Dear Reader Column 1-18-05

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Dear Reader,

Inspiration seems to find me when I'm in the bathtub and that's okay. Soaking and writing, I can handle that. It's the jumping out of the tub part--when I've forgotten to set a notebook and pen on the white wooden bench that sits beside my old clawed bathtub--that drives me crazy. And I could actually injure myself some day.

I'm not sure how or why creativity strikes in the tub, but here's my theory: I like my bath water hot. So hot that I can barely slide into it without feeling a burn. It's a major shock to my system, but maybe it's that stinging jolt that dislodges something creative that's been stuck in my mind. An explosive, water-born idea that has to be addressed immediately.

I jump up--no time to reach for a towel--and run into the other room desperately needing to fill the prescription for my relief. But on the way to locating a pen and paper, it's a perilous course. I have wooden floors in my home--the original ones from 1926--and my wet feet slip and slide across them, keeling over out of control.

I can see it now when the paramedics arrive.

"How did this happen Suzanne?"

Naked, still dripping wet, with a cordless phone in my hand: "Well, I was in the bathtub, inspiration hit me--you know how it is, don't you? The words are right there, so clear in your mind, just beggin' you to write them down. I didn't have any paper and I was running to get some, so I wouldn't forget the idea. Did you know wooden floors are really slippery when your feet are wet? And here I am.
Would you hand me a towel?"

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.DearReader.com

Comments

[Richard Cameron]

Dear Suzanne,

Well, you have something in common with the famous Italian mathematician
Archimedes.

According the Bellevue Community College website
http://scidiv.bcc.ctc.edu/Math/Archimedes.html
"The king of Syracuse once asked Archimedes to find a way of determining if
one of his crowns was pure gold without destroying the crown in the process.
The crown weighed the correct amount but that was not a guarantee that it
was pure gold. The story is told that as Archimedes lowered himself into a
bath he noticed that some of the water was displaced by his body and flowed
over the edge of the tub. This was just the insight he needed to realize
that the crown should not only weigh the right amount but should displace
the same volume as an equal weight of pure gold. He was so excited by this
idea that he reportedly ran naked through the streets shouting "Eureka" ("I
have found it")."

Hmm. Maybe I would be more creative if I took baths instead of showers. No
that's not it, I'm just not all that creative. Well, I do have other
qualities, including my love for books. Thanks again for sharing your love
of reading with all of us. As always, I enjoy your Dear Reader column as
much or more than the excerpts. Keep up the great work.

Aloha,

Richard Cameron

P.S. Next time you jump out of the tub, don't forget to shout Eureka!

[Mary Beth Turek]

Dear Suzanne,

You are not alone in your propensity for creative breakthroughs in the bath! I believe Agatha Christie used to always write in the bath. She had a special board she would prop across the tub, sort of like a breakfast-in-bed tray, to hold her paper, pens and snacks!

Keep on soaking and writing!

Mary Beth Turek

[Sue]

Suzanne, I love your book recommendations and had to respond to your quandry. I'd recently read some of the ideas around capturing ideas while in the shower at this site:
http://www.davidco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=908

I'm sure some of them might work for a soak in the tub, too! It really is something about relaxing, tub, shower, car... that allows the creative to come out.

Keep us reading!