New ideas.

Yesterday I got 2 new story ideas.  (I know, I know--I should be working on the current story.  But the "idea" part of my brain just won't quit, and I'm really grateful for that...)

When I think of story ideas during the daytime, I don't even write them down.  Instead, I sleep on them.  If I wake up the next morning and can still remember those ideas, and they still seem like strong ideas, then I start working on them more in my head.  If I can't remember them, or if the next day I think they suck, then I abandon them.  Simple as that.  If the idea can't withstand a night of sleep without me forgetting or poo-poohing it, then it wasn't a good or interesting idea in the first place.

But luckily, I woke up feeling awesome about the 2 new ideas, remembering everything I'd thought about them and more.  One idea is for a stand-alone book, the other for a series.  My brain's already on overdrive, developing more details of these ideas.  I'll probably begin a file for each of them today and start jotting down the details.  Not actually writing the stories yet (it's Emerson's time now, you know?)--just gathering details, snippets of character conversation I'm hearing in my head, plot points, etc...  I don't want to lose these little gems while I write Emerson.

One of the most comforting things for me as a writer is never feeling like I'm fresh out of ideas.  Because I never am.  Fresh out of time some days to write them, but never out of ideas.  :)