Thursday 13: Notes From My Moleskine

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I'm on my fourth moleskine, headed to my fifth, and it's something I won't live without again until I'm too old to care. I use it for reminders, doodles, to-do's, quick poems, wry observations, sad laments, client notes, phone numbers, even an occasional recipe. But mostly I use it for inspiration. Here's a sampling from my scribbles in # 4:

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1. 3/09: "Here I am again. I started with deep love and I'm nowhere near finished. I didn't expect loss or pain as part of the awakening."

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2. Quote from I don't know who: "Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner."

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3. Note to myself " kj--get into a routine. Let it be a riverbank to your emotions."

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4. Overhead in Nerissa's writing group: EGO = Easing God Out

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5. Also overheard: "God likes it better when I hand the bone over."

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6. Potential book titles, mentally stolen from other writer's stories: "Bake 350", "Before the Cat Died"

Potential book characters, also stolen: Kevin & Ginger

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7. kj--write about TREES. And then watch how they bend.

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8. From Nerissa--I understand this totally: "Don't shoot the second arrow." And I am so totally trying to live it.

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9. When someone tells you they've had six marriage proposals, stop a minute and think about what that really says about them.

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10. I heard this quote on the radio and wrote it down while driving: "I realized that I was in love with her and everything would be different now."

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11. On a church sign: "Who would Jesus bomb?"

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12. Another church sign: "Waiting for Holy Winds"

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13. My heart remembers: When there wasn't a last good night, there was a first good morning.

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P.S. If you don't own a moleskine, please allow me to recommend one wholeheartedly. The cover is strong and protective of all its inside pages (plus I love the sound when I knock on the cover). An elastic string keeps it easily closed. There is a back pocket to store little papers. And moleskines come in all sizes, lined or non-lined. I carry mine everywhere. My first was lovingly given to me with wonderful personal inscriptions, doodles, and illustrations peppered throughout the pages, leaving plenty of room for my additions. When I filled that one, I got another. And another. I'm permanently hooked.