I'm not sure "diary" is the right word here, but I'll ask this question anyway: Do any of you in our Substack community keep a writer's diary?
I've know some writers, but only a smattering, that have faithfully kept a writing diary. Two of them, both women, allowed me to briefly peruse them. Admittedly, I was smitten.
Here in beautiful or sometimes hurried cursive were musings, observations, thoughts, quotes, descriptions that were intimate in some cases, objective in others. All related in some way or other to their writing selves.
One thing that struck me was that these writer diarists, including a couple of men, always kept their small diary books with them, on vacation, on errands, on outings to parks. The tattered pages were peppered with descriptions of birds calling to one another, of a fight with a dear friend, with literary scenes that they imagined and thought they migh ,t someday use, and with odd ideas for articles or novels.
I personally think that keeping such a writer's diary is a capital idea. I wish I had the patience and commitment to do the same. I have my own way of doing something similar. I always kept notes of writing ideas that I'd jot down on scraps of paper. I'd find them years later in the back of a file cabinet or on page 246 of a book I had read. Now I use my iPhone or laptop to jot them down. This winter I even made an attempt to organize them so that they'd be easier to find when I need them. Abject failure so far. I promise myself to keep at it.
So, please, share with our community your thoughts on this writer's tool. Do you keep a writer's diary? What is like for you? Do you recommend it? How does it help in your writing life?