MEMORY

It's just now caught up with me. There are many levels involved in memory. When I was a child, my memory was almost photographic and I enjoyed instant recall of vast bits of information, catechism, history, geography. This may have done me a dis-service, because as the years wanned, and experiences multiplied, the instant recall became prolonged recall. To combat this traumatic disintegration of a once cherished faculty, I proceeded to try to memorize everything I set out to learn. I have copious notebooks of information that I wrote down (so I could aid my memory at later date, when I neede the information). Fortunately, I had a habit of writing down the reference book and page. My arduous scribblings meant nothing to me. Unfortunately, it takes eons for me to have an "aha" moment. But, "aha", I now write in a key-word and the reference site and date for all the material that I feel is vitally important to me as a writer.
The Epiphany: There's a difference between memory and recall. Synapses do occur and associations are made. And I have to learn to trust the miraculous fact that If I read/view something of importance, some simile of the details will remain somewhere in the cortex AND when I'm writing the great American novel, by some mystical, ethereal manner, events, character, and time specifics will issue forth as prompts that I have heretofore been attributing to muses.
I just have to read/view and absorb, like osmosis, and when I'm scratching for a detail or a phrase it will come to me.
Another New Year's resolution: less time memorizing-- more time writing.