Feeling Guilty About Notebooks

I loved this post I stumbled across, in which the writer ponders the different notebooks she’s been using for the “morning pages” exercise recommended in The Artist’s Way:

This morning, as I began writing I started thinking about my good old Black ‘n Red. I thought, maybe I should go back and start writing in it again. It was kinda unfair that I abandoned it for this beautiful spankin’ new journal. I sighed at the image of it sitting on my desk forsaken and unused. How utterly sad.

Then I stopped – I interrupted that ridiculous train of thought and was shock to discover that I felt GUILTY! Within 15 seconds I had almost convinced myself my journal was offended and felt cast-off and forgotten. With a quickness I told my brain, “Listen here – that notebook is an inanimate object. The only life it possesses is what I give it!”

But what rich lives our notebooks have, whether we personify them or not, and regardless of which kind we choose at any given time. As the writer finally concludes, “I can write in any flippin’ notebook that I want!”

Read more at Killing Superwoman: Guilty of Being Guilty!.

One thought on “Feeling Guilty About Notebooks”

  1. I am sort of a serial monogamist when it comes to notebooks and journals. Whichever one I’m currently using is THE ONE, THE ONLY ONE. Then I meet a new one that just speaks to me. I buy it, thinking that now I’ve found the right one for all time, and the cycle repeats itself. I usually hate myself in the morning, but I can’t seem to change. Meanwhile, the stash grows, each one waiting expectantly, saying “Pick me! Pick me!” when the time comes to start a new notebook. Sigh . . .

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