Where does the inspiration for my writing come? Quite a few of my articles popped into my head while I was in the shower or the tub. The trick is to get these ideas into the computer quickly before they fall back out of my brain. These are the articles that seem to write themselves and I am just here to get the words typed as fast as they come. These are usually my funniest articles, and they tend to get the most traffic.

When I get these ideas in my brain, but I can’t use the computer, I write them down on bits of paper. I try to gather these bit of paper (or napkins, if that was all I had at the moment) and store them in a basket beside the computer. Then every now and then I dig through the bits of paper in the basket in hopes that something I have scribbled will make sense and turn into an article. Writing by hand is a skill that I took for granted for the first twenty or thirty years of my life (except for the first five or six years of course – I wasn’t born with the obsession to write, but it came very early). Now with Parkinson’s, my handwriting is usually illegible and takes a great deal of effort. It has been an amazing answer to prayer that my ability to type has returned. PD has also granted me more time for writing than I have ever had in my life. I used to also be obsessed with reading, but a side effect of the medication is that I usually can’t concentrate enough to read books. It is very weird, though that I can read from a computer screen without this problem.

One of the techniques that professional writers and screen play authors often use that has rarely worked for me is to take one of my articles that did very well and try to create something similar, or a sequel. My best Triond submission ever was a very short story illustrated with photos I took of my cat and my neighbour’s dogs – The difference between Dogs and Cats.  I have tried to duplicate that success with articles like Hey You, Human – I Want Out  but it just didn’t get the same response.

Some of my articles have required a fair bit of research, so that it sounds like I know what I am talking about. My articles on Christianity fall into this category. When composing these articles, I have my online Bible on a second monitor, and print Bibles and resource books piled up all around me. You can access free online Bibles and resource material at Christianity.com or at Crosswalk.com. These two sites are packed with resources, Christian music of all genres, devotionals, links, chat rooms, forums, and all kinds of good stuff.

The online Bibles have not replaced my print Bibles. Online versions are great for finding verses that you only half remember. The limitation, however, is that you have to know a few of the exact words in the verse. On Christianity.com you are able to search through all the English translations at once (plus Hebrew, Greek, and Latin versions if you prefer)  at Crosswalk.com you can only see one translation at a time. but I find that Crosswalk.com is a bit more user friendly for people like me who are hopelessly behind in the skills of computer navigation. To find verses when I can’t remember an exact phrase, I still have to flip through the pages of a print Bible.

I often get writer’s block, and then writing is a slow and excruciating process. It’s like I have to dig through the gray matter in my brain to pull the words out. These are the times when it is better for me to read other people’s work, or spend some time in the forum to try to get the juices flowing again.

Today, for example, I had no idea what I was going to write before I started. This article is the product of stream of consciousness writing, so I hope that you didn’t find it too boring and rambling. Sometimes my rambling thoughts are way more humorous than this one, so I recommend reading:

Finally got the computer to myself   

My brain won’t work today

Writer’s Block

 My 50th Triond Article