if you haven't known me for very long, you might not know that i grew up as both a purist and a hoarder. i would collect countless notebooks and do nothing with them because the blank pages looked so beautiful that i couldn't bear to disrupt them with my chicken-scratch handwriting. when i began writing poetry, i started carrying a notebook everywhere so that i could draft on-the-go-- i never knew when an idea would hit, and i wasn't going to let myself miss one just because i didn't have a trusty pen and paper on hand. but even then, i was very particular about the inside functionality of the book-- there had to be a certain number of lines with a certain spacing, and of course, it had to be thick enough to accommodate my particular affection for 0.9mm graphite. i used one, maybe two notebooks throughout high school and the first semester of college, out of my entire collection.
at the beginning of the spring 2020 semester, i got a new computer (...as i've had to do every two or three years since the eighth grade. it's not that i'm rough on my computers-- they just always seem to spontaneously break in the same way, with random horizontal or vertical lines covering the screen to the point of complete dysfunction). one thursday morning between my first two classes of the day, i sat, as usual, on my favorite windowsill in the performing arts center's cafe when i realized that i had forgotten my notebook in my dorm room. although my building was only about a five minute walk from the music building, i decided to give writing on my computer a try for the first time in years; and, much to my surprise, i actually loved it. (if you've known me for a while, you'll also recognize that i'm quite stubborn, and getting me to change my mind about something so fundamental as drafting format was incredibly unusual.) i realized that this was a good system for me due to my complete inability to pick one idea and stick to it. although some of my best writing has come from solely stream-of-consciousness writing, much of my "new process" involves revisiting ideas on several occasions and tweaking them as i go, which is much easier on a screen than trying to erase the aftertaste of the thick graphite on paper.
it was also around this time that i began taking my notes for all of my classes on my laptop, utilizing the abundance of services that the google suite has to offer to eliminate most of my paper usage for notes and drafting. around this time i managed to convince my good friend ally (hi ally!) to live with me the next year and, as she is a sustainability minor at the university, it made me think about what sorts of steps we could take towards sustainable living in our apartment the next year. although our original resolution to start our own composting system in our unit (complete with worms and fungi) were not entirely reasonable expectations, i realized that my paper use could be cut drastically in terms of notetaking and drafting. since 160,000 trees are cut down every day to make paper, i realized that, if reducing my demand for paper goods could help to save even one tree a year, i wanted to do my best to help that tree. so, digital drafting it is.
i discovered in this transition that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" doesn't always need to apply. it can never hurt to reevaluate the old systems and see if there could be something newer that works better for you. who knows-- you might even save a tree in the process. :)
~m.j