This week's question:
A couple weeks ago, we asked about how you take care of your books, with one of the questions asking whether you write in your books. Well, what about books that are meant to be written in? Like, say, a journal or diary? Do you keep one? Obviously, if you're answering this, you have a blog--do you just let your blog be your journal? Or do you also keep one for private stuff also?
Yes, yes, yes. I keep one for myself. I've kept a journal for 37 years, give or take a few periods of silence. (As always, silence roars.) The notebooks are in my closet, in two large pieces of luggage. Although I've never reread them, there are some entries I can see as clearly as if they were in front of me. I know where I wrote, what I wrote, which pen and which ink I used. Taken together, they probably would be a Cubist sort of memoir - some overlap, some clashes of color, some movement (but very little organization, alas).
Will I ever reread them? Probably. Will I ever share them? That's a hard one. I'd like to say yes, sure, but I'm not sure.
I have purposely avoided using fancy notebooks as journals, although I'll use them for story ideas, commonplace-type books, repositories for haikus, even lists. For journal writing (does anyone really like the verb form, journaling??), I want to be comfortable, even sloppy, without the psychological impediment of a formal environment. The same does not hold true with my pens, however - if the paper is fountain-pen friendly, I'll use one from my collection (especially if it was a gift).
melanie
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4 comments:
Hi - I don't think my old journal/diary books were fancy either. But it does have a very nice covers though ;)
And like you, I don't even know if I would share my books with anyone. Unless if there is an important entries I think they should read :)
one pens are difficult for me to stick with, so I tried variety of them too :)
Happy Booking Through Thursday! Here is Mine!
That's interesting: "journal writing." In education we tend to say journalling but I looked up the spelling in Merriam-Webster to see whether it is journaling and there isn't such a word. Journal writing is good. But I'm so trained in "journalling" (I like the double-L) that the connotation is not just the writing but the thought process.
This has been a great topic. I've gotten new ideas to ponder and new journal writing processes to try out! Thank you.
I like your reasoning for not using fancy journals. I had never thought of it that way, but it makes sense.
I keep a journal too, that I write in almost daily. I also write snippets of ideas and thoughts in my day planner and I will also write in some books my thoughts about that book, feelings I have at the times of reading it, dates of the reading, etc…
But those that I write in are so well worn from frequent re-reading, constant caring around in my bag and have become apart of my being .
However I also have an entire library full of books that I wouldn't dare write in, let alone dog ear the pages.
I don't know why this is, it just is.
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