SCRAPS

I find story ideas on scraps. Words on napkins. Names on business cards. Scenes on back of an envelope. Dialogue on a theater playbill. Short paragraphs in the notebook carried in my handbag. These fragments have triggered many of the stories, several novels, dozens of articles, personal essays and poems. Save those scraps.

There are other items I would suggest you collect to lead you to new ideas. I travel whenever the budget allows and have found that sourvenirs--a fan from Spain, a black heart-shaped necklace from Alaska, a Texas flag, a small watercolor from Italy, a menu from Turkey--all have led me to stories.

Remember to pick up brochures from towns, museums, tourist spots, and public gardens. Pick up a local newspaper, the freebie classifieds, and listen to the regional radio station. Eat in the small cafes offering homemade biscuits and gravy, chili or apple pie; you'll be in close proximity to the townspeople. Those napkins, or the small notebook, are a repository for character sketches.

Never throw those scaps away. You never know when one word, a short line, a paragraph--even the perfect name--will bring call forth the muse needed for a bestseller--or at least publication in your favorite small press quarterly, or monthly literary magazine.

Save those scraps.