Take a look at this picture:

Isn’t it awesome? Brilliant? Awe inspiring?

Hubby and I had gone for a walk the other night and then rewarded ourselves at Dairy Queen by eating three times the amount of calories burned. When we got home, the ominous spring sky presented us with some ooh and ahh entertainment to rival any Fourth of July fireworks show.

This huge cloud, lit up repeatedly on random cues to its own magical symphony. A storm encapsulated in cloud. No rain fell. No sound heard.

And of course I thought of writing. Because here was a live, natural representation of a Brainstorm. All of these ideas chasing themselves through the transparent mass in the sky. What did they represent? A short story? A poem? A novel? How did the lightening stream thread its way through the cloud to create a cohesive pattern, an inspiring rhythm, a show so mesmerizing to cause us mere mortals below to stop. Stand still. Be dazzled.

Can you brainstorm a story like this? Can your mind light up with ideas? Can you chase the word patterns around in your gray matter and turn them into a story that will leave your reader breathless? And when you do, can you be quick enough to get those ideas onto your keyboard as fast and furious?

I bet you can.