Everyday Canvas

On Taking Notes

Yours truly and taking notes is a hilarious undertaking. Yes, I do take notes, when I can.

If I am with a group of people and everyone is having a good time, however, I won’t stop and take notes, since it may be too distracting for others; plus, I don’t want them to see me as a party-pooping wise Alec. Instead, I try to memorize the scene or what has appealed to me, but later, whether I remember it or not depends on the roll of the dice.

In other instances, I do take notes on pre-cut pieces of paper I carry in my purse, which, most of the time, I either lose them or they become so over-populated and tangled up that they are unusable. Of those I can rescue, I copy them into a notebook for later use, if I remember in which notebook they are, as I have several notebooks according to context (supposedly!), but then, I face another pile up, since I can forget what goes into which notebook. If I could only hold a white-elephant sale of my notes…Despite all this mix-up, though, I manage to use at least a few of them, which can qualify for an athletic feat of some kind.

With all this note-taking, I know I still miss what’s in front of me, due to being distracted or not recognizing that a specific situation could be milked. My blind spots are countless, when I think of it.

In several instances, I tried to use an electronic gadget someone once had gifted me and a tape recorder. The gadget didn’t work well, and tape recording was good only when I was interviewing someone, which happened only a few times, a very long time ago. Since neither felt right, I now prefer taking notes long hand. In any case, I don’t want to obsess over notes, but then I am already obsessed with writing.

All this chewing the fat on notes and author quotes brings to mind another gem by Gore Vidal. “Write something, even if it’s just a suicide note.” Who knows, that kind of a note may come one day when I finally feel drowned in my tiny pieces of paper with my barely legible scribbles on them. Now that will be something to take note of...

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Prompt: Raymond Carver says," many writers miss what is right in front of them." Judy Reeves disagrees, she says, "Writers live life on two levels, one we participate in relationships, go about our daily business, interact, respond and perform: the other we observe and take notes." I know it sounds simple but is it. Do you only take notes about what needs to be remembered or are you like Carver indicates oblivious to all that is available. Tell me what you think about their opinions.