Spiraling Upward

Today I officially kick off my second season of helping high school seniors compose essays for their college applications. Last year, I had one paying (and very satisfied) customer; this year, I hope to double that. Or just raise my prices, I suppose.

I'm a little off balance today. My son has borrowed my laptop, and I have been reduced to penning the day's blog into a plain old notebook, the kind with a thick stack of lined paper bound together with a plastic spiral. At least the surroundings are familiar (Starbucks) and the company is as well (I'm only inches away from the fire chief, who initially didn't seem to recognize me without my usual equipment). But I'm fidgety -- can't seem to get myself comfortable on the couch without my trusty companion with the perfectly calibrated keyboard and the slightly smudged screen.

My old fashioned notebook has its benefits, though. There is nothing better than randomly flipping pages, serendipitously coming upon old bits of wisdom that might otherwise have long been forgotten or, worse still, moved to the trash bin. It's why I've resisted electronic books; no computer generated page turning imagery can possibly simulate the satisfying feeling of flipping haphazardly through some dog-eared bits of paper.

My spiral notebook has already afforded me several unexpected gems -- essays I've written for nobody, plans for yoga classes I've probably never taught, blog posts I've never published. And all the false starts -- pages with only two words written on them, words that seemed to hold such promise until the dreaded "block" set in. Words I most assuredly would have deleted on my laptop.

My favorite discovery was an entry that, though brief, seems to say so much: "Dear Putz." I can only guess as to who was to be the recipient of the letter that was never written, but I have my theories. Frankly, I compose a "Dear Putz" letter in my head almost daily; there is certainly no shortage of material.

When I brainstorm with my high school senior this afternoon, trying to get him to dig deep for some "out of the box" ideas for his personal essays, I will no doubt offer up a writing prompt or two from my own mental files. Or even from my trash bin. "Dear Putz" might very well make it to the lesson plan.