Quite a while ago, I read a theory on ideas and I honestly can’t remember where I read it, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was probably in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Essentially, the theory stated that ideas (story, businesses, painting, food, any creative idea, really) float around out there in the atmosphere for anyone to grab. If you come up with a great idea for, say…a book, but then you procrastinate writing it, or you think you’ll do it sometime later, chances are, you’ll find that someone else snagged that idea and turned it into their own book. You’ll probably find this out when it hits the NYT’s Bestseller List.

Here’s an example. For a long time I wanted to write a book that involved letters that readers could actually remove from envelopes to read. A sort of interactive book. But I hemmed and hawed and thought I’d never be able to sell anything like that, plus I didn’t have a really good idea, and who was I to try something that creative and amazing, etc. And then, one day, there was Griffin & Sabine. I was so mad, and hurt, and annoyed that not only had my idea been “taken” but it was so good! And now, if I ever wrote a story like that, it would be compared to Griffin & Sabine.

I believe the Universe’s response to my whining was, “Ya snooze, ya lose.”

About a year and a half ago, or maybe even two, I came up with what I thought was a high concept YA novel, but I didn’t really want to write it. I told my friend, writer, Eileen Cook all about it and suggested she could “have the idea” if she wanted it. Like all smart writers, she gave me the only reasonable answer there is to that offer, “Uh, thanks, but I’m good.”

That time, I “released” the idea back into the atmosphere willingly. And now you can read the book (not that I believe I had to let it go or anything for these two great writers to get the idea- I just think it’s fun to see it out there and wonder what my version might’ve been like).

The Future of Us