grab a notebook

travelin' oma assignment number two.

how appropriate that this assignment is about things that get in the way of your writing. i am pretty sleepy right now and debating between a nap and writing. i convinced myself to write a shorter response to this assignment and then nap until madeleine wakes up. hopefully madeleine cooperates...

the assignment didn't include a lot of writing prompts, so i'm just going to respond to the suggestion to place several notebooks around in places where i often get ideas.

i actually already have several notebooks stashed around the house and have for a while. in my purse, on my bed stand, by the fridge, next to the computer, and a few other random places. some are beautiful moleskine notebooks that randy bought me for my birthday a couple years ago (okay, so maybe this was a direct suggestion to engage in creative writing), some are random notebooks acquired throughout the years, some are notepads, some are post-it note stacks. but they all serve the same purpose: to catch my thoughts.

except, they're not writing thoughts. they are to-do thoughts and they regurgitate themselves in list form onto these note receptacles. i have lists all over the place. lists of tasks to do that day, lists of long-term goals, lists of ideas for things to do with madeleine, lists of meals to make, and the lists go on...

i find that if i don't hurry and jot down these ideas as they come to my head, then they rattle around in my brain and distract me until i either write them down, or regretfully, forget them, which distracts me even more as i try to remember them. and as they rattle around, they seem to grow in size and i start to feel overwhelmed by all of the things that i think i need to do, when really, if i simply reduce them to a list, it seems manageable. thus, the myriad notebooks.

it's not that i don't have writing thoughts. i often craft blog posts or emails in my head long before they flow through the keyboard and into cyberspace. but they don't distract me quite as much as my task-oriented thoughts do. perhaps a good thing... but probably not. because if i don't get around to writing the thought down soon, i usually just forget the topic i wanted to write about or the words that i had masterfully strung together in my head. also, i've found that i can only retain so many writing thoughts in my head before there is no room left. so instead, i stop focusing on those thoughts.

and so, i think it is time for me to convert a few of my list notebooks into writing idea notebooks. to encourage the flow of those thoughts. perhaps the moleskines would like to fulfill their intended purpose...