In “On Keeping a Notebook” by Joan Didion, from her book of essays, Slouching Toward Bethlehem, she describes the importance of writing down everyday occurrences, largely because they remind us we exist. She refers to a theme found in her essay “Why I Write,” which has a series of: “I, I, I, I.”. In this […]
What is a Writer’s Notebook? (Three Sources)
Source 1 Essentially, a writer’s notebook is anything that you observe or feel a twinge of inspiration from as you go about your day. Your notebook might be filled with journal like entries (records of your day and/or emotions), lists of items, a recipe you like, a sentence you took in through reading, listening, or […]
Joan Didion, “Why I Write”
In “Why I Write” essayist and fiction writer Joan Didion discusses how she became a writer to discover what was already in her mind. She suggests, provocatively, that some things and memories have shimmering qualities. These “shimmering” qualities, if we recognize them, identify stories that need to be told. According to Didion, good sentences also […]