Write It Down Before It Vanishes: A Writer’s Truth | Writing Tips

 Have you ever been sitting idle—maybe scrolling through your phone, staring at the ceiling, or simply daydreaming—and suddenly, without warning, a thought flashes through your mind? A perfect sentence, an image, an idea. It arrives out of nowhere, and you feel an undeniable pull to capture it.

If you’ve ever had that moment, then you already know one of the golden truths of writing:

When you feel the urge to write—write. Immediately.

Hello, lovely readers. Welcome back to another post by Mankum, where today I’m going to share just one truth I’ve come to trust more than any rule:

If something inside you wants to be written, don't wait. Write it now.

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✨ Inspiration Doesn’t Wait—And Neither Should You

The thoughts that visit us aren’t always polite. They don’t ask if we’re free or if we have our laptop ready. They just show up—unpredictable, spontaneous, wild.

And when they do, if we don’t catch them, they vanish just as suddenly as they came. As Elizabeth Gilbert writes in Big Magic:

“Ideas are disembodied, energetic life-forms. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us—albeit strangely.”

She believes that ideas are looking for human partners. If they come to you and you ignore them long enough, they’ll leave—and find someone else.

So the next time an idea taps you on the shoulder, or a sentence whispers itself into your thoughts, honor it. Stop whatever you can, grab whatever tool is available—a notebook, your phone, the back of a receipt—and write.

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🌀 The First Draft Is Not the Final Form

Often, what first arrives feels messy and strange. The words don’t flow perfectly. The sentences seem disconnected or even meaningless.

That’s okay. That’s normal.

Writing doesn’t begin with clarity—it begins with presence.

The act of writing in the moment isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence and permission: showing up for the idea when it calls you, not when it's convenient.

Later, you’ll have time to polish. But if you don’t write at all? That idea might be gone forever.

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💬 My Own Process: The Sudden Arrival

Many times, I feel like I’m just sitting with silence. Thinking. Drifting. And then—boom—an idea arrives. Sometimes it’s a feeling. Sometimes it’s an opening line.

It doesn’t always feel like “writing time,” but I’ve learned not to question it. I reach for a notebook, my phone, anything—and I just let it out. Because I’ve missed too many moments before. I’ve waited too long. And those words? They never came back the same way.

Gilbert writes:

“If you’re alive, you’re a creative person… You do not need permission from the principal’s office to live a creative life.”

That’s a reminder I carry with me: I don’t need to wait. I don’t need a ritual. Just a pen, or a keyboard, and the courage to say yes.

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📌 A Tiny Rule to Live By

So here’s the simplest, truest writing advice I can offer:

When the thought comes, write it.

When the feeling stirs, capture it.

When the words want out, let them.

Not later. Not someday. Now.

Because writers aren’t born—they are built, line by line, by moments just like this.