On keeping a notebook | Response

I loved this essay. It completely hit a chord. I’d never really thought about why I write what I do, but now I understand. Like the author, I’ve tried and failed to keep a diary but it’s too boring! Who wants to write down exactly what you did that day? It’s much more interesting to put down random thoughts, and it’s much more interesting when you go back to read them.

“we are talking about something private, about bits of the mind's string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with meaning only for its maker. And sometimes even the maker has difficulty with the meaning.”

These things, theses “bits of the mind’s string too short to use”, are mainly the reason I keep a notebook {or journal}. Quotes overheard. Thoughts that are bursting through my mind that don’t make sense to tell others. Interesting people I met. Internal struggles. Those are the things I’d rather look back at, and those are the things that bring me back to those places.

I am, like Didon, one of those people that have to write things down. I can never just file it in my mind and enjoy the moment, I want to write something down to save it forever.

I like what she said about staying in touch with the person we used to be. I might not want to be there, and I might be glad I didn’t stay there, but it’s good to remember.

“It is a good idea, then, to keep in touch, and I suppose that keeping in touch is what notebooks are all about.”