I like to write.  Always have. I don’t have much time to write, and when I do, I try to finish editing and polishing my first novel, To Love With Hate which is best categorized as psychological suspense, although some experts feel it may own a genre its own genre.  As you know, however, I now have a blog so that I can contribute small vignettes to introduce myself to the reading market for the upcoming novel and to that end, my contributions may take the form of satire, humor (although that’s debatable), observations of daily life, spiritual encounters and thoughts as well as brief excerpts from my novel.

            As with many fields, mathematics can be used to make things simpler.  About 20% of the time I come up with an idea for the blog just participating in daily activities:  driving to work or to the grocery store, scrubbing for surgery, talking with patients in my office, observing humans doing human things etc.  However, it seems that the number 2 place that provides me inspiration for writing is at a bar.  No, I’m not a drunk, but on those occasions when I do sit at a bar, it seems that I can’t help but write.  (See my blogs entries:  “Bar Inspiration” and the “Beach ladies in the Land that Time forgot”) as examples.  Of course, when at a bar and the liquid refreshment continues unabated, there is a point of diminishing returns. Again, if you use mathematics, make a simple linear plot with the number of drinks on the x axis plotted against degree of good writing on the y axis you will find the following: On the ascending curve, usually after one drink, you will find maximum creativity and lucid writing up to about 75 to 80% of the plateau of the curve, usually arriving after 2 drinks.  Once the plateau of the curve occurs, there is a down ward spiral in creativity, lucid writing, and legibility on napkins becomes indecipherable.  That is the only problem with bar writing on napkins.  You have to take advantage of the ascending curve before it’s too late.  If you start writing while you are on the descending curve, you might as well forget it and call a taxi.  No one will want to read it anyway.

So, 20% of inspiration occurs with daily activities, 39 % occurs while writing on napkins at a bar, and guess what the number one location for writing is at 41%?

The answer, my loyal readers is church.  Yes, while sitting in the pew at church I spew words out of my pen like there is no tomorrow. Usually it’s on a church program, inspired by a word or a concept the pastor mentions, and I scribble the words up and down and cross ways on the program or visitor connection card in the pews.  Then, I take the messy notes home and try to decipher what I wrote, converting it to readable English when possible.

Of course, you may be able to review some of my blogs and figure out which of the entries were written at each location.  In fact, I challenge you to do that and let me know what you come up with.  No hints.  You’re smart readers.

SRC