P.S. Five of Sylvia Plath's Writing Goals

"...capture one taste, one touch, one vision from the ruck of the day’s garbage."

One of the best parts of writing Noted is that I get to re-visit some of my favorite authors. And when I do, I find these faded memories of a younger version of myself encountering their work for the first time. Writing about Sylvia Plath was like that. Re-reading her journals had me fishing under my bed for my old diaries. Here’s what I wrote about Plath when I was 19 years old:

This is the first time I’ve felt like writing in a long time; probably because I haven’t touched Sylvia Plath’s journals in a while so I don’t feel completely mediocre.

My journal from 2002—before I learned how to use semicolons.

Re-reading Plath’s notebooks, it’s clear why I felt intimidated. Plath’s writing, even when banal, is still vibrant. It feels like language just bends to her will. Justifiably, I was in awe of her. And, I didn’t even know about her gorgeous illustrations yet!

But, Plath was human. And, like most of us, she struggled to write consistently. She worried over her productivity and used her diary to record goals to spur herself on. In what follows, I share five of my favorites:

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