As a writer, I’m a natural observer and processor of thoughts.

My brain (and perhaps yours) runs continually in a stream of consciousness, taking thought from one seemingly random place to the next.

Sometimes that randomness requires my explaining just exactly how I made the conversation leap from cats to cantaloupe to canoes.

Most times, I go with it, enjoying how my brain takes in, stores and organizes tibbles of knowledge.

Often times, I’m able to pluck the tidbits and repurpose them into something far more profitable than mindless trivia: advice for a friend, a blog post, a feature story.

What about you? Do your thoughts run rampant? Do you try to harness them? Why? How? Where did one of your random thoughts last make an appearance in your work?

I don’t know where these observations may end up in their final form, if anywhere, but here they are: 12 random thoughts of a freelance writer:

  1. Even though it’s calendarily (not a real word, btw) spring, I became momentarily and noticeably giddy when I saw a few teeny, tiny buds on the tree outside my office window.
  2. I’ve been working outside my office for a few days and it’s good to be back at my own desk. Say, should I repaint the walls?
  3. Speaking of paint, it’s been almost 7 years since we painted the interior of our home. Time for a change there, too?
  4. I got my start writing for magazines. Should I pitch some ideas? Do people even read magazines anymore?
  5. I used to dream of living in NYC and working at a magazine. I can’t even imagine that now!
  6. Almost time to mow the lawn … where did that come from?
  7. When I was a kid I was a list maker. (Still am, in fact.) Used to be I could cross things off the list and be done. It’s taken me my adult life to realize that I’ll never be “done.”
  8. I need a vacation.
  9. I need a vacation.
  10. I’m so thankful for my friends. When did “friends” become “friend group”? More importantly, why???
  11. I had a podcast, a newsletter, and a YouTube channel when it was all new and nobody was doing it. Where would I be now if I’d have kept up with them?
  12. I have deadlines looming and I don’t want to work the weekend. My solution? Focus.