Break out the hound dogs and round of the search party — my Moleskine notebook is missing. This is not a drill; this is a full-scale, four-alarm emergency. Alert the president that we are at DEFCON-2. It’s that serious.
If you don’t already know, I love my Moleskine. Sure, it’s a small stack of paper wrapped in cardboard and fake leather, but it so much more than that. For me, it’s a repository of all the random ideas that pop into my head throughout the day. Snippets of dialogue, scene descriptions, characters and sometimes whole stories bubble up out of the well spring of my subconscious and are trapped in the net of my notebook for later use.
Ideas often come at inopportune times and having my Moleskine stashed nearby in my backpack or coat pocket allows me to get those fleeting thoughts on paper so that I can fully develop them at a later time. My Moleskine in many ways is an extension of my brain. It works like a low-tech external hard drive. It is essential to my writing process. I am constantly going back through its pages of tiny, tightly-packed writing to mine my old ideas for new material.
My current Moleskine houses almost two years of notes and today, as I was cleaning the house, I noticed that it wasn’t in any of any of its usual places. Not in its designated backpack pocket; not in the left inside pocket of my pea coat; on my desk; not in my desk drawers and not between the coach cushions.
I have no idea where it went. I can only hope it will turn up soon and keep writing without the benefit of my cache of ideas.
— 30 —
Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA. If you find his Moleskine somewhere, instructions for how to contact him are enclosed. You will be rewarded with richest beyond your wildest imagination. You can also find him on Twitter.
Update: My Moleskine has been recovered. It was in the center console of my car, left there after a lunchtime writing session that ended abruptly. I shall be paying my reward to myself.
