I write in either pencil or fountain pen these days…both of which are fun to erase or blur by rubbing or painting over with water (or watercolour) before leaping in with all sorts of other media. Blurred words make an excellent base layer for landscape drawings, and repurposing notebooks in this way gives me great satisfaction.
It means that little sheet of pulped and squashed tree will live on just a little longer…AND THEN if you still don’t like you drawing/painting you can rip it up and use it for collage, or make papîer maché bowls, or….
This is SO spot on. Years ago, I started getting rid of journals. Like you said, they were mostly processing and sometimes, being reminded of the process made me sad, or self-conscious that someone would read it (god forbid). And that comment about wanting to be who we are today and not who we were 20 years ago. AMEN. The thing that sparked by releasing of the journals was something a friend and I came up with that we called THE MAN PLAN. This was a narrative in excruciating detail about the traits of our idea man (yes, it included dick dimensions). These days, I don't journal unless I'm trying to get unstuck on a bit of writing. Freedom.
Since my teaching days I have decanted the previous days notes to either today’s page or the proper word doc. Or left behind. So each journal is thrown away as it is finished. I just can’t fit them in my suitcase! There are a few I have kept. Because they are beautiful but mostly they are long gone.
"Journals are a responsibility." I like that! I am getting close to finishing my second journal (being a newbie to journaling my journey in Morning Pages - and I just realized the two journ... words have the same etymology - ) and was wondering what my next next step would be. Yes, there are some lines of thought I'd rather not have exposed to light when I would most likely no longer be around to clarify, make amends, or heal any wounds they might create. (After all, I can hide some of that in my fiction, and then every one wins, right?) Journal #1 will go into the recycling bin tomorrow. Thanks!
You are starting out on this journey/journaling (love that same etymology discovery) right! Journals are a responsibility, yes, and I realize now that responsibility had begun to feel like a burden. My journals are going in the recycling bin as soon as I finish them and go through them.
Read, enjoyed, and shared. I did journals yearly...religiously...until...until we had our first child. Starting at that moment, all of my spare time and energy went into parenting. Then, I got out of the habit. I doubt I'll throw mine away. They're down there...in the basement...aging. ;-)
Oooh! Thank you for the link to the Great Diary Project in the UK.
My grandmother left her diaries to me, but when the time came, there were only two to be found. There has been a lot of family strife (not involving me) surrounding Mawmaw’s death, so perhaps they were destroyed by another family member. I have the two that survived perhaps because they looked like photo albums instead of diaries. I’ve been enjoying them. I especially like how she noted the temperature when she could. I have to read them outside because they still smell like smoke from when she was a smoker 25 years ago. I hope the other diaries might turn up because she was pleased that I was going to have them. I’m not being very helpful about letting go of journals here. But I love the discussion and your letters always encourage me to think more about the things I love or take for granted.
Maybe you can investigate that Great Diary Project farther. It sounded interesting. And I'm so glad you got MawMaw's diaries. I hope more turn up!
And I have a friend/student who got all her mother's diaries. She's writing a memoir based on them and boy howdy is it ever fascinating. Her mother led quite a life in terms of wild behavior and so on. For the sake of her readers, I'm really glad she got them, I know some of her family just wanted to get rid of them.
I'm sorry for the family strife, especially because it's around the time of your beloved grandmother's death. That makes everything harder.
I write in either pencil or fountain pen these days…both of which are fun to erase or blur by rubbing or painting over with water (or watercolour) before leaping in with all sorts of other media. Blurred words make an excellent base layer for landscape drawings, and repurposing notebooks in this way gives me great satisfaction.
Oh India, thank you! What a great process. I write in fountain pen a lot so I will try this. Love the idea of turning the blurred words into art.
It means that little sheet of pulped and squashed tree will live on just a little longer…AND THEN if you still don’t like you drawing/painting you can rip it up and use it for collage, or make papîer maché bowls, or….
The best use of our materials!
💯💕 this idea!
PS I'd love to hear more about how you use the Craft app some day.
We better do lunch. ❤️ I'd love to share.
This is SO spot on. Years ago, I started getting rid of journals. Like you said, they were mostly processing and sometimes, being reminded of the process made me sad, or self-conscious that someone would read it (god forbid). And that comment about wanting to be who we are today and not who we were 20 years ago. AMEN. The thing that sparked by releasing of the journals was something a friend and I came up with that we called THE MAN PLAN. This was a narrative in excruciating detail about the traits of our idea man (yes, it included dick dimensions). These days, I don't journal unless I'm trying to get unstuck on a bit of writing. Freedom.
Oh my God, I'm laughing so hard here. THE MAN PLAN. With dick dimensions. This is just too good. It has to go into one of your novels.
😂😂😂
Good for you! I’m such a minimalist that I always toss mine. I do throw the good stuff into a google doc just in case…
Thanks for the encouragement. If I flag, it helps to remember that others do it, too!
Actually now that I think about it my blog was my farm journal - and I am mining that for sure!
Oh you sure are!
Since my teaching days I have decanted the previous days notes to either today’s page or the proper word doc. Or left behind. So each journal is thrown away as it is finished. I just can’t fit them in my suitcase! There are a few I have kept. Because they are beautiful but mostly they are long gone.
Great post Charlotte!
Oh you are brilliant. And organized. And again, your ideas make me feel so much better about ditching mine!
"Journals are a responsibility." I like that! I am getting close to finishing my second journal (being a newbie to journaling my journey in Morning Pages - and I just realized the two journ... words have the same etymology - ) and was wondering what my next next step would be. Yes, there are some lines of thought I'd rather not have exposed to light when I would most likely no longer be around to clarify, make amends, or heal any wounds they might create. (After all, I can hide some of that in my fiction, and then every one wins, right?) Journal #1 will go into the recycling bin tomorrow. Thanks!
You are starting out on this journey/journaling (love that same etymology discovery) right! Journals are a responsibility, yes, and I realize now that responsibility had begun to feel like a burden. My journals are going in the recycling bin as soon as I finish them and go through them.
Bravo!! Welcome to the spring cleaning society.
You're the heroine in this story!
Read, enjoyed, and shared. I did journals yearly...religiously...until...until we had our first child. Starting at that moment, all of my spare time and energy went into parenting. Then, I got out of the habit. I doubt I'll throw mine away. They're down there...in the basement...aging. ;-)
You might go take a look at them sometime....
Oooh! Thank you for the link to the Great Diary Project in the UK.
My grandmother left her diaries to me, but when the time came, there were only two to be found. There has been a lot of family strife (not involving me) surrounding Mawmaw’s death, so perhaps they were destroyed by another family member. I have the two that survived perhaps because they looked like photo albums instead of diaries. I’ve been enjoying them. I especially like how she noted the temperature when she could. I have to read them outside because they still smell like smoke from when she was a smoker 25 years ago. I hope the other diaries might turn up because she was pleased that I was going to have them. I’m not being very helpful about letting go of journals here. But I love the discussion and your letters always encourage me to think more about the things I love or take for granted.
Maybe you can investigate that Great Diary Project farther. It sounded interesting. And I'm so glad you got MawMaw's diaries. I hope more turn up!
And I have a friend/student who got all her mother's diaries. She's writing a memoir based on them and boy howdy is it ever fascinating. Her mother led quite a life in terms of wild behavior and so on. For the sake of her readers, I'm really glad she got them, I know some of her family just wanted to get rid of them.
I'm sorry for the family strife, especially because it's around the time of your beloved grandmother's death. That makes everything harder.
Did you have a big bonfire with fanfare? :) Good for you—they already served their purpose, and now back to WP’s!
Nope, no bonfire! I had so many journals the fire would have set off the house. Maybe the whole neighborhood.