Colleen Conrad

A friend of mine recently said that he nearly drove—at 70 mph—head-long into a detour sign.  Twice.  Deeply lost in daydreaming, he narrowly escaped disaster only due to the frantic shouting of the passengers in the car.  He’s a musician (as well as a writer, a filmmaker, and a “cave-drawing” doodler), so I asked him what he was daydreaming about.  “There could have been some good material in there!”  I argued. 

“The Muppets,” he told me. 

I really don’t know what to do with that…

But I suggested that he make a point to pull over and write down some of his musings during those deep-daydream moments.  In the interest of avoiding certain death, of course, and harvesting whatever creative juices were flowing at the time of said space-out.  He didn’t receive this suggestion well, pointing out that “Pullover Daydream Journal Breaks” were just as likely to get him killed…by his friends.  Now, I respect everyone’s right to pick their poison, but to me these creative time-outs are a win-win.  I mean, you jot down some of that fodder and preserve your life.  Unless, of course, you run with my friend’s buddies, who would apparently make you pay for that kind of touchy-feely hippie crap.

I’m prone to the same kind of lost-in-thought distraction.  I often find myself so consumed with planning and writing in my head that the world around me falls away.  I, too, have nearly missed the occasional stop sign, or—for that matter—waited at stop signs as if they were red lights, staring blankly and patiently into the intersection.  Sometimes I get so lost in thought that it’s an irritation when the phone rings and it’s my mother calling, or when the noise of the mailman at the door startles me back to the real world.  I write every day, be it scribbling down a thought or two or journaling in the car after ultimate practice.  But the times when I’m most prolific are when I completely disappear.  When I’m submerged in the work; blocking out distractions; hiding away in my stories. 

Maybe Pullover Daydream Journal Breaks aren’t the most realistic option in the world, but wouldn’t it be great if they were?  If mundane things like eating and showering and—hell, avoiding disastrous car accidents or getting pummeled by your friends—didn’t get in the way?