Fate Of Your Pages

[vjones]

Interesting discussion.

 

I am in the "keep them" camp, but not or posterity or descendants. Like the poster above, my writing is for myself. As such, I believe that reviewing my own writing helps me grow. I like the idea of writing as "thinking on paper."

 

I have some journals from my younger years that I find deeply embarrassing, but even they have value to me.

 

I doubt any of this stuff will ever be of interest to anyone else. I'd be happy for it all to be burned when I'm gone.

Edited January 27, 2018 by vjones

[CraigR]

I keep my journals and notebooks. I often refer back to them.

[Studio97]

I am still keeping my journals and writing about just anything. But i have focused my thoughts on the North Korea debacle. I know what it is to respond to a red phone with no dial. It rings constant with a flashing light, pick up receiver and keep mouth shut. Listen to message and respond with your call sign when asked of your section. And the message ended with "This is not a drill". So someday my journal entries may mean something to someone in the future.

[Studio97]

I have thought about destroying my journals but probably will not. There are times when I turn back to a particular time to verify something that happened, I realize that one day my children may get a good laugh out of what I have written. Besides, I did destroy one of my first journals (from the early 1970s) and I have regretted it.

 

I was inspired to begin keeping a journal after reading my great, great grandfathers journals. He began keeping one in 1862 and although he does write about his war experiences and life as a prisoner of war, the war times are just a small part of what he recorded.

 

He wrote about his past, his family, daily occurrences, his wife and children. He wrote of his grief at the passing of his infant daughter, of sitting at his mothers bedside as she lay dying. He wrote essays on topics from the study of microscopic organisms to language usage to notable sermons he had heard. He wrote of working for his uncle in his Mercantile Store. Occasionally he would throw in a fictional tale, some of which were VERY hilarious. He even wrote his observations of the photographer who took the photograph I am using as my avatar. All this in the most beautiful handwriting.

 

From what my great, great grandfather left us in his own hand, I feel I know him better than I know some of my relatives whom I actually have known.

 

People one hundred and fifty years from now may not care about reading what I have written, but then, there may be that one great, great grandchild who does.

 

Mike

What an awesome document to have. Some of those 1800s entries should be published.

[PaganArcher]

Still firmly in the "destroy after use" camp. I tossed three into the fire yesterday afternoon. Events worth noting are recorded in the book of my Kindred, adding to our saga as it is forged. Everything else is between me and the gods. So to the gods it goes when I am done putting it to page.

[Inky_paws]

I kept journals for some years up to a decade ago, but to be honest, had no problem in destroying them. I think I just couldn't see the point anymore which is not to criticise committed journal keepers, that's their way, this is mine.

 

I am, however, a writer and have been published in short story form and nearly published in novel form. For two decades, I raised kids and wrote. Eventually, illness and a lot of emotional (bleep) killed that and I've struggled to write again - not writer's block, I've never suffered that, more that I couldn't face the discipline needed to write the way I wanted. Every now and then I've punched out a new short story but never did any more than share them with a few friends.

 

Getting back into fountain pens though, has given me a new outlet. Wanting to use a pen every day, I considered keeping a journal but rejected it because I couldn't see what I'd write. Then I more or less fell over the obvious answer. I've never stopped telling myself stories, I just wasn't writing them down. Now I am, but I'm not writing works for publication, probably not even for reading. I simply sit down and let the story flow. This is the way I've always written but now I don't care if it's a fragment, a continuation of the previous day, even if it's the same style. It's just letting the muse play.

 

Will I re-read them? Possibly... probably actually.

Will I use these writings to initiate or inspire a new novel? Not on your nelly. Not even for a new short story. A new work must be that, fresh and direct from the world you're creating in your imagination.

Anyone else who's silly enough to try to read them is welcome to.

Will I keep the notebooks? Probably not, their usefulness is immediate to when they were written, but I don't know how long I'll keep them.

[Studio97]

I kept journals for some years up to a decade ago, but to be honest, had no problem in destroying them. I think I just couldn't see the point anymore which is not to criticise committed journal keepers, that's their way, this is mine.

.

I wrote a couple of short stories about 40 plus years ago. Not published and are lost forever. Wish i had them. Now if my journals largely consisted of entries about really mundane boring hours of my day i probably would not keep them. But much of my focus has been on main events in my personal life, local crime, and national-international events. Have had numerous entries about the North Korea problem. So much of my journals reflect who I am and what i really care about.

Years ago in the military I had to pick up a red phone and listen to the message and those last words "this is not a drill. Respond ...call sign." so I think I see my journals may be at some different level than a dear diary entry. So I keep them. Just my thoughts.

I have to add that i have made my journals more personal to keep with added drawings, photos I made and paper ephemera added.

Edited February 10, 2018 by Studio97

[Inky_paws]

I wrote a couple of short stories about 40 plus years ago. Not published and are lost forever. Wish i had them. Now if my journals largely consisted of entries about really mundane boring hours of my day i probably would not keep them. But much of my focus has been on main events in my personal life, local crime, and national-international events. Have had numerous entries about the North Korea problem. So much of my journals reflect who I am and what i really care about.

Years ago in the military I had to pick up a red phone and listen to the message and those last words "this is not a drill. Respond ...call sign." so I think I see my journals may be at some different level than a dear diary entry. So I keep them. Just my thoughts.

I have to add that i have made my journals more personal to keep with added drawings, photos I made and paper ephemera added.

 

Journals probably do need to have a point, and 'I enjoy writing it' is a valid point. In your case, where there is some real depth in the content, I can understand why you'd keep it and revisit it.

 

The seed's planted in me, maybe one day it will sprout and grow but in the meantime, it won't hurt it to wait till the time is write (he he he)

[MG66]

I journal to stay sane, and hide the journal to avoid proof of insanity.

 

- MG

[amberleadavis]

I journal to stay sane, and hide the journal to avoid proof of insanity.

 

- MG

 

 

I love it!!!

[MHBru]

Interesting topic. The vast majority of my notebooks are work related and I keep them for years... For reasons that aren't entirely clear even to me. If anyone wanted to go through them it would be a series of numbers and notes that would make no sense. I'll likely toss them when I retire. I do have another rhodia that is more of a journey.. I write when there is something to write about and it is my intention for that to be read after my death so my children have first hand versions of my words. That one hopefully gets kept for another generation or two...

[inkstainedruth]

As I said way back before, mine are "the daily core dump" and I don't care what happens after I'm dead and gone.

In the last couple of days, a (non-pen) mailing list I'm on has kinda exploded and is edging towards "impending flame war" (stuff like "standards" and "elitism" and "comportment"). A new person to the list was going "Hey, what, huh? What kind of minefield have I walked into?" And she said some things that really hit home, so I responded with inline comments (several of which were along the line of "YES! This!"; but also in one case "Uh, no, respectfully disagree -- see my previous post as to why...."). And she made me think about things regarding the list and the group. And I realized that I was seeing stuff from different perspectives from what I had in the past, for several reasons: not the least of which being THIS hobby, where there are no awards to garner, no cookies to collect -- only the occasional "sumgai" bragging rights; but also from my somewhat-waning activity level; and (as far as "standards" of research/ability/teaching for what is required for inclusion and how they've crept up over the years) from watching the Olympics and seeing how what what was considered "Gold Medal" ability 20-30 years ago is now old hat: "Well, duh, you'd better be able to do a Triple Axel in your short program -- how many *quads* are going to be in your free skate?" And someone else sent me private mail later on saying "THANK YOU for posting!" Because one of the OTHER things I had said was "If we want to foster the community without doing the 'Oh, we're looking at you!' scary elitist mindset , we should be reaching out to people OUTSIDE of "official" competitions and such. So, I'm going to put together little tokens to hand out generally for people who are just sort of doing the things we're SUPPOSED to be doing (stuff like trying out recipes for potlucks that further the aims of the organization, rather than just making a crockpot full of chili or buying a bag of Oreos...)."

Of course now that I've said, "I'm going to do this" I've suddenly realized what a logistical nightmare this could be....

So I wrote about that in my journal this morning. And also grumped about oversleeping and not getting to an estate sale an hour away (there were PENS!) in time -- only to find that the good stuff walked out the door within five minutes of the sale starting, and what was left was a bit overpriced.... Another woman said that she'd gotten there half an hour before it started, and there was *already* a line.... At 6:30 AM! (Seriously? Who starts an estate sale at 7 AM when the location is an hour from anywhere useful? ).

I suspect tomorrow will be a lot more prosaic an entry -- how much I dropped this afternoon on a new clothes dryer.... (The old one finally and completely borked itself last weekend, and at 20+ years, it would be less expensive in the long run to get a new one...). So we went to the local "scratch and dent" place; fingers crossed that this one will hold up (the original washer that went with the original dryer croaked a number of years ago ; it got replaced with one that wasn't NEARLY as pricy -- and works pretty well for the most part (except for some issues with the "bulky" load setting -- there was a recall/class action suit about it but I'm not sure if I'm covered or not).

I don't care if they're "matchy-matchy" for brand and such because they're in the basement anyway....

Hopefully the delivery/installation window will be earlier in the afternoon, rather than later, because it's pen club night....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tweel]

I keep mine. I've also inherited all of my grandfather's journals and I feel a responsibility to keep those, too. He had a fascinating life. He fought at Gallipoli, became a Metropolitan Police officer, a freemason (obviously) and an air raid warden during the Blitz. Unfortunately he didn't seem to keep a regular journal until after he retired, so the entries are mostly about going down to the corner shop for pipe tobacco, the state of his garden, and what he had for dinner.

 

I'm in the "keeper" camp. The unfortunate irony is that during the most interesting episodes of my life I generally don't have the time or ability to sit and write about it -- and events become a blur afterwards -- while I have plenty of time and inclination to write when nothing's going on. But I try to keep up my diary, and don't worry about casual judgement after I'm gone. ...Well, I don't worry about it much now, either .

 

History is full of 'writings of important people' - but often those don't include mundane, day to day things that bring context to the times. People writing things down like a shopping list are unimportant in the moment, but not so unimportant years later.

 

Then again, we're storing so much more electronically nowdays, so this might not have any worth anymore, but I keep it in mind.

 

Machiavelli's dad, Bernardo, kept diaries that included the day-to-day (household expenditures for example), and they're still of interest more than 500 years later.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Tweel

[Olya]

 

I'm in the "keeper" camp. The unfortunate irony is that during the most interesting episodes of my life I generally don't have the time or ability to sit and write about it -- and events become a blur afterwards -- while I have plenty of time and inclination to write when nothing's going on. But I try to keep up my diary, and don't worry about casual judgement after I'm gone. ...Well, I don't worry about it much now, either .

 

 

Machiavelli's dad, Bernardo, kept diaries that included the day-to-day (household expenditures for example), and they're still of interest more than 500 years later.

 

As often said here, anthropologists revel when they find grocery lists and the like, it's like gold! So what is the most boring and mundane to us, is extremely exciting to others One man's rubbish is another's treasure!

And I doubt that anyone would snub having a peek at Bernardo's list, even to a non-anthropologist like me that sounds interesting!

Edited February 18, 2018 by Olya

[Tweel]

Yes, I recently read Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli's Lifelong Quest for Freedom, which drew on Bernardo Machiavelli's diaries, along with other contemporary accounts. But Google Books tells me there's an entire book on the subject, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys: The Diary of Niccolò Machiavelli's Father, Messer Bernardo, in Quattrocento Florence, by Catherine Atkinson.

 

The starting-point for this study of messer Bernardo, father of the statesman and humanist Niccolo Machiavelli, is the diary he wrote over a period of thirteen years (1474-1487). Drawing upon many further sources, including Bernardo's will, tax records and genealogies, the first in-depth investigation of the libro di ricordi reconstructs a panorama of everyday life during a fascinating period of the history of Florence. Topics explored include Machiavelli family history, household economy, wedding rites and Bernardo's interest in books and printing. This study is invaluable for an understanding of Niccolo's intellectual and family background. Four case studies examine how messer Bernardo dealt with disputes and reveal the medieval roots of behaviour and mentality in Quattrocento Florence.

 

 

I might have to look that up.

 

Edit: Humph. Looks like no library in my area has it, and even used paperback editions are expensive.

 

 

Edited February 18, 2018 by Tweel

[Studio97]

 

As often said here, anthropologists revel when they find grocery lists and the like, it's like gold! So what is the most boring and mundane to us, is extremely exciting to others One man's rubbish is another's treasure!

And I doubt that anyone would snub having a peek at Bernardo's list, even to a non-anthropologist like me that sounds interesting!

A flea market find which i could not afford at the time was a WW I pilot's logbook. Darn.

[inkstainedruth]

 

Yes, I recently read Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli's Lifelong Quest for Freedom, which drew on Bernardo Machiavelli's diaries, along with other contemporary accounts. But Google Books tells me there's an entire book on the subject, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys: The Diary of Niccolò Machiavelli's Father, Messer Bernardo, in Quattrocento Florence, by Catherine Atkinson.

 

 

I might have to look that up.

 

Edit: Humph. Looks like no library in my area has it, and even used paperback editions are expensive.

 

 

 

 

I suspect that book is more likely to be found in a college library. You may be able to get it through interlibrary loan. Check with your library's reference department (and also check worldcat.org which will list the closest available copies).

I don't know if the text for something like that would be available online through Google Books or Project Gutenberg, but that's also a possibility.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

Recently a friiend was killed.

 

All the letters I had written were returned.

 

I haven't been able to read what I'd written.

 

Bye,

S1

[inkstainedruth]

Hi,

 

Recently a friiend was killed.

 

All the letters I had written were returned.

 

I haven't been able to read what I'd written.

 

Bye,

S1

 

Very sorry for your loss.

My mother actually burned all the letters from someone she used to correspond with (she made what she had *thought* was "constructive criticism" -- and the guy turned on her). She didn't want all the horrible things he'd said about other people in letters -- even the people who basically dropped everything to help him when he'd had a stroke, but whom he'd also later turned on) ever seeing the light of day....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Inky_paws]

 

Yes, I recently read Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli's Lifelong Quest for Freedom, which drew on Bernardo Machiavelli's diaries, along with other contemporary accounts. But Google Books tells me there's an entire book on the subject, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys: The Diary of Niccolò Machiavelli's Father, Messer Bernardo, in Quattrocento Florence, by Catherine Atkinson.

 

 

I might have to look that up.

 

Edit: Humph. Looks like no library in my area has it, and even used paperback editions are expensive.

 

 

 

 

Open Library.Org have some references to it, you may be able to track it down from there.

 

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL4569217W/Debts_Dowries_Donkeys_The_Diary_Of_Niccolo_Machiavelli's_Father_Messer_Bernardo_In_Quattrocento_Flor