Recently, on my family's multi-generational annual vacation some of us were bemoaning the fact that, despite our co-workers knowing we were on vacation and our email responders politely telling people to go away until next Monday, most of us were still fielding work "emergencies".
I proudly announced that I was strictly away from the office (meaning my office job) until my mother pointed out that she knew I was on the computer late the night before.
"But that wasn't really work..." I tried to explain.
"She's a writer, mom," my brother said. "It's what writers do."
True to my brother's word, I was doing what writers do. Writing. Writing with no purpose, no assignment, no paycheck. I was capturing moments from our vacation with no thought of how they might eventually show up in my writing life.
I wrote about the odd combination of tasting the sweet tanginess of lemon chiffon ice cream while my nose was bombarded by the smell of Old Bay Seasoning from the restaurant next door. I wrote about the toasty feel of pouring noon hot sand over my feet in an oceanside DIY foot massage. I wrote about the surprise of being mistaken for a "local" who calls the beach home. I wrote about that moment - however fleeting - that we all have at some point in the trip when we wish we would have just stayed home. I wrote about the aroma of brine and hot asphalt that rises up after a sudden, middle of the night thunderstorm.
They weren't the beginnings of short stories, poems, essays or articles. They were just snapshots of a week that we all think we'll remember in detail. But in the hustle and bustle of traveling home, doing endless loads of laundry and preparing to return to our regular life some many events are forgotten or blurred to a vague memory. So I collect them and save them in case one day I need them.
I think of these snippets that I jot down to cement a new place or experience in my mind as writing albums. We have photo albums (IRL or virtual) filled with photos that will never be framed and hung on the wall, placed in a photobook or even added to our Instagram feed. But we snap those photos and save those images just in case. As writers we should be doing the same with words instead of images.
I find I write more in the journaling/memory category when I am away from home. Perhaps because it's easier to give myself permission to write without purpose on vacation. These bits of writing are saved in files labelled: Philadelphia, Beach, Sports, Nature. and they are filled with half-formed thoughts, carefully recorded impressions, tiny moments. Eventually they may become the starting point for an article, the theme of an essay or a feeling that brings a character to life. For now they remain firmly in the just in case stage.
Do you record new experiences or places with writing even though you have no plan for how you'll eventually use it?
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Jodi M. Webb writes from her home in the Pennsylvania mountains about everything from apple pie to consignment shops to travel. But she writes wherever she goes. How else would she remember purple bridges, shy foxes or the smell of caramel corn carameling? She's also a blog tour manager for WOW-Women on Writing. Follow her writing (and reading) life at Words by Webb.
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