Worth Noting

Hello Dear Writers,

I’m writing to you in praise the notebook, the spiral pad, the tiny unlined or lined pad which can be slipped into a pocket, a purse, a backpack, a glove compartment. A place that a writer can record fleeting attentions, observances, snippets of conversations. A place where images, grocery lists, questions, become a bric-a-brac of memory to be used or not used. These little notes are the beginnings of our craft, to weave, spill, compress or expand. Where our language makes memory and imagination present. Where meaning for stories, poems, essays, comes in the inspections. 

My own notebooks, (and I have several going) have been invaluable for the makings of my work, whether for my long-term project or for work which is more immediate. Most of my notes are in pencil and in cursive of have captured images, overheard conversations, lists, and musings, and sometimes brief sketches of a landscape, an object, or a rudimentary map. I choose the notebooks for their size, usually lined paper, even the covers matter. They are jewels which I never pack in a suitcase for fear of losing them.

In a world which is constantly changing, sliding beneath us, it’s vital we have something that grounds us, allows us time from a collage to record and later reassemble.

In the Spirit of Writing Together,

Summer