I’ve found that the best way to record your ideas whenever one passes your mind is to write them in their entirety. Catch the entire gist. Make it easier for future you.
Because distilling an entire thought into one sentence leaves out so much of the original context. Context that ceases to exist once you drench it with the passage of time.
So many entries on my ‘writing ideas’ list felt like great topics at the time, only to sound like a four-year-old’s thoughts later. Some examples being:
- Sometimes you have shitty morning routines too and that’s okay
- About alter ego
- FREE. I know this word seems like spam, but…
- Even if you have typos you are still going to be accepted
- Someday you will hate me
The thing about these hundreds of ideas I collect every month is that I can’t, for the life of me, expand on them anymore. I would’ve, at the time of the mental spark, but not anymore. It’s as if an elf snuck into my text file and left inside jokes that only other elves would understand.
I’ve lost all context of the accompanying feelings during the thought-catching phase. And it’s those feelings that make the story, not the words. The failure to capture them in their entirety leaves me with exactly that. Random words.
Again, I gave future me too much credit. “He’ll figure it out,” I thought. “He’s smart.”
Well, who’s feeling stupid now?
At least I’ve learned my lesson. I started this piece with the sentence ‘how to record better ideas’. I closed the file, gave it a second thought, then added a second sentence for the benefit of future me.
One thing led to another, and here we are. Guess I’m not gonna forget this idea now.
Your Friendly Malaysian Writer 
This happens to me too! That’s why if I get a blog idea, I also try to jot down at least three major points too. Sometimes it works, and sometimes when I get in to actually writing the post, I decide that the original idea just needs to marinate a while longer. Or be consigned to the rubbish bin.
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I was having this issue as well, and since I use Trello for all other workflow, I started keeping a board for my blog posts. Now when I have an idea, I open the Trello app, make a card and instead of just the subject line, I jot down a few bullet points as well to help me remember how I wanted to expand on the idea, and that has helped immensely.
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I’ve found this especially true when writing novels. I’ll jot down just a brief phrase in a text message or on a post-it, and the complete idea of what I wanted to encompass will never return to me when I sit down a few days later to write. Instead, if I type up a whole paragraph or two or record a two-minute audio of myself speaking the actual concept, I’ll be able to better capture it later. Truly, what I should do is sit down and jump into writing at that moment in time for the best result, but who has time for that? lol
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Awesome, now I am also going to think about the future me in same way 😀
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I wish there was a way to press pause on life to fully jot down ideas as they come in. Alas, many times I’m left with just a few words, a stanza of a poem, or a vague idea like “explore such-and-such”. Sometimes I’m lucky and the muse brings them back to life when I have time….other times I get a laugh and a ‘no’.
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It happens everytime. When an idea pops up, I would write it down on my list. After some time, when checking the list, I would give up on more ideas than writing down new ones. So I only get a smaller list each time I check it. Sometimes it’s a good thing, because I am left with only the best ideas. However, many other good ideas will never become a post because I couldn’t write more at that specific moment.
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As usual, a good point. I have these ideas in the middle of the night and scribble them down on the notepad next to the bed. The trouble is deciphering my writing. I love the idea of elves’ inside jokes! Hahaha!!
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