Nine Minutes

 Bright and early this morning, inspiration struck. The idea was good, I'll use it in a story later, but what's important is the realization that came with it. I discovered the nine most important minutes of my creative endeavors.

I have my alarm clock set for 6:30 AM, which I know will allow me to hit the snooze button once and leave me plenty of time to get ready and go to work. I tend to lay there with my eyes closed in a semi-conscious state. I suspect most folks both understand and appreciate that concept. 

More often than not, however, some kind of idea creeps out of my subconscious. It might be large, like a whole subplot to a story. It might be small, like a phrase a particular character might use. In either case, I have a notebook next to my box of Kleenex to write down whatever pops out. I will confess that later, when I have to read my half-asleep writing, I struggle to make out my own writing, but at least it's on paper.

The beauty (or tortuous bit of my reality) is that I'm planning a 17-book series, which will A) span the globe and B) take the rest of my natural life. So there are a million places for me to use an idea. If I'm lucky, my brain also tells me where it should go. If not, I have a document full of ideas, phrases, descriptions, characters, plots, and the like. 

I knew that I got ideas when my mind is in neutral, like monotonous tasks at work. Heck, I even found validation from the great Agatha Christie, but I don't think I ever fully appreciated the power of the subconscious. I have found a crazy number of ideas there. I'm not sure why it took me so long to appreciate this fact, but here we are.

In honor of my newfound wisdom, I think it's time for a nap, er, idea generation session.