Friday, February 9, 2024

Eminem and the Necessity of Notes

 It can be interesting to see how creative people do their thing.

Today Austin Kleon's e-newsletter introduced me to rapper Eminem's obsessive, crazy-hoarder-looking notetaking... and I felt a rush of sympathy and understanding, for I too scribble notes.  (Less impactful ones, noted.)  

From Kleon to Jillian Hess's piece in Noted HERE, to a film clip with Eminem and Anderson Cooper (in this 60 Minutes clip at 1:11 HERE)...  This is a poet who is obsessed with rhyming and works out his lyrics painstakingly by ear and by hand on scattered bits of paper that he stores in boxes.

We should all be doing this!

Not the scribbled rhymes for us maybe, but the dedicated working out, ruminating, scribbling, and saving.  This is where much of the good stuff that bubbles up in us can be found again later when we need it.

Eminem calls his thought-storage "stacking ammo."