TOO MANY IDEAS? So what’s the problem?

I have a serious problem! Too many ideas. I always have been able to generate more ideas than I have time to pursue. One of this newsletter’s subscribers wrote a while back saying he has the same problem. A lot of writers would love to have this problem, but I suspect there are many more who also suffer from the same malady.

Having too many ideas is a natural extension of being creative. As writers, we spend our lives in a creative world, coming up with characters, scenarios, and original ideas. The same thought processes that provide us with original ways of telling stories also give us unique perspectives and ideas.

So if you suffer from the malady of “too many ideas” here’s how you can conquer the desire to pursue them all.

First of all, write your latest idea down immediately before you forget it. Keep a small notebook handy where you can record every idea that pops into your head. You might head some pages, “Ideas for writing projects” and “Ideas for articles.” Other pages can hold “random thoughts” which might be an idea for a personality trait for one of your characters, or it could be something you witness that you realize would make a good topic for conservation among your characters. Notes could also lead to new ideas for a book or article topic. I could go on and on here, but you can think up new divisions for your notebook based upon your own thoughts and ideas.

When I first started writing, I made up charts on the computer for “article ideas” and would add a topic each time I thought of one. I would list the magazines that I thought would be appropriate for the articles. Since I was writing mostly travel articles, I would list a place we planned to visit and the idea for a story. Often these topics would become obsolete because we never made it to the place I planned to write about, or once I did get there I discovered an entirely new angle for my article. Still, the list was a road map for my future.

Next, when you have a spare minute or two, go through your notebook and choose a project idea. As you read over the ideas you’ve previously written down, you’ll probably find some that seem silly, foolish, or no longer relevant. Cross those off your list immediately. No need to wade through a long list of irrelevant ideas every time.

Having too many ideas can be as crippling as not having any ideas because they can clutter your mind, which can hold you hostage. You must be able to prioritize your time and projects so that you can always keep busy and can move smoothly from one project to the next. You’ll be well on your way to becoming one of writing’s success stories.