She wasn’t buying. “Let’s see.” I handed it over, and stopped breathing as she flipped through so many, so MANY blank pages. I just had to explain. “See, I’ve got three teenage kids and I barely have time to do all the coursework and I end up just writing down ideas in the notebook I use for class notes instead of a proper “journal” and…” I trailed off. Pathetic.
She stared at me, shook her head in sympathy, and talked to me as though speaking to a small, fragile, academically challenged child. “It doesn’t matter where you write it down. Slips of paper in your pocket will do. All that matters is that you do it.”
So, here are my various “notebooks":
And here is a poem that was inspired by a dream I had, which, when I awoke from it, my husband insisted that I write down. Which I did. In my journal. (This was before I started grad school.) Thanks, Amy, for inviting me to share it as part of this conversation!
Mary Poindexter McLaughlin is a playwright, an Improvidancer, and a brand new poet (!?!) who lives in Western New York. She’s also a mother of three with a soon-to-be-completed Masters Degree in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University at Buffalo.
In honor of Mary's notebook keeping, I will give away an Ultra Collection of Post it Notes to one commenter on this post. Please leave your comment by Sunday, April 6 to have your name entered into the drawing.
