As I approach having yet another journal filled up and starting a new blank one, I’ve been flipping back through the pages of the filled one and reading an entry here and there. Reading old journals is sometimes surprisingly enjoyable once you’ve come far enough that you don’t remember everything you wrote. Sometimes I find a useful idea filed away; other times (inevitable) I wince and grin and move on; and frequently I get a good laugh out of an old entry. I remember I did a post a few years ago sharing a few writing-related extracts from my journals, so I thought I’d pick out a few more such ramblings that are story-spoiler-free and share them here. The first one comes from just after I finished typing the manuscript of One of Ours:
December 8th, 2015
I don’t know what it is about finishing a project that makes me want to clean out my notebooks. I got rid of a whole bunch of notes I know are too juvenile to use and therefore so much dead wood. It’s a little like saying goodbye to old friends and a little like getting rid of grasping poor relations.
…Then there’s about a dozen pages of concepts for books and stories that I may get some use out of one day—I don’t think I should waste my time copying them into a notebook (because I’d probably immediately decide I wanted the notebook for something else and tear them out), but I’d feel more organized if I could put them in a smaller binder.
January 31st, 2016
I think I know why I’m a writer. I hardly ever think of a clever answer until hours after the conversation is over, or else I think of something but don’t have the nerve to say it. But in writing I have unlimited hours to think of something clever, and unlimited rounds of edits to decide whether I want to say it.
February 9th
If writers’ novels are their “children,” mine is at the awkward, gangly early-teen-years stage right now. I guess I should take comfort in the fact that, since I’ve grown as a writer since creating O.o.O. [One of Ours], future novels will be better in their first-draft stage and therefore will need less editing. I hope.
This is just hilarious. Thanks so much for sharing it – I think I like behind the scenes stuff better than almost anything.
What fun! I have to admit I almost never say much about my WIPs in my daily journaling, other than if I worked on it. I'll once in a while toss in an aside like, "Having one of those Hemingway days where it's all blasting with dynamite." You're making me wish I wrote a bit more about my writing in my journals… maybe I will, from now on!