The Four-Minute Diary

Here’s a post on the magic of broken links. 

I’m a big fan of Austin Kleon. He’s written several short books on creativity. I highly suggest them. Through his newsletter received last Friday, I came across Lynda Barry. Ms. Barry is known as a cartoonist, writer, and teacher. She has written a few books herself. Anyway, the link from Kleon’s email I wanted to look at (Lynda Barry’s “Bag of Words” exercise; Ray Bradbury had used a similar exercise) was broken. Well, not really broken. The video was showing as unavailable. Three other videos were suggested. I clicked on the one called The Four-Minute Diary. 

The premise is simple: Split a page with a vertical line. Head the column on the left with Remembered. Head the column on the right with Saw. Set a timer for two minutes and write down everything you remember about yesterday. Then, re-set the timer and write down everything you saw yesterday. As in details. The teeth on the guy you saw walking his dog. The cardinal you saw in your front tree. The rusty blue pickup that was trailing blue smoke on your way to work. The jewelry on the barista that served your morning coffee. Stuff like that. 

As a poet, observing small details serves me well. Ted Kooser urges poets to be observant in this manner. In his poetry guide, “The Poetry Home Repair Manual,” he advises, “notice six things a day.” And I’ve tried to list out those six things a day, but I have failed miserably. Up until the past couple of days that I’ve done the Four-Minute Diary. Even better, I’ve found I notice MORE than six things a day. Which is great. 

I have added The Four-Minute Diary to my daily writing regimen. And I’ve subscribed to Lynda’s YouTube channel. 

I hope you get as much out this exercise as I have.