Orwell on writing by by Jeffrey Meyers in The NewCriterion:

Fond of making political prophecies and honestly willing to admit his mistakes, Orwell urged readers to keep a diary—as Winston Smith does in the novel—not only to recover and preserve the past, but also to maintain an accurate perspective on the truth: “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle. One thing that helps towards it is to keep a diary, or, at any rate, to keep some kind of record of one’s opinions about important events. Otherwise, when some particularly absurd belief is exploded by events, one may simply forget that one ever held it.”

“Suppose, for example, that the newspaper, which is delivered daily to your doorstep, is missing this morning. There are a number of possible explanations. The delivery person could be ill, the newspaper plant may have shut down, or outer space aliens may have stolen it for the purpose of spying on Earthlings.” Sharon Kaye on Okham's Razor. (via SciTechDaily)

Nebenbei: Wilhelm von Ockham : Gelehrter, Streiter, Bettelmönch von Volker Leppin (Primus, 2003) im Perlentaucher.