It seems lots of us have a stationery addiction, we can’t resist buying notebooks and journals, then can’t bear to spoil them by writing in them, or start a journal which only lasts a few pages. Judging by the cover design, how old do you think this notebook might be? At writers’ group we wondered how many of us had written long ago and if we still had our words of wisdom. I thought I had written ‘a few bits’ but found three full notebooks. This one was started in 1972 in Perth, Western Australia when I was nineteen and the handwriting neater than I remember. On the back it says Made in Japan – how long since you saw those words on humble everyday objects? How has it survived crossing the world and moving numerous times? I’m not going to start reading it all to you, but here are two pertinent snippets.
‘Our literature lecturer commented this morning that most writers of renown started their career by keeping a personal record. As I have aspirations to be an authoress of some sort I thought this to be a good idea.’
What took those aspirations so long?
My first entry for September, 1972 turned out to be very relevant.
‘Today was one of those pleasant spring days. The sun is still friendly and hasn’t yet become that hot enemy of summer.’
In the midst of our third heatwave in England, proof indeed that I never liked very hot weather. Too hot is too hot wherever you are, though in Australia we had the advantage of latitude with the sun dropping promptly down below the horizon. We have long warm evenings. The grass on the cliff will recover, grass always does and I am thankful for our sea breezes. The sky was hazy and the sea calm yesterday so come along and cool off. No pictures of being in the sea as my phone would get wet, but I think you should come in the water.
That is a person swimming in the middle of the picture, not a shark.
Have you words of wisdom preserved from long ago?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
And I thought that I was the only one who would start a journal, and then put it away for years! Ha! I recognized the 70’s period cover right away on your journal, and you are right, we never see “Made in Japan” much anymore! Enjoy the sea and sea breezes, Janet!
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Hello Anita, so it’s just as well that famous people seem to complete their journals or we would not have much history if it was left to us!
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Ha! That is a very good point! Ha!
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Ah, what a pretty book. I have no notebooks – everything is on computer because I didn’t start writing until after I was disabled – but I do like to edit old stories from time to time, to bring them up to date. Just some where I really like the plot. Of all the stuff I’ve written, there are only three or four over the years where I’ve thought, “This story is blinding. I want to keep it up-to-date”. The good news is that I need to edit them less and less each time, which must mean I’m getting better at this lark.
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Yes definitely Mister Bump you must be. Make sure the pieces you want to keep are in more than one place. My late husband was always telling me to save things on the external hard drive he gave me in case the computer died – then it was the external hard drive that died and Cyberson 2 said ‘they don’t last for ever’ ( unlike paper books ) .
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I have 5TB up in the cloud! Everything gets backed up these days.
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A year or two ago I had a cull of my writer’s notebooks; I got rid of approximately twenty of them. There was very little in any of them I wanted to keep – a strong indication that both myself and my writing had changed a lot over the years. It’s almost time to go through a few more. after all, if there are any gems hidden away there, they’re not much good unless I can use them!
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Yes Mick we all need to check out our note books and sift out the good stuff.
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Those thoughts hold true to me too. My friends and my daughter gift
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So sorry, that should read ‘gifted’ me with journals that I have hardly touched because I love the pristine pages.🍃🍂
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Yes Arlene this seems to be a very common feeling with new journals and their lovely paper that looks and feels so good.
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I have journals from 1970 to some time in the 1990s, not in pretty notebooks but utilitarian ones. Every now and then I think about having a look at them but suspect it would be too embarrassing. Then I wonder if I should burn or shred the lot. Something to consider for anyone contemplating keeping a journal!
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My neighbour and friend, nearly 93, decided to shred her diaries. I said NO… I’m impressed she has always kept diaries of ordinary events. There are a lot, she is enjoying rereading them so that is good, but it seems a shame, you never know which descendant might be interested. I’ve left my copyright and all manuscripts in my will to my daughter. I once read an article in a writing magazine that you should do this, so I put it in when we were redoing our wills before I had even completed one novel! The solicitor was puzzled and my husband embarrassed.
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I have some cringeworthy words from long ago. Does that count?
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I guess so Liz. I won’t be repeating the lengthy cringeworthy parts of my notebook!
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Whew! 😉
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That’s all very true. My 20 year old granddaughter is getting baptized Sunday in a local community church. She wants to be a missionary. My present to her is an expensive diary with pen so she can take notes on her journey.
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That sounds like the perfect present and I hope her plans work out and she keeps the diary up.
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Sadly, I have no words of wisdom from my distant past. But I do have at least three notebooks on the go at the moment, none of which contain wisdom, just story ideas for my blog and details of places to go on day trips..
Best wishes, Pete.
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Notebooks are very useful for being…notebooks. I like the idea of places to go lists. often we see places on television and think a visit is a must, then forget the name.
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