What Dolly Parton and This Mountain Girl Have in Common
I have been reading quite a bit about Dolly Parton since her death, and the more I read, the more I find little things about her that feel familiar.
We were both mountain girls who grew up around farms and rural life. Of course, Dolly carried those beginnings into a life and career that reached around the world, but she never seemed to lose the connection to where she came from. That may be one of the things I admired most about her.
Another thing that caught my attention was her habit of writing everything down.
I do the same thing.
I usually keep paper and a pen close by because ideas don't always arrive when it is convenient. Sometimes it is a blog idea, a sentence I want to remember, something someone says, or simply an observation I might want to come back to later.
Over time, those little notes turn into notebooks full of ideas.
Dolly apparently understood that very well. She once told the Library of Congress that when the words to “Coat of Many Colors” came to her on a bus and she had nothing to write on, she grabbed a dry-cleaning tag from one of Porter Wagoner’s outfits and started writing. She kept that tag afterward. (Library of Congress)
And Then There Are the Graveyards
One fact about Dolly that I especially loved learning was that she enjoyed visiting graveyards to write. That makes perfect sense to me.
She said she found old graveyards quiet, peaceful, and beautiful, and she would look at the names on the stones and imagine what those people’s lives might have been like. Those thoughts gave her ideas for stories. (Hotpress)
Something about an old mountain cemetery makes you slow down.
You notice the family names. You see generations buried close together. You notice how young some people were and how long others lived. Sometimes you recognize names that are still common in the community today.
Every stone represents a life, and every life had a story.
For someone who likes to write, it is hard not to wonder about them.
Who lived in that old farmhouse?
Who raised a family on that piece of land?
What hardships did they face?
What made them laugh?
What did they worry about?
And what stories disappeared because nobody ever wrote them down?
Maybe That Is Why We Keep Notebooks
I think people who enjoy writing are always collecting something.
Not necessarily things, but thoughts.
A sentence.
A memory.
A name.
A place.
An idea that might become something later.
Dolly Parton built an extraordinary career by noticing everyday life and turning it into stories people could recognize themselves in. Her mountain upbringing remained part of that storytelling throughout her life. (People.com)
My notebooks certainly won't produce thousands of songs, but I understand the urge to keep writing things down.
You never know which little observation will become tomorrow's story.
And now I think the next time I wander through an old mountain graveyard, I may take my notebook with me.
Do you keep a notebook of ideas, memories, or things you want to write about someday?
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