Cage that sparrow before it flies away

Maybe you're like me and from time to time you've come across a newspaper or magazine article that has given you an idea for something you'd like to write about someday. But when is "someday"? Who knows? But when that day comes, you might have forgotten what that great idea was.
Here's a solution. Start an idea file. Clip out that article and put it in a file folder. And do it again and again and again as you see things that interest you. You may be on a drive somewhere or simply walking down the street when you see something that strikes your fancy. Jot down the thought on that notepad you should always have with you. Do the same thing if you see something on television or hear something on the radio or see something on a billboard that triggers an idea.
Every once in a while, browse through your idea file. You'll be amazed at all the material you've collected. It might even get you started on that great American novel you've been meaning to write.
Roy Peter Clark, a journalism scholar and one of my long-distance mentors, puts it this way: "Ideas are like sparrows. You have to cage them or they'll fly away."