What do I think I'm doing

Move ova, I'm polishing and publishing here. While likely irrelevant or uninteresting, every thought on this site gave me pause. Each was amusing and confusing enough to get itself crytalized in an .html file.

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To catch a spark and coax it to life

Often, an idea is a spark that comes to life then quickly flickers out. It exists for a fraction of a second, hardly enough time to examine or pay it any mind. The spark vanishes leaving no trace behind besides the inkling of some idea having occurred. I'd estimate 80-90% of all my ideas are of this form.

Writing the idea down helps. It really does. Even still, you may notice the phenomenon in the words on this site--jumpy, nonsequeters everywhere, fragments of an idea begging to be properly fleshed out.

It's easier to maintain a linear train of thought while writing stories, anecdotes. The beauty of the anecdote is that its beginning, middle, and end are already known. So that's why teachers extoll the virtues of outlining. The structural benefits aren't too shabby, plus, it's easier to flow when you know where you're going.

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To set the highway back 100 years -- cobblestone

If ideas are flitting sparks, then thought processes are high speed motorways, think autobahn. It could be profitable to take a jackhammer to your motorway and knock it down a notch to a cobblestone road, or maybe a dusty gravel path, I'm not sure which imagery I prefer. Ideas travel fast down a highway and are liable to zip right off the edge. If we could just slow things down, install some speed bumps, perhaps we could get to know our ideas a bit better before they're gone.

Writing will improve brain stickiness, allowing ideas to sit and simmer on low till the timer dings.

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Okay, so we can capture the spark. Blow into it. Coax it into something living. And talk to it as it travels down a bumpy road.

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Also, maybe I'll finally learn the proper use of a dash.