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What Happens in My Shower, Stays in My Shower

Posted on March 8th, 2010 in Writing by Karen Gross
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Washed down the drain, never to cross my mind again.

Ideas. Writing ideas, mostly. What did you think this article was going to be about?

I’ve been chatting with a few other Triond writers about where our ideas come from. The most common answer was: “In the shower or while taking a bath.”

It was funny to find out that so many other writers had the same experience that I do. When I get into the shower, and the water starts flowing, the writing ideas start flowing as well. Clever outlines spring into motion, three point editorials complete with keywords that form acronyms or alliterations.  Entire articles arrive almost precomposed; plots of short stories and even novels swim through my brain, and I can’t wait to dry off and get dressed and get back to my computer to get the ideas from my brain transferred into words. A couple of times I have realized that I forgot to condition my hair, my brain was too busy.

You know what’s coming next. I get to the computer, and the words are gone. All the plot lines, chapter titles, characters, metaphors, even the clever acronyms and alliterations are all gone. Where do they go? Do they get washed out of my brain with the shampoo and rinsed down the drain?

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So I tried an experiment. I put a notepad and pen on a stool beside the tub, ready to write down the thoughts as they come. The results surprised me. My shower took extra long because I stopped the water so often to dry my hands to write.

The end result of this experiment was a soggy notepad with five pages of barely legible writing. It was such a great experience that I think I should try this more often. I only lost one thought in the time it took me to turn off the water and dry my hands. That thought must have bounced around the bathroom for about two days and just bounced back into my brain this morning. Turns out it wasn’t a story idea after all, just a thought that I have to remind my daughter to stop leaving wet towels on the floor of her room.

The ideas that I did write down were actually pretty good. Not quite as profound as I thought my shower ideas were, but I think I’ll get at least three articles out of them. I also thought of a good spring break idea. I’m going to make up a scavenger hunt for the kids – get them to go through the basement and the living room and see if they can each find 2 soda cans, 3 plastic wrappers, and 5 dirty dishes that may or may not have fuzzy stuff growing on them. Think they’ll go for it?

 

 

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