30 Days Writing Meme -- Question Twenty Nine

29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?

Wow, this could be another very short one. Answer = All the time. I don't claim to be representative of all, or even most, writers, but... isn't that just what we do? The stories and ideas are always churning away on the back-burner, a constant background noise.

Some of the best advice I've seen out there is of the `treat it like what it is -- a business` variety. That includes not having the luxury of waiting around for the muse to strike, or for some external inspiration to make you think about your work. 'Cause that's what it is, work. I can't think of many professions where you can say "Ah, I didn't feel like it today." I mean, picture it. "Ah, I didn't feel like putting 100% into that brain surgery today." "Ah, I wasn't inspired enough to land this plane safely today." "Ah, I have Accounting Block -- I'll be here on my chaise." It's like any other job. While you're doing it, your focus is (ideally, anyway *g*) on it. And like pretty much every other job, we have a tendency to take work home with us in some form or another. The only difference is that `home` in this case is the distinction between the writing life and the family/home/day job/insert-any-other-obligations-here life.

Yeah, yeah... *g* I know that's not exactly what the question asks, but I had to do something to keep the answer from being one sentence long.

A little caveat though... I'd really appreciate it if that `all the time` didn't include all those ideas that come to me in the shower. 'Cause really, you can't write well on wet paper. What is it with water and creativity, anyway? Something to do with water stimulating the right-brain? Theories welcomed. As would a waterproof notepad...