I thought about travel, the people I meet and conversations worth returning to when there is more time. I wanted to share them here, along with the thoughts that accompany my work and sometimes lead elsewhere.
Then I hesitated. Perhaps it was not appropriate. Perhaps, for the time being at least, it would be better to keep this website focused on books and projects.
That hesitation seems a good place to begin.
When I present a project, I can describe where we started, explain our choices and show what we have made. A personal experience is harder to put on the page. I have to choose how much to say, find words that sound like me and accept that readers will also learn something about who I am.
And yet that is exactly what I would like to try.
In the book, I brought together a body of research and gave it the shape of a method. Here I would like to write more freely, closer to the moment when something catches my interest and I feel the need to return to it. It might be the memory of a place, or a conversation that changed my mind.
Scent will certainly have its place. It is an important part of my life and of how I see things. But I would also like to leave room for other interests, without having to justify their presence on these pages each time.
I chose to call this section Notebook because it gives me that freedom. I can write down an unfinished thought and return to it later, when I have something to add. I can change my mind, too.
For now, this is where I begin, with the wish to share a little more of myself and the slight hesitation that came with it.