I’ve made an effort to jot down ideas (words or images) in a little sketchbook that fits in my bag, so that anything that comes across my mind that seems worth recalling gets a home. There’s something important to taking one’s own imagination and insights seriously enough to record them.

The other thing is this series of YouTube videos on a Lynda Barry writing-talk, posted by one of my best friends who lives on the opposite end of the country right now. I own her book, What It Is, about drawing on “images” for writing for one’s own good, and these videos both made me feel totally enamored with her and sort of served as a surrogate for my absent friend:
Writing to Remember-
part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb-x8IsdopA
part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtnZ0Amrs2w&feature=related
part three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5G3e-Z3aeA&feature=related
part four: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNrLTZiN6lQ&feature=related
part five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2kt7HgAEk&feature=related

It’s nearly an hour of her discussion, but she’s so hilarious and encouraging that I wised for more. I played them over and over (while working on math homework!), played them for S, looked for more material, etc. 20 months ago