I like to write things down in the evening. Ideas. Headlines. Copy. It could be anything related to what I’m working on. But, as important as it is and as much as I like it, I get tired of being on my laptop. Like a lot of people, I’m on the computer a lot. It can turn into a kind of sickness.
So it was quite enjoyable for me to scrawl ink on real paper last night while I was sitting on the couch with the TV on, my daughters close by. The pen was a cheap ballpoint and the paper was from a wire-bound notebook I bought at the drug store a few years ago. Nonetheless, it just felt good to write and doodle. It also felt especially satisfying and healthy to leave the laptop upstairs in my den.
Recently, I read an article about “unkeeping” a journal. The idea presented in the article was to not “keep” a journal, treating it as a writing regimen or chore, but rather to “unkeep” it, using it whenever and however you like.
That’s appealing to me, especially as a break from being on my laptop and the Internet. I can play with ideas and, if something emerges, transfer it from the notebook. The pen and notebook are fun and liberating, creative toys without rules.
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