How To Write In The Shower

I get my best ideas when I'm in the shower. Or at least it seems that way. Perhaps it's like the dream where you understand the answer to everything but forget it when you wake. I suspect if I remembered it would be something like 'hamsters'. Or '42'.

But I really do get my best ideas in the shower. For a while I kept a pad of paper by the bathroom sink and I'd dart out, try to dry my hands, and scribble down my epiphany.

It wasn't pretty.

I mentioned my dilemma to one of my writer friends, C.G. Cameron, and she had a great solution: keep a special water-friendly writing pad in the shower. I always wondered why she had the best ideas! Here's her solution:

At Staples I picked up a cheap plastic clipboard and a Help Wanted sign. ("Closed" signs don't encourage creativity.) Total cost, about $8. Turn the sign over (the back is plain white and exactly enough texture to grab the graphite of the pencil). You could do without the clipboard if you have a handy wall in your shower. Grab a pencil with a pocket clip on it, run a rubber band through the clip and through the hole at the top of the clipboard (chain multiple rubber bands to make it longer), or just grab any pencil to set at the side of the tub or on the soap dish. The graphite will write on the rough back of the sign, and you can clean it off using a Magic Sponge or a bit of scrub/cleanser (something slightly abrasive). Just remember to take the clipboard into the bathroom with you, with your towel and rubber ducky, and you're set.

Now you'll never again lose those ideas.

(Or you could go to a store that carries SCUBA gear and buy one of their writing tablets for underwater, and then just leave it in the shower, but Staples was much closer.)

C.G. gave me her permission to post these instructions (thank you!). She has a great Twitter feed: @jazz2midnight.

I'm curious, has anyone tried something like this? In any case, good luck constructing your water-proof writing tablet!


Other reading:
- Pixar: 22 Ways To Tell A Great Story
- Publishing With Amazon: The Hidden Cost Of Delivery
- Conflict Creation: The Needs Of Your Characters