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26.  Writing Road Stories. Get ideas for writing by making a game during drive time. Look at license plates, billboards, and other visuals. Find words that seem to be popping out at you. Talk into your tape recorder or write in a notebook when it's safe to do so. Use these words and phrases to weave a story. (This is a fun game to play with children on long trips.)

27.  Imaginary Friends or Foes. Let your imagination go wild while you drive. Look at the people in the cars ahead of you. Who are they? Create lives for them. Turn them into characters. Give them lines of dialogue to say. Jot notes or record your musings when it's safe to do so.

28.  Let the Universe Support You. Write the main ideas, themes, or questions concerning your current or future writing projects on an index card. While you're driving, listen to NPR or other talk radio shows to get ideas and answers for articles, characters, and fiction. You'll be amazed at how much research you can do on the run. It will seem as if the Universe is conspiring to support you in getting your questions answered or offering just the information you need.

29.  Listen While You Drive. While on long road trips bring audio-recorded books and listen to your favorite authors. Listen for phrasing, structure, character development, and images that you can adapt for your projects. The best writers are the most prolific readers. They feed their souls with great literature.

30.  I'm Not Really Talking to Myself, I'm Writing. Driving back and forth to work each day can bring a lot of quality writing time during heavy traffic days. Use your tape recorder with a lapel mic connection to tell your story or capture ideas for your writing projects.

31.  Have Notepad and Pen, Will Write. Carry a notepad in your shirt pocket with ink pen (preferably one that doesn't bleed) so you can jot down notes during the day while you are at work.

32.  Notebooks and Pens Everywhere. Have multiple spiral-bound notebooks. Stick pens inside the spirals. Place these notebooks with pens attached anywhere you might be "stuck" for awhile and definitely in your briefcase, purses, or pockets. Always keep a notebook and pen in the bathroom for shower, bathtub, and toilet "light bulb moments." In other words, you are a writer; never be caught without your notebook.

33.  From Notes to Files. Transfer ideas from notebooks and audiocassette tapes to files according to writing projects. Be like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. When you look inside the file, you'll find you have "squirreled away" lots of ideas. Then all you need to do is organize them and fill in the blanks.

34.  Micro Recorder for Major Ideas. Carry a micro tape recorder in your pocket or purse to record observations and ideas for writing.

35.  Break Writing. Write in your journal or notebook while you take breaks during the workday. Breaks are a great time for 5-minute power writing.

36.  Half-'n-Half. Spend half of your lunchtime eating and socializing and the other half writing.

37.  Keep the Windows Open. Have a second Windows file open so you can jot down creative writing notes and ideas as you are doing your normal activities on the computer.

38.  Drawer and Shelf Writing Desks. Keep your notepad, writing pen, tape recorder, extra audiocassette tapes and batteries in a desk drawer or on a shelf at work for easy access.

39.  On the Job Characters. Mentally record characteristics of your coworkers for possible inclusion into your fictional characters. An example might be a phrase or a physical or verbal habit that these people use when they are communicating.

40.  Synchronize Your Day. Before starting your work for the day, write a question about plot or character or an article idea. See if answers come your way during your regular workday. This information, or sign, is called a "waking dream" or synchronicity.

41.  7 Minutes to Spare. Do 7-minute focused writing exercises in between appointments.

42.  Waiting Room Writing. Write in your notebook while you are in waiting rooms.

43.  Checkout Line Research. Look through magazines while you wait in checkout lines at the grocery store or sit in waiting rooms. See what others are writing about - and getting published. Do these articles give you ideas for a different slant on the subject?

44.  Glove Compartment Desk. Put items you don't need all the time in the trunk to create a glove compartment writing office for your notebooks, pens, tape recorder, extra audiocassette tapes, and batteries.

45.  Waddles with the Ducks. Take your laptop, word processor, or notebook to the park. While you're sitting on the bench, watching the ducks and passers-by, write!

46.  Airport Character Landings. Airport waiting areas are great places to write, especially if you have a carry-on laptop and/or your writing notebooks with you. There are enough characters and dialogue in airports to keep you writing for years.

47.  Pray for a Great Idea. Try going to the airport chapels for a quiet place to write.

48.  Traveling Stories and Characters. Airport restaurants or coffee shops are great places to eavesdrop on conversations and then make up the rest of the story. Who are these people? Where are they going? How are hey dressed? Do airport writing exercises are like physical exercises in that they help to build up your writing muscles.

49.  Forget the Stress, Write. Look for comfortable chairs or even, rocking chairs, in the airport main lobbies. You can sit and write, making yourself invisible and enjoying the scene, instead of stressing out over cancelled or delayed flights like everybody else is doing.

50.  Coffee, Tea, or Writing Project. When you're on the airplane, use the middle seat as a desk if nobody is sitting there. The tray table is perfect place for writing on your laptop.

Part 3

Copyright © - Allen and Linda Anderson. - Reprinted with permission. Allen and Linda Anderson are authors and inspirational speakers who have been married since 1983. For a free subscription to "Writing on the Run" eZINE offering one quick, practical, inspiring, and creative idea each week to help professional and aspiring writers make time and space for writing, send an e-mail to writingontherun-on@mail-list.com or visit their Website: www.WritingOnTheRun.com.