Dienosoreliteraryblog ep. 1

Dienosore

Brunei Darussalam622 Posts

July 27 2010 09:03 GMT

So, I'm probably going to need a better topic name, haha. That will come later though.

So I finally got an idea for my first blog post.

It's about WRITING NOTEBOOKS and JOURNALS!

These things are irreplaceable tools.

Often these two are one and the same. In my wise experience, I have found that most literary people have a harder than usual time remembering things. Whether that's because of substances used or if we just are mentally a bit slower is up for you to decide.

My ex gave me two blank notebooks while we were dating. She knew I was in to writing and that I absolutely loved notebooks. Not necessarily to write in, but I've always liked the possibilities they stood for. Well, she stole these from the bookstore on campus, so I ended up with the quality stuff. I finally decided to use them and I must say it's marvelous.

At first, I felt gay starting a diary, but then I began calling it a journal and it felt a bit better. I just wrote down what I did during the day, observations about stuff, and, most importantly, literary discoveries and progressions. Managed to keep it up for about a week before I started skipping days. Now, having four days since my last entry prior to tonight, I realized what it was all supposed to be about.

Keeping a journal of everything all at once was too hectic. Too random. I decided to specialize. No longer did it feel like I was a 10 year old girl whispering my innermost secrets to a book. Now I can't understand how I could ever consider myself a serious contender without one? If I plan to make money off of this shit, I need a place where I can practice and get the juices flowing. Better yet, it is a place where no one else has seen it yet. Sort of like a dark room for a photographer. You can take film to Walmart and get it developed, but if you really want to develop your piece, you have to have a dark room. You can just go nuts and do whatever the fuck you want because you are the only one who sees it. You can make 1000 bad decisions to get that one slice of perfection. It's our mobile studio.

And it's more or less organized! This way you can just look back and find exactly where you need to start looking for a specific idea.

Here is how I set mine up. Homebrewed pictures included, of course, for easier understanding:

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Going in the regular direction as a normal book will be my journal side. I only write on the front, not the back of the paper.

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The normal post looks something like this. It's important to have the date and time (if you can) on everything. Also, it is important to write in pen. Pencil encourages erasing mistakes rather than shaping them into something. It gives you a better idea when you reread of how you were feeling at the time based on how you write. Use a pencil if you must, but we musn't be afraid of mistakes with a pen.

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The back works like this. This is where I'll keep my artistic stuff. Literature AND art since I'm a creative guy. Yeah it's a bit goofy going backwards to get to the next page, but its sort of neat, too. I'd eventually like to have a music section, but unfortunately that will have to wait until I buy a keyboard and possibly a turn table. That might have to be another notebook all together.

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Here is my index page roughly drawn out. I do it this way so I can always add or delete to each chapter heading if I think of another category. I left out poetry and rhymes on purpose. I think these, along with other wordplays, belong in a different notebook. 5-8 are strictly for pictures while 1-4 are strictly for literature ideas.

Eventually I will fill up all the pages. I have it arranged so that I work on both sides roughly at the same time. The idea is to get the ideas and creative stuff on the left side(back of pages) to mash up with the relatively routine stuff on the right (front of pages), like this:

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I just think its a neat idea and good exploration into cut-up style, which I'm all about nowadays (see: Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs, great example of classic cut-up) It won't always be a picture on the left. In the literary sections, it will be text!

So, that's about it. Once again, if you havn't started a journal and you want to get better at writing, do it asap. It's not gay or childish. Go to your local bookstore and buy a quality notebook for like 10-15 dollars. If you don't have 10-15 dollars, just steal it. You will quickly realize how much material gets written and how many ideas spring up. If only someone had forced me to keep one from when I was 15 or so, I would have terrifically better products.

P.s. Anyone have any good title suggestions for my blog? If not, Dienosoreliteraryblog will have to stay, haha.