 

Soon a story was putting itself together. I started coming up with random character points and lines, and collecting notes on my phone to keep from forgetting them. Before I realized it had happened, I had a rough outline put together, including an ending. 

The message of today's lesson? Respect the vault. Keep the notes. Write things down, somewhere. You never know when that random idea will come in handy.