This happens to me all the damned time in the gym. I have to run over to the desk, grab pencil and paper and put a note in my sock. By the end of a workout I’ve got up to five story ideas.

I guess what I might challenge, Drew, is that this is less of a how to than recognizing that writing is who you are as opposed to what you do. I suffer the same problem. I can’t NOT write. There is always and forever another idea.

And sometimes, I end up with a very funny story about writing. About a week ago I woke up about 2 am just on fire with a story idea. I padded out into the kitchen and wrote a word down on a scrap of paper.

The next morning I padded out, all ready to tear into the idea that I had of course forgotten about.

One word: TUBE.

WTF? I had no idea. For the life of me. Fallopian? As in the world is going down the…?

That struck me so funny that that TUBE became the article.

That’s what a writer does. A real one. The story becomes whatever it is: not a battle, not a war, not a terrifying empty page.

I love the blank page. My problem is sheer time. I gotta eat, sleep, adventure, work out, one hopes for sex once in a while, but look…..

Not everyone is born to it. Those who are can’t do much of anything else. I have to write. It’s an imperative as powerful as a spring river runoff in the Rockies.