There are many kinds of organizational and brainstorming tools that writers use to keep track of thoughts and ideas. For me, the simple format of a list works best. One summer I attended a writing seminar at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Our class was given a private tour of the Museum of Modern Art. We were instructed to choose a work of art that "spoke" to us. We were asked to list 20 things/images/ideas that we saw in the piece of art. The instructor then asked us to list 20 more things. And then 20 more. It became increasingly difficult to find something to add to our list. However, the later additions to the list were understandably the more creative out-of-the-box ideas. When we finally wrote about the piece of art, those later additions became the ideas that made our writing less mundane and predictable. Since that exercise, I have used the listing technique to begin any piece of writing. I also keep a running list as I am working on my piece. As ideas pop into my head I add them to that list. I check off ideas that I have used. Not every idea will be used, but they might end up on another list for future writings. Or they might not. This seemingly simple technique has helped me to dig deeper in my writing.
