CAPTURING WORDS ON THE RUN

When I'm working on the first draft of a story, at some point the narrator of the tale steps  forward, and begins dictating the text to me.  Not in any coherent order, though.  So it is imperative that I write down immediately every word at the time I hear it; because the dictation seems to float out of my head as quickly as it floats in.  And the dictation won't happen when I am sitting at my desk, with a pencil in hand.  Not at all.  My narrator is the most verbal when I am walking---physically moving.  Or when I am between sleeping and waking.
     Three things help me catch hold of these skittish dictations.  In my living room, directly in the path of traffic, is my antique schoolmaster's desk.  It's a matter of only a few seconds for me to pause at the desk, jot down the phrases I've just heard, then continue on my way.

If I want to really encourage my narrator to talk to me, I can take a walk or a hike.  For this I hang a notebook on a ribbon around my neck.  The pencil fits perfectly into the spiral binding.  And I am, once again, prepared to jot down instantly anything that my narrator might have to say, hardly breaking my stride as I do so.

And in the middle of the night, when my narrator is feeling especially loquacious, and I am barely conscious?  I found that if I sat up, turned on the light, looked for my glasses, and groped for a blank page in my notebook, my narrator would have already quit in disgust.  Instead I keep this three-ring notebook under my pillow, with the pencil clipped to a blank page.  When my narrator begins, I do not turn on the light, or even open my eyes.  Instead I stealthily pull the notebook from under my pillow---all the while listening intently to my narrator---open to the marked page, and transcribe in the dark.  I've learned to put just a few lines on each page, then turn to the next page and continue, so as to end up with something that will be relatively legible the next morning. 

I find this method really annoying at times---so inefficient!  And especially when my narrator keeps waking me up at night because there's "just one more thing" to tell me.  But it does get a story started.  And I've never discovered a better way for myself.