Need Inspiration? Take a Shower!

I have had more plot problems solved in the shower than I can count. The entire premise of my current work-in-progress was hatched while shampooing my hair. I had a different book mapped out - characters sketched, outline written, key scenes done - but the book was too depressing to write.

Then, under the warm spray of the shower, comes an idea that invigorated my work….a completely different character with a completely different problem, but under the same theme. It was brilliant.

And it came from the shower.

I hear the shower is equally inspiring for other writers. Maybe it is inspiring for people in other professions, but I don’t ask them about their processes. If accountants discover budget holes in the shower, they don’t talk about it much.

What is it about a shower? They are comfortable places. We are isolated from the rest of the world, unless you have a baby or toddler in the room. Even then, the water muffles the sounds (not that I ever let a baby cry while I took a shower….without calling out comforting words from time to time from behind the refuge behind the curtain. Hey even busy moms get dirty.)

Maybe it is the repetition and lack of thought put into a shower. It is so routine, it has become the subject of punch lines…..lather, rinse, repeat. This routine frees our minds to think deeper. The isolation gives us a lack of interruption.

Hmmmm, too bad my laptop isn’t waterproof. I could get some serious work done in there.