Some people outline entire novels at a desk. Some conjure brilliant scenes in a coffee shop. For me, creativity likes to show up with wet hair.
There is something about water that flips the switch in my brain from everyday life to pure imagination. Maybe it is the rhythm. Maybe it is the absence of distraction. Maybe my muse just likes a good shampoo. Whatever the reason I have lost count of the ideas that have poured in while water ran over my hands or soaked into my skin.
It often starts small. A line of dialogue. A question. A spark. Then suddenly the rest of the moment reveals itself like a film I have been waiting to press play on. Washing dishes becomes a plot consultation. A shower becomes a writer’s room. A bubble bath becomes an entire chapter begging to be scribbled down before it slips away like steam.
Years ago I wrote about this exact experience. At the time I thought it was a quirky personal thing. A weird writer superstition. I joked about needing a water-safe way to record ideas so I would not have to sprint across the bathroom dripping and scribbling like a cryptid.
Funny thing. That has not changed at all.
The difference now is that I see water as more than a place where ideas arrive. It is where ideas have room to breathe. There is no screen to distract me. No cursor blinking impatience. No pressure to get it perfect. Just flow. Sometimes literal. Always creative.
So if you are stuck in a story or waiting for a stubborn character to reveal their next move try stepping away from the keyboard and toward the faucet. Let your mind drift with the suds. Let your thoughts swirl like ripples in a tub. See what rises.
And if inspiration strikes while shampoo is in your eyes I hope you find a towel before your notebook takes a swim.
Writers are funny creatures. We chase ideas everywhere. It just so happens that some of my best ones insist on arriving soaked.
xoAmetra.
