Observations on writing/blogging

I noticed some things this past week about the differences between keeping a written journal and a blog that reinforce. Last weekend, as I finished writing in my journal and was on the verge of closing it, the book fell open to an article that I had taped there two years earlier. This article is currently relevant for many reasons, but I had completely forgotten that it existed until that moment. The experience made me extremely grateful for the physicality of my written journal. My written journals encourage me to return to old thoughts and ideas, and it is relatively easy to find old entries.

This morning, I needed to relocate something that I had posted in my blog. I spent about 30 minutes searching for it, with no success. I encountered a lot of other extraneous information, but it seems that if I want to find what I am looking for, I must have a much better memory of when I posted. Features like tags and titles may help with this process, but searching through web pages requires much more effort and the probability of randomly encountering something relevant is much lower.

On some of the Moleskine-related websites, people routinely post information about strategies to further organize one's Moleskines (for example, writing down page numbers, adding index tabs, keeping an index, etc.). I've been considering adding page numbers to a couple of my Moleskines, but I must admit that part of my enjoyment of my Moleskines is through the chance encounters that happen as I flip through pages in search of a crucial piece of information. Ultimately, the degree of organization for my Moleskines will depend on how I use each notebook. But it makes me happy to realize (in the multiple meanings of the word) the inherent tangible benefits of my analog note-keeping tools.

x-posted to moleskine_users

For popcultureicon

found it.

There was something more recent that was related, but this was what brought it to my attention, and I agree.