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Thinking of doing a penname change. Just feel like it’s time to evolve from the old CloverReef. I mean… I’ve been CloverReef for… about a decade I guess. It probably seems weird to some people, who are perfectly content identifying with one pen name their whole lives, but for me, as I grow and shift, how I identify tends to grow and shift too. I do have a pen name in mind. But I’m debating whether I should wait until I finish posting my current chaptered story or not.

I can so relate to this. I have so many things floating around in my head, but when I try to pin them down, they’re gone, or else the words are awkward, and don’t fit right. I know what I want to say—it’s right there, on the tip of my tongue—but then I try to define it, and the whole mess falls apart in my hands. I’ve decided it will be written when it wants to be written, and I can’t force it, whatever it turns out to be.

It feels like such a fleeting thing. You feel like you can reach out and grab it, but then it wisps through your fingers and dissipates like smoke. Sometimes I can grasp it for the length of a song and formulate an entire universe, but as the song ends, it fades like a dream and ten seconds later, it’s gone. The details are still there, but the visions, the emotions, the characters voices and desires are suddenly all very 2 dimensional and not strong enough to weave into a good story foundation. There are times, though, when it’s not such a flight risk. When I can grasp it and put reins on it and attach every passing whimsy to me like a dog sled. I’m not asking for help or advice. Inspiration is such a personal thing, no amount of “try this” will change my reality, but my reality is ever-changing. I’m interested in your experiences with it. Either right now, or over the years.

Yeah, I write them down ASAP too, but that helps remember the ideas, not so much retain the inspiration. For me, an idea and being inspired for an idea are two drastically different things, and in my hands, a fully formed idea is worthless without the inspiration to bring it to life.

Agree with BW. The really good inspirations are the ones that stay with you, that develop themselves in your head instead of fading away. Any idea that quickly vanishes from your mind probably wasn’t worth your time, anyway.

Thank you so much!