Taking Note

I am grateful to my friend Brian Reineke for giving me the gift of a composition book and I'm also grateful to my mom for leaving me a pile of legal pads. Making notes, lists, writing down songs and song ideas, reminders and more all take place on these very necessary (to me) bound collections of lined paper. An assortment of started journals also litters my library shelves and nightstand at home. Steno pads are also favorites of mine because they are compact and I like that you can flip them around pretty easily.

When I was growing up, I frequently forgot to do homework, even though I did pretty well on school work and tests. The nuns (I was in Catholic school for a few years) made sure I took notes for my homework so I would remember what I needed to do, get it done, then check it off. Jokingly, when I had no assignments, I would write the word "nun" next to the class, i.e. history.

I like looking back through my notes, seeing what I've accomplished, what's been neglected, how songs got started, ideas that need to be fleshed out. Writing notes always keeps me moving forward as I learn what it is I need to do to keep my time organized so I have time to create. It's a good habit I'm glad I learned from some nuns!