There’s a children’s book called, What do you do with an idea? If you’re Kobi Yamada, you write best selling children’s books. If you’re me, you stash it away, let it percolate, hope not to forget it and if you are super fortunate execute it in some way or another. 

I have had two ideas for novels for years. Both ideas have had random degrees of exploration at different times, including on one occasion leading me to getting lost driving from Pennsylvania back to Boston, a drive I know very well. On that drive, Maya explored the ideas and attempted some character development. I am sure she would say I was not very helpful but her interest and assistance was most definitely appreciated. It was such fun and allowed me fantasize about how thrilling it would be to write a book with my daughter. This contributed to my inability to follow road signs.

Months later I heard a podcast with Julie Andrews and her daughter talking about childrens books they have written together and once again it left me hopeful and excited about the idea of potentially writing together. And since then, Shannon has become a great writer also. It is so rewarding to see the talents of your children develop and take on a life of their own. 

It’s been a number of years now and there has not been a single page written since that evening. In fact little thought has been given to it except for remembering the main character that we named with my favorite baby name that was left unused. Creating an identity has probably allowed me to keep her ever so gently in my thoughts. 

The other idea for a novel has been pursued slightly further, though never really getting any words on a page. Just leaving me with jotting some notes in a word file, which actually are words on a page. 

At night when I head to work, I often take my laptop with the thought that maybe I’ll blog. Or maybe I will write. Could it be the night that everything changes and I branch into creative writing? I do not lack a creative mind. Execution, motivation and organization are the areas where I tend to struggle. 

The fact that I have gotten this blog going and am now on my 8th post has left me with a feeling of success that I have rarely felt with writing. And while I have many positive responses, the idea of making it more public and reaching a wider audience is very appealing to me. I have considered joining a writers group or taking a writing class but my schedule can be somewhat hairy. 

I have thought of damaging the environment and asking a ChatGPT ghost to help me organize myself a bit but I have not done that either. I am

in the process of a number of ventures. I am attempting to get an instagram built for my doula business and learning what that entails. It seems often that the simple ideas I have are hardly simple when done correctly and to yield the results I am looking for. 

As this weekend wraps up, I was fortunate to be able to spend some time at home. It allowed for time to think, rest and enjoy family. Rest is so broken with the work I do and nights at home are also rare so it was a nice weekend to enjoy all of that. It left me looking forward to some plans in the next few days as well as over the next few weeks and months. Time certainly does not move slowly in our home. 

This brings back the idea of what do I do with an idea, how do I bring it to life and get what I want from it? And what DO I WANT from it? I am fortunate to have an excessive amount of downtime with the work that I do which would allow me actually write creatively if I chose to deviate from this blog and build on my existing ideas for novels. Length always scares me but I am sure if I started small and worked in small parts that would be a good method for getting started. 

Building a timeline for how to get started with the ideas could be helpful too. It has gotten me to this point as I am loosely following a timeline and theme list for this blog. So in regards to what do you do with an idea, if you want to see it come to fruition, you give it some deep thought and then you start giving it a life of its own. As it more ability to develop, it has lesser ability to fail. Share the ideas too. Though I struggle with this for fear of accountability. Chunk it, and create a timeline or develop SMART goals. And reward yourself. Because moving forward is always a success.