Taking Notes

During my first twenty years or so of magazine writing I had no working method at all. On most interviews I'd try just to go through the experience, paying as much attention as I could, and then later, write the piece from memory. That worked fairly well, but I didn't realize how insulted the subjects were that I took no notes. When I finally did start taking notes--to ease their fears--I found the process of note-taking got in the way of paying attention. I never did solve that one.

John Jerome, The Writing Trade, 1992. This an excellent book about the writing life.