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do you keep a notebook or a diary? i still have mine from high school. but lately, i have become very dependent on evernote. i throw everything into it and i like using it for free-writing. i have this dream of having song ideas and writing concepts tagged with certain moods or characters so they can be easily searchable. has that happened yet? nope. it sounded good in my head.
i think writing things down helps you remember things, but also who you are in the moment of your remembering. it’s not always the most factual re-telling but you collect bits and pieces from reality to build your story – whether it is for fiction or for your own memories. i have some memories where i have added props, characters, and lines that are maybe true. you know… maybe we didn’t eat catfish on 4th of july in 1993 but that’s how i remember it – a kind of harmless fiction. they help me remember how i felt, how i saw it all.
but joan didion really says it best. read the whole essay. i heard about it on brain pickings.
I love this line: “It is a good idea, then, to keep in touch, and I suppose that keeping in touch is what notebooks are all about.” Such an interesting perspective on jotting down our observations and how we want to remember our experiences. Thanks for sharing!
I love the entire essay – so inspiring. I love that line too! That’s a good one. I love the part about her saying that we can’t forget or ignore all the different versions of ourselves because they will pop back and haunt us later. So true.