Intermission
a creative coffee break from writing the play

Where is my pen? Damn!  Society’s loss.

–Frank Versati, from Steve Martin’s adaptation of The Underpants

Once upon a time, I learned inspired thoughts were not to be trusted with the vagaries of my personal neurobiology. Years of hit and miss remembering, forced me to write these tidbits down as they occurred. Later, even social form, and politeness, had to be crushed in favor of writing down critical “flash” ideas.

You know what I’m talking about. You’re sitting there over dinner, trying hard to be a normal person in order to impress your new in-laws, or in my case, “out-laws,” and someone passes the bread, or shoves some peas under her potatoes, or chews his food fifty-two times, or drinks her wine with a straw, and your mom-in-law asks, “You are coming to Mass in the morning, aren’t you?” and you stare blankly, as you didn’t hear or comprehend the unexpected question, because you just had an “Ah-Ha!” moment about your play. When you quickly pull yourself together and blather a response, earning you a reputation that you are, at best, an idiot, you tragically lose the inspired thought that could have saved your Act Two.

Thus, the need for a small notebook, sometimes a small pen, and always the commitment to abandon social niceties.

I am have an embarrassment of small notebooks. Over the years I have preferred the Moleskine, yet also have a lot of small composition-style notebooks as well. For a long time, I’ve preferred notebooks with binding at the top. These days, my predominant concern has been a notebook that won’t rapidly disintegrate. Moleskines of course are quite sturdy. They are, alas, too big for my satisfaction, and my back denim pocket. Although, the Moleskine Pocket Cahier is in the running as a favorite small note capturing device.

In a sampling of notebooks from my collection, the smallest is approximately 1.5″: x 1.5″, and the largest notebook is 7.5″ x 4.5″.

Currently, my favorite small notebook is the flexible notebook made by Miguelrius. It’s just the right size, and durable enough to shove in a back-pocket. If you’re in Louisville, Carmichael’s Bookstore carries ‘em.

When the mini-flex is not small enough, I use a teeny-tiny notebook I wear around my neck. I confess, I’ve written in it once. I have no idea what I wrote, because my writing on that teeny-tiny page is incomprehensible.

Bad handwriting is another reason inspired thoughts can be lost. Having mastered an inurement of sorts with out-laws, the Beloved, and perfect strangers, giving in to capturing thoughts whenever they hit me, it seems I must also practice my penmanship for writing in the dark using a teeny-tiny notebook.