HOW TO TELL IF AN IDEA'S GOOD ENOUGH

Hi folks,

Before I forget, Merry Christmas and all that.  Hope you don't get boring presents, sick, or eaten by rabid yetis.  There goes the last of my holiday spirit.  My normal state of "bah humbuggery" has returned.  Can't wait for New Year's because it's more fun.

Now,

Here's a tip that I've found in more than one of my many dust-covered books on writing over the years: whenever you have a good idea, jot it down so that you don't forget it. 

If you think about it, you've probably jotted something down in your life.  Your grocery lists, to-do-lists, etc.  Personally though, I don't like jotting down ideas.  Ideas should be seen in a Darwinistic sort of way.  As busy as I am, it's child's play to forget lots of stuff (and I do). 

But the idea of a story should be good enough - powerful enough - to be remembered.  If it's something you have to write down, in oreder to remember, is it really worth keeping?

For example, I came up with the idea of a story called "Ghost Pimp" about a year ago.  I repeat: a year ago.  I never wrote a story around it.  Out of good taste, I may never write it.  But, dammit, the idea is so powerful - so strange - that it won't go away.  And yesterday, I came with the idea of a short story on the fly.  It struck me as pretty darned clever . . . and now, I can't remember it at all.  Ah well.  Maybe, like a stray dog, it'll come back.

But if it doesn't, I won't cry over "spilled lit".

Ideas, for us creative types, come and go.  Don't let a mediocre idea slow you down.  And when something you can't get out of your head comes to you, please write it down (unless it's called "Ghost Pimp", of course).

Hope this was of use.