Sidetracked

It seems that I just can't seem to sit down and write anything of any substance lately. Actually, I'm finding it difficult to even sit down at all. All of my time has been consumed by so many other things that writing has been difficult to do. I won't go so far as to suggest that the creative process has gone away with my spare time, but it has been compromised. Several times lately I have found myself brainstorming while engaged in these other all-consuming activities and wishing that I could stop right there and expand on that train of thought. The only problem is that the train won't stop moving. If I'm on the highway, I can't very well pull over to the side of the road and start writing something. With gas prices such as they are I'm not trying to do anything that will adversely effect my car's fuel efficiency. I've tried to say things out loud or even try to link the brainstorm to key phrases or happenings that may help me to trigger the memory when I am in a place where I can write, but it hasn't helped much. Most of the time when I stop to play catch-up, the S.S. Creativity has sailed. The train has already left the station.

I've managed to jot down a few random notes on the back of envelopes and spare receipts or whatever else might be within arms reach when I am inspired. Unfortunately, most of these have been stashed as hap-hazardly as the manner in which they were collected and few have been revisited. I haven't been terribly successful attempting to do this while operating a motor vehicle thus far, and as fate would have it this is when many ideas come (and subsequently go) as I am half listening to whatever is coming out of the speakers of my radio. On the bright side, I've had several musical inspirations born in this fashion and if they ever make it to print they should be pretty good. Don't tell anyone, but I've scrawled out some barely legible notes while driving through traffic. What I need is some sort of recording device to capture my thoughts. However, I'd be afraid to feel the pressure of this think-tank on wheels and might be disappointed in myself if I rode from point A to point B in complete silence. Besides, the typing and erasing, the re-reading and adjusting, along with the perusals of the online thesaurus and an occasional waltz through wikipedia have become part of my creative flow. Not being "connected" makes that a bit more challenging.

On more than one occasion I've engaged a friend in a topic that I wished to write about if for no other reason than to test a theory or to gain another perspective to be included when I actually got down to the business of writing. I worry that they can tell though. I don't want to be in the practice of interviewing my friends. Well, maybe it is good practice sometimes, but I'd rather just have a comfortably flowing conversation. This hobby is becoming a little more complicated than I had imagined it could or would be. Actually, I can't really recall having imagined anything about it at all. I just wrote. I had some time, and I wrote. Maybe there's something to the whole time thing. It appears to be as curiously essential to this whole process as anything else.