For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers.
Slice of Life #23: Day 18/31:
Writer's Notebook Records
One thing that I love about keeping a writer's notebook is the ability to return to your writing and reread it. I find that it provides me with great insights about myself. Sometimes I jot down lines or poems that resonate with me. Other times I write conversations I want to remember. At times, I even craft rough drafts of what I will write in a letter or card to a friend.
Back in fall, I jotted a Mary Oliver poem in my notebook:
"The Uses of Sorrow"
(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)Someone I loved once gave mea box full of darkness.It took me years to understandthat this, too, was a gift.
This poem especially made me think about my divorce and how painful it was. It was as if Mary Oliver wrote that poem for me; I felt like I was given a box of darkness. It took me a long time to recognize some of the good that came out of this heartbreaking period.
Before my ex-husband and I decided to separate, I was conversing with a friend. At the time, my life felt so messy. I felt unlovable with few options. Writing seemed to be the only way that I could make sense of anything. Writing saved me. At one point, I wrote these words to her:
Did I tell you that lately I think of myself as tangled yarn? You know how when you are in the middle of a project and all of the sudden you have to stop and untangle the yarn before you keep going? Or how sometimes you have to go back to what you are working on and start taking it apart (the knitter's term called frogging)...and in the yarn you never know how many knots there are and what it will take to untangle it (or what I need to cut) or what you have to do to fix it? That's totally me these days.
Those words about tangled yarn are dog-eared in one of my writer's notebooks. That notebook is probably seven years old. Although it was (and still sometimes is) an incredibly painful time for me, I am grateful that I have a record of my thoughts and feelings.
What kinds of things do you record in your writer's notebook?
Trina,
ReplyDeleteGorgeous writing and metaphor to your friend. I also like revisiting my writing from time to time, but I’m not good at keeping a single notebook. My thoughts are scattered among notebooks, in app notes, all over google docs, and on scraps of paper.
Thank you for sharing the poem and your writing from the past. It shows the importance of keeping a journal, rereading it, and learning from it. Your letter has a powerful metaphor.
ReplyDeleteYour notebook entry could be written as a beautiful and powerful poem.I wrote on day one that making my thoughts permanent is why I do this challenge and why I keep a notebook.
ReplyDelete