One of the (many) curses of being a writer is that one never knows when the subconscious is going to toss an idea up to the conscious that the conscious thinks might work in its current writing project. It could happen as you’re driving to get groceries, talking on the phone to tech support, or clipping your toenails. Personally, I theorize that actively thinking about a story with one’s conscious can only generate about 85% of a story. The rest has to come from the ether, and if you try to look directly AT the answer to your story problems, the answer will scurry away. There’s a zen factor, in that only when you STOP trying to find the perfect elusive idea will it come to you.

Plus, one’s mind is even further slippery in that it tends to wander to perfect ideas for some OTHER story. As a writer, you know you should capture as many of those flames of insight as possible, because there will come a time that you wish you could remember what it was you had thought. But what is the best way to keep them?

The best technique I’ve used was on a month-long trip to work with a writing partner in New York City, into which trip I planned a 10-day vacation to Ireland. I had a thick book of bound pages, about 6 by 4 inches, where I recorded everything while working with my friend in New York. Then, while wandering through Irleand, I had the same book tucked into the inside pocket of my coat. At the end of the month, I had all my brainstorming in one place, so when it came time to write actual scenes, there was only one place to look for my thoughts. However, sunny L.A. doesn’t lend itself to wearing a heavy wool coat with a large inner pocket each day as well as Ireland in September did.

I’ve tried many techniques at various stages of my life for recording ideas, but have yet to find one that works perfectly. Some people call their own voice mail, some keep a stack of note cards, some carry a tape recorder. But none of these techniques has ever proven perfect for me. In the end, I want a way to keep everything in one place. Inspiration jotted on napkins doesn’t lend itself well to organization, and there’s something immensely anti-creative about transcribing one’s notes or voice recordings into a single notebook or computer document. And the problem with electronic devices (any object, really) is having it with you ALL the time, lest any idea go unrecorded. Notepads are horrible when you’re driving, unless you’re really good at scribbling it all down during a red light.

What I really want is a combination phone/mp3 player/organizer with automatic voice-to-text conversion, that synchs to my home computer wirelessly, is the size of a credit card or maybe a wrist watch, and cannot be destroyed. Then I could just talk to it while I’m out and about, and when I get home it would automatically store a text version of everything I spoke into it over the course of the day. Why hasn’t someone invented that yet?

Right now I have a tiny memo pad and a mini pen. It’s a pretty good solution, because it’s small enough to fit into any shirt pocket, even a t-shirt pocket. And then I stopped buying any shirts that didn’t have a pocket.

But there’s got to be a better solution. What do you use?

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