The Gathering of Random Thoughts In Your Writer's Notebook



Renowned Australian author, Helen Garner uses the term ‘Notes: aimless' to denote the jotting down of thoughts in her writer’s notebook. These are the thoughts that sprout persistently in the inevitable cracks between writing projects.

They appear sometimes as lists of scribbled possibilities. Sometimes the noted ideas are related, at other times they possess no obvious connection to one another - a smattering of brain activity is captured in hope and expectation. 

I am aware of this phenomenon being present in my own writing process.  When rereading older notebook entries, I encounter such notations and find myself speculating over what may have provided the initial spark of motivation. I start to consider the thought that brought such words to the notebook page in the first place. Rereading them is now surrounded with an air of mystery, sometimes even strangeness.

I think of these entries as random, but I don’t view them as being aimless. I refer to them as ‘random thoughts.'

 Sometimes when revisiting such entries, I often require a little time to fully recognize them. After all, I may not have sighted them for quite some time. Their acquaintance is disguised by the mists of time. My mind is suitably stirred. My curiosity piqued.

Eventually they reveal themselves. Often they are still floating free, unattached from any particular grand plan-still stubbornly random.

Like Helen Garner, one day I might be lucky enough to discover where these hints and skerrick’s of ideas actually belong. They are not yet connected, but they are certainly not lost either. They are merely waiting to find their assigned place in my writing life. My wish for them is that they be written into meaningful existence.

So right on cue, more random thought rise up among the cracks…

Random Thoughts

  • When will the crickets commence their calling?
  • Anxiety –pernicious thoughts
  • Relentless practice and pursuit of perfection –champions        
  • Ronny Wunders- let’s build him!
  • She lived a small life- denying risk and opportunity any hope  
  • Insults –sound bites
  • Tall, bald man with a fish tattoo just above his right ear.
  • Eggs poached, boiled, not fried, never scrambled.
  • The calmative effect of sitting beside rivers
  • Creaky floorboard betrayal
  • Scurryfunge
  • Grief is a personal consideration
  • Spring is playing coy this year
  • Lemongrass 
  • Scurryfunge
  • The pressure cooker



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