I’ve been blogging all my life, only I didn’t know it.
In my head.
I’ve been writing in my head since I can remember. Essays, stories, songs, thoughts, ideas, how to, inspiration, snippets of life, you name it, it’s written in my head.
Writing in my head sometimes is a curse. It never shuts off. It never stops. I just want my brain to be quiet for a little while. Can I have some peace? No. It doesn’t seem so.
In the shower, driving home, cooking, making the bed, shoveling horse manure, putting away freight, you name it, doesn’t matter what I’m doing, the words always come. Then I have to stop what I’m doing and go write them down so I don’t forget them. If stopping and writing isn’t convenient, which most times it isn’t, I have to try and memorize the words. Often I just let them go. If I remember the words later great, if not, more will come. They may not be exactly the same, but I assure you, they will come.
The thing of it is, though, this writing – the writing in the head – is the best writing. The most amazing sentences and paragraphs happen here. They happen in the head. But as soon as paper and pen or computer and keyboard show up, the greatest words and sentences flit away. How much great writing have I lost? Then again, maybe it wasn’t great. It may have only sounded right because I knew I couldn’t sit down and write it just yet. I didn’t have to make it perfect.
The hardest part about writing in my head is if I’m working on a real writing project. That is when the words in my head are the worst. I will wake up in the middle of the night with the perfect sentence tapping me on the brain. Wakey Wakey. Here I am. Catch me if you can.
I like sleep. I like it a lot. I don’t want to wake up enough to turn on the light and jot down a few words. Do I chase the words? Do I let them go? Do I get up? And write? It’s a toss up. If I don’t get up, I might remember the sentence in the morning, but I might not. Often the words won’t let me fall asleep at all. My mind won’t stop making sentences. They just keep coming.
At some point, I have to ignore them and fall into an exhausted sleep filled with weird dreams. I won’t even try to describe the dreams, for one, I can’t. I don’t remember most of them. They are just odd impressions of people, places, animals, buildings, shapes, or feelings that I can’t identify. A lot of stuff was going on in those dreams. I don’t know any of it. But I feel it.
Go away little words!
The perfect sentence or passage doesn’t only wait for sleep. The words taunt me in the car too. This is their favorite place to appear. My drive to work, depending on conditions, is anywhere from twenty minutes to a half hour, sometimes more. I live in the country. It’s quiet. It’s beautiful. Little traffic. The words and sentences love this time with me, and I love the time with them. I sincerely do. But how do I keep them? Should I keep them? Or do I let them melt away, knowing more will come?
Friends have suggested I use some kind of dictation device and speak the words out loud. I resist this idea vehemently. It doesn’t feel right. I like to type the words or jot them down on little pieces of paper that are cluttered around everywhere. Maybe dictation is a good idea. But stubborn me doesn’t like it. I feel that trying to speak the words and record them would inhibit their natural flow. And as soon as the device comes on, I clam up. I don’t know what to say.
Pulling over on the side of the road to write a few sentences, however, doesn’t always work either. I’m usually cutting it close and don’t have time to stop, and then I get stuck behind a tractor, or I’m driving in snow or ice. When the ice is slick, and your hands are gripping the wheel, when one wrong shift of a tire can send you spinning into the ditch, you don’t pull over for frivolous things such as transferring words from head to paper.
Words in my head.
But the words, the words swirl around in my head, and the writing always sounds better there. I want to capture them exactly as they are. Once I get home where I can actually sit at the computer and write, then the words hang back and hide. They act all shy and don’t want to flow. Little teasers. But I can coax them out again, if I’m not too tired, if I try, if I’m determined to find them. Sometimes the little buggers hide pretty good, though, and I can’t find them. So I turn off the computer and slip happily under the covers and close my tired eyes. I’m ready for a good night’s sleep.
But wait! Words! Sentences. Paragraphs. Passages. Here they are, all peeking at me and poking at me. Write us! Write us! Write us! Turds. Why can’t they leave me alone? I tell them to let me sleep and I’ll write them later. If they were so all fired worried about getting written, they should have shown their little faces earlier when I was ready to write them. But they keep me awake, and I let them run. I have no choice. They are not going away. I’ll drift off eventually while they continue to dance around in my head.
Write me.
Some days work is long and demanding. No energy is left for writing. I have a mantra. “Every day if only a sentence.” So on those long tiring days when all energy, emotional and physical, is spent, I let the one sentence have it’s say. Sometimes, though, more sentences demand to be written, and that’s good, although sleep is delayed, and dragging out of bed in the morning is all the more difficult.
You need to get a voice recorder, you can just hit record, tell your ideas, and move on! You definitely have a knack for writing!
I resist! Lol. It might be what I need though.
Wow, the phrase “writing in my head” really hit home. I have been doing it my whole life as well! Except I don’t feel particularly stressed that I can’t always get the ideas down. That I miss so many. Having them all flowing through and around in my head like a little internal narration of my life makes me happy. 🙂
Awesome Rigel! It only stresses me so much when I’m trying to write on a story or project. Otherwise, it’s like you said, a little narrator in my head, a narrator that never shuts up, always telling stories. lol
But when that perfect sentence or paragraph comes, I gotta stop and write it somewhere, or burn it in my brain. That way It will be there when I need it.
We must be kindred spirits! And I’m glad to hear that someone else still actually writes things down-on paper! 🙂 Great post! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Mrs. SBF! I know! Who writes on paper anymore? I do, and apparently you too. Lol
I feel we should be friends! Like you, in my mind I write the perfect stories. Then when I try to put them in paper, the conflict starts. And by the way, I use paper and pen too, and write in cursive for the sake of it. Anyways, let the writing continue! 🙂
I know Edel! Doesn’t it make you crazy? But write on, because we must.
A born writer for sure! Enjoyed your post
Thank you so much!
Must be the thing for writers, I have been woken many a night with the greatest idea only to lose it at the last second. You have put into words what I have only thought about and made me feel better knowing I am not alone!
You are definitely not alone! We are out here, all of us. Only we can’t say it because the words are stuck somewhere in our heads.
You are definitely not alone! We are out here, all of us. Only we can’t say it because the words are stuck somewhere in our heads.
I feel you. I have never thought about it this way, but I do the exact same thing. We need to start using the record button on the phone!!! Thanks for putting this into words for me.
Oh the phone! Yes. I hadn’t though of using the phone. It still scares me though.