Tools for Marking Time & Charting Course

Do you keep a journal nearby, readily available when you want … no need … to jot something down?  You should.   Otherwise, if you are like me, it is not possible to remember every great idea, pithy turn of phrase, witty observation or critical “to do” list addition that pops into – and then out of - your head. Without documentation, those important yet fleeting thoughts have a way of disappearing like Alice down the rabbit hole: in your head somewhere, but lost in the colorful, hazy, obscure reaches of your mind. 

Or, do you carry a planner to quickly note the dates and deadlines that pile up in your head?

I do.  Well, I should.  Sifting out the flotsam of deadlines, events and must-do activities frees up more space for creative thinking.  Well, that’s my theory any way, one I should put into practice.  I have a planner.  Trouble is, I routinely move my planner-cum-calendar.  Is it on my desk?  In my purse? In my briefcase? In my vehicle?

This year, I’m going to keep better track of my planning calendar.  Just as soon as find the slippery creature.

Same goes for a journal.  I will get one.  And, I will use it. 

Just yesterday, I stood in the local variety store pondering which notebook or diary would work best.  Do I get multiple small ones for the various things I want to keep track of?  Would a notebook small enough to fit into my purse yet featuring multiple pages and dividers work?  Like many writers, I coveted something with a leather cover, with thick, quality paper and without a spiral binding.  Of course, as often as I misplace my journal and as often as my purse is home to pounds of detritus … napkins to medicines to food to just about anything that can accompany the words, “Here, Mom, hold this will ya?” … splurging on a beautiful diary is probably wasteful at best and insane at worst.

So, I left my neighborhood retailer without a new notebook and continued my errands.  Of course, as I zipped from the post office to the pharmacy and beyond, I noted a millions things I simply MUST remember … blog ideas, research points for a project, things to tell people, items to enter into my planner (which still hasn’t made its way back into my purse.).

Of course, I was without a journal. After all, I couldn’t purchase THE perfect one at my local store. 

So, I did what I always do, scratching down barely legible notes on my go-to documentation material: the fast food napkin.

Now, if I can only find where I put the damned thing!