Hate it when I have an idea and then it vanishes!

I find that my ideas come to me when I am "mindlessly" doing things like showering, doing yard or house work, or after waking during the night -- I put "mindlessly" in quotes because of course, I can never shut my brain down, and thus when I am doing something that requires my hands but not my brain, my brain cogitates all on its own, and tends to "speak" a narrative of running thought that sometimes goes in interesting directions, that sometimes considers unique aspects or unusual comparisons to an issue.

What I have decided to do with this is to stop whatever I am doing and jot down the idea in my phone when it comes to me. I have a running list of post ideas that is about 20 or 30 long, so if I'm at a loss I can just pick one and go.

In some ways, ideas are like playing racquetball, if you've ever played. I learned early in racquetball that you usually only get one chance at the ball. You may think you will just wait until it bounces off the back wall and hit it again as it is going forwards, but it usually bounces off at a speed or in a direction that is unreachable, and then you end up sprinting fruitlessly after a ball you have no chance of catching. So always take the shot when you have one even if it is not ideal!