Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything, only to point out that "we" is either inaccurate or manipulative; these days, mostly the latter. It's also a tool for dividing people:
Never read any Joan Didion. Maybe I should, and maybe "Notebook" is a place to start.
I was always told, as part of personal and leadership development, that I should keep a journal. Never did, though. But I did a blog of sorts for a year, about three years ago, and found it was useful, and was what passed for a journal for me.
That stopped, and I missed it.
Then Substack gave me an easy way to start doing it again. There's something about "publishing" that reinforces and pushes along the good habit.
Almost no-one reads my Substack, but that doesn't seem to matter. It kinda has a life and will of its own, outside my normal existence. The space it gives me for thinking and reflection has proved very positive, as has the chance to capture some autobiographical moments that I thought were important at the time and might still be.
So perhaps you are why "Notebook" is having a moment?
Y’all do a great job representing different forms of creation here but there’s always gotta be a podcast in this collection! Particularly one for spooky season… there are so many well-told ghost stories out in the audio world…
Any "theories as to why “On Keeping a Notebook” has permeated the cultural psyche": ~ object permanence.
Joan Didion's thinking and writing can be found at any time: it's always there.
Today's writing is mostly digital, here today and gone the next moment. It's always there, but if it's not on someone's social media feed wall, noone knows it exists.
This is true of considered posts. Unless you take a screen shot of what you wrote, it won't be preserved and it will be forgotten.
People yearn for more permanence for their thoughts and writing, their notebooks.
It's why people who build a large social media following write books, apart from monetising their popularity to create an income stream: they want to exist in the physical realm. If their social media presence fades, their books remain - their stamp on time: I was here.
"AI content generation tools bring the risk of flooding the market with a lot of cheap goods that can undercut even the most productive human creators. And in the case of writers like myself—who publish fairly infrequently—the risk is greater. Invariably, the question that haunts me, and that ought to haunt all of us, is this: Why should anyone go through all the work to create a deep and eloquent essay or podcast, when somebody will use AI to do the same thing more eloquently and deeply—and in the same time it takes them to go on a bathroom break?...
Substack has effectively upheld the freedom of speech. Now the question remains, will it also stand up to protect uniquely human speech?"
AI doing the same thing more “eloquently and deeply“ is by no means guaranteed. AI relies on large language models, which just synthesize whatever has already been written to produce something “new”. And if the AI is more eloquent and deep, what’s wrong with improvement?
What an incredibly insightful post! The way you weave together eerie themes, literary analysis, and even a touch of whimsy with Halloween-themed selections is nothing short of inspiring. Each section—whether diving into the history of witch hunts and the printing press or breaking down the dynamics in *Millions of Cats*—brings a new level of appreciation for storytelling across different media. Your post reminds me of how captivating it can be to explore various cultural intersections, from folklore to modern literary criticism, and makes it clear how essential storytelling is in understanding our own fears, humor, and history. Thank you for such an engaging and thought-provoking collection; it's refreshing to find such depth and variety all in one place!
Thanks for including us :=
Who is "we"? :)
Good question
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything, only to point out that "we" is either inaccurate or manipulative; these days, mostly the latter. It's also a tool for dividing people:
https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/divide-and-rule-is-working-in-mysterious
Vincent Price saying 'Amusing' is going to be playing in my head the rest of the day and I ain't mad.
The October moon got me 🥺
Many thanks from The Didion gang!!! 🤓📚🥰
Never read any Joan Didion. Maybe I should, and maybe "Notebook" is a place to start.
I was always told, as part of personal and leadership development, that I should keep a journal. Never did, though. But I did a blog of sorts for a year, about three years ago, and found it was useful, and was what passed for a journal for me.
That stopped, and I missed it.
Then Substack gave me an easy way to start doing it again. There's something about "publishing" that reinforces and pushes along the good habit.
Almost no-one reads my Substack, but that doesn't seem to matter. It kinda has a life and will of its own, outside my normal existence. The space it gives me for thinking and reflection has proved very positive, as has the chance to capture some autobiographical moments that I thought were important at the time and might still be.
So perhaps you are why "Notebook" is having a moment?
Didion’s personal notebooks are the most fascinating thing I’ve read about in a long time. Thanks for including my essay about them!
Lovely to see Michela Griffith's photo and Jon Norris' photo featured!
Quite a surprise—and I’m delighted to have Jon’s company. And yours Pamela!
Thank you so much for including my essay here. I'm honored.
This is such a fun haunty collection - thank you!
A fun, informative Halloween post, that I enjoyed: https://jenovia.substack.com/p/taxidermy-and-mildred
Thank you, Shelly!
Loved the story about the monster who ate Earth.
Y’all do a great job representing different forms of creation here but there’s always gotta be a podcast in this collection! Particularly one for spooky season… there are so many well-told ghost stories out in the audio world…
Any "theories as to why “On Keeping a Notebook” has permeated the cultural psyche": ~ object permanence.
Joan Didion's thinking and writing can be found at any time: it's always there.
Today's writing is mostly digital, here today and gone the next moment. It's always there, but if it's not on someone's social media feed wall, noone knows it exists.
This is true of considered posts. Unless you take a screen shot of what you wrote, it won't be preserved and it will be forgotten.
People yearn for more permanence for their thoughts and writing, their notebooks.
It's why people who build a large social media following write books, apart from monetising their popularity to create an income stream: they want to exist in the physical realm. If their social media presence fades, their books remain - their stamp on time: I was here.
I'm so grateful to have been included!!
Great roundup! Another article - and highly engaged comments section - that I would recommend this week is "The AI Curse is Coming for the Creator's Economy" https://pilgrimsinthemachine.substack.com/p/the-ai-curse-is-coming-for-the-creators.
"AI content generation tools bring the risk of flooding the market with a lot of cheap goods that can undercut even the most productive human creators. And in the case of writers like myself—who publish fairly infrequently—the risk is greater. Invariably, the question that haunts me, and that ought to haunt all of us, is this: Why should anyone go through all the work to create a deep and eloquent essay or podcast, when somebody will use AI to do the same thing more eloquently and deeply—and in the same time it takes them to go on a bathroom break?...
Substack has effectively upheld the freedom of speech. Now the question remains, will it also stand up to protect uniquely human speech?"
AI doing the same thing more “eloquently and deeply“ is by no means guaranteed. AI relies on large language models, which just synthesize whatever has already been written to produce something “new”. And if the AI is more eloquent and deep, what’s wrong with improvement?
What an incredibly insightful post! The way you weave together eerie themes, literary analysis, and even a touch of whimsy with Halloween-themed selections is nothing short of inspiring. Each section—whether diving into the history of witch hunts and the printing press or breaking down the dynamics in *Millions of Cats*—brings a new level of appreciation for storytelling across different media. Your post reminds me of how captivating it can be to explore various cultural intersections, from folklore to modern literary criticism, and makes it clear how essential storytelling is in understanding our own fears, humor, and history. Thank you for such an engaging and thought-provoking collection; it's refreshing to find such depth and variety all in one place!