Yes, today was a day of new things and those things actually did not include books! Can you believe it? They did however include poppets, a little blue one to be exact - and he (yes, I've decided that he is indeed a male) seems to be fitting right in and has paired up nicely with the others. He seems to be quite gloomy, but I'm starting to think that it may just be a scheme to get all of the little red lady poppets to come around and cheer him up...which they seem to be doing. This may lead to little baby purple poppets
. There's an idea Lisa ;)The other thing that I received in the mail today....well dammit, ok..it did include books! But not the kind you read, the kind you write in. My absolutely beautiful journal, created by Stormfilled made it all the way from the UK to my home here in New Orleans. I'm in love with this thing. I can't stop smelling it and flipping through the pages. Her books are made from some of the most high quality leather that I've seen, very soft and it's supposed to age and become even more soft as it does so. The inside has beautiful blue marbled end sheets with a ribbon bookmark, high quality paper, and my favorite part is the leather tie on the outside to keep it closed. If you're in the market for a journal I highly recommend her. These are literally the most beautiful books I've ever seen. Her website
is Blackthorn Workshops and you can get more info on her books there. Amazing work!Now I just don't know what to do with my new journal. My original plan was to write my NaNoWriMo novel in it, but that delusion has just about gone out of my head. Writing 50,000 words by hand in a month is just a tad ludicrous. My hands are hurting just thinking of typing 50,000 words in a month, much less hand writing them. So, ideas, suggestions? I don't want it to be just another journal...I want to do something special with this one. Maybe I'll save it for another Novel idea down the line when I decide to take longer than a month to write one. I was thinking of a new quotes journal, but that's boring. I have a normal notebook that I use for that. Or maybe I'll save it for the Asian and European tour that I'll never go on. Who knows....
I've had a pesky migraine all day which finally knocked me out at about 7:00. I then proceeded to sleep until 10:30 and am now wide awake. Who knows what time I'll finally go back to bed. I'll probably fall asleep as the sun comes up. Lets hope that's not the case. We have a full moon tonight and it's gorgeous. It's one of the brightest moons I've seen in a long time. The night is especially clear tonight which is strange for New Orleans...it's usually quite muggy, humid, smoggy, and cloudy. But not tonight. Migraine is gone now though...so I'll play in blog land for awhile. If I left short or cranky comments on anyones blog earlier, I apologize...it's the headaches fault...unless your name's tuffy...then it's my fault.
23 comments:
Oh, I love the little blue Poppet! You guys have to quit posting these pictures! I'm starting to get jealous!
The journal is gorgeous. I used to write in one every night, but I got out of the habit. Blogging seems to be my release now.
I hope you are feeling better. It's after 1 here and I can't seem to sleep either. Wonder what is with that?? I've been having bad cases of insomnia lately.
The mailman, or mailwoman, was indeed good to you today, bringing you packages of creativity and inspiration!
I was gonna suggest the quotes thing for the journal, but you already shot that down! Ha!
Lol, The little blues and little reds are only $10 Stephanie, you should get you one! They're great and they enjoy having their picture taken.
That's the one down side of blogging..it tends to take one away from journaling which is really a different experience all together. I still write in a journal every now and then when I really need to vent, but not nearly as often.
I'm feeling better now. The migraine's gone and it's 2 in the morning now! Hopefully I'll be getting tired soon...At least I don't have to wake up for anything tomorrow!
Carl, A good mail day indeed! I haven't totally decided to shoot down the quotes idea ;) In fact, that's still sort of the lead option right now. I just feel bad writing in it at all! It's so beautiful!
poppets - yay!
and i love that journal. its beautiful. what do you think you'll use it for?
i know if i had a beautiful journal like that i'd deliberate over what to put in it for months probably!!
i was thinking how neil gaiman likes to start his novels out in journals (or exercise books). theres something very romantic about that, isn't there? but i agree, writing 50 000 words in a month by hand sounds a tough task!
perhaps you could just do what neil does and start your next idea in that - without putting pressure on yourself as to whether it really has a future as a novel or not. this way you can just celebrate the experience of writing and enjoy it and hopefully that'll help the inspiration. it seems that could be what is part of the appeal for neil - that writing in a book lets you know that you reall are writing something and its fun to create!
JP, I think that's what's going to happen...I'll deliberate forever on what to put in the journal and never actually write in it :p
Neil's the one who inspired me to write the novel in a journal. But I think 50,000 (or more) words in a month is pushing it...who knows what I'll do with it! I think you're on to something...I'm thinking that after this NaNoWriMo stuff is over, I may just start writing in it and see what comes of it...who knows, it may actually be something decent!
It's good to find someone else besides me and my best friend who loves notebooks and journals as much as us. When we get a new one we call each other up for ideas on what to do with it. The other time we call each other is when we have meed of a journal for a specific purpose and we put all our empty ones around us to try and decide which one is best suited...!
She bought me a beautiful leather bound, hand-made one for my first wedding anniverary last month and I still haven't decided what to use it for. That's the problem when they are so beautiful, you don't want to use it for the wrong thing and ruin it! The idea of using it for a travel journal sounds lovely though. You could record all your trips in it and paste in photos, bus tickets, leaves etc like a mini holiday scrap book. It can be local holidays or your big tour to Asia etc.
I don't have any poppets yet but they are so sweet I might get one red and one blue when we move house in a few months.
lol! You had me laughing for a few minutes with that plot to attract lady Poppets thing :D
The journal is absolutely gorgeous, and my suggestion is, write short stories in it. I have a few pretty journals set aside for that. Short stories are not as tiresome to write by hand as novels, and plus, I find that writing by hand first as an advantage: when you type it up, you force yourself to edit what you wrote a bit. Neil Gaiman has said the same :P This is especially useful for people like me, who have more trouble editing that doing the actual writing.
Plus... writing in a journal that beautiful is bond to inspire you!
I love pretty journals. I really need to treat myself to one of Stormfield's one of these days.
oh my.. lol.. I have 4 paper journals with sketches from either the hobbit or lotr (old journals) I never had the nerve to write in them lol.. bought them so I would..but can't make myself do it LOL.. I hope you have more success then I did hahaha.. I think part of it is that there are so many things you COULD write in them, from a "book", to daily life, to first thought each morning, or last thought each night, quotes of interest, a book journal of what you read .. it's neverending!
I hope your migraine stays away today... I can't imagine living with them on a regular basis..
Neither can the blue poppet..see, he's sad for you!
I have several journals that I have purchased over the years simply because they are beautiful and I bought them with no real intention of writing in them, just to have them around. So don't feel bad.
What about a dream journal? It is so beautiful, just having it next to your bed would give you good dreams, plus a place to write them down when you wake up. And you never know, there could be seeds for stories in those dreams.
The blue poppet is very cute. I am sitting here waiting for the mailman, too, because I am hoping he will be bringing Gaiman to me... I also really like the journal. :)
I love the idea Jean Pierre suggested. I would also add that you include sketchs in it too like I have seen, writer/director Gillemaro Del Toro do over the years. I've seen some of the pages and sketchs he's journaled for the Pan's and Hellboy movie and there magical.
I also darla d's dream journal idea too. Unfortunately for me I almost never remember what I've dreamed.
Rhinoa, I've always loved notebooks. I have tons of unused notebooks sitting around here and tons of notebooks with just a few pages used and then left abandoned...and then there are those that I actually filled. Aren't they great? I really like the idea of a travel journal, but I really never get the chance to travel....I just recently went to Mexico, which was nice, but that was a very rare exception. Maybe I'll save it for the next rare occasion...who knows.
A pair of red and blue poppets would indeed look nice in your new home ;)
Nymeth, I'm afraid that I might have been a tad bit delirious when I wrote that last night ;)
There's an idea! I can do short stories...I've done plenty of them, and I enjoy writing them. All these ideas now...it may be fun just to make the journal a big collage of various things...quotes, memoirs, short stories, etc...ooh, i like!
Stormfilled's journals are indeed beautiful and I agree, you need to treat yourself to one ;)
Deslily, Those journals sound beautiful! Yeah, I can just see my hand trembling with the pen in it as it heads towards the paper..Ooh, I like the "first thought each morning, last thought each night"! I may add that to the mix.
The migraine seems to be gone today, so here's to hoping that it stays gone! The little blue poppet says that he too hopes that it stays gone. Thanks :)
Carl, well I'm glad to see there's someone else out there like me! Actually I'm sure there are plenty out there like this. I do this all the time and I feel silly about it. But I guess I shouldn't. What I really feel silly about is I keep taking the journal out the drawer...smelling the leather, rubbing the cover, flipping through the pages...seriously, someone would lock me up if they walked in on me....
Darla, A dream journal is an excellent idea..unfortunately, I either don't dream (which isn't true) or rarely ever remember my dreams! Although I must say, when I remember them, they're quite entertaining. I go through spurts where I'll have sharp vivid dreams for a few months and then not remember them for awhile. Strange. Great idea though! I'll throw that in the mix :)
Kailana, The blue poppet's great! Love him :) Which Gaiman? Interworld? I hope you like it! Very different from his normal stuff...very sci-fi-ish.
Jeff, I like JP's idea too! Sketches?! Me?! I would love nothing more than to be able to do that, but I don't have an artistic bone in my body. I've tried and tried to be "an artist" and finally admitted to myself that I just can't draw. It's one of my life dreams to learn how though...but I think you either have it or you don't.
I'm the same way with dreams Jeff, I never remember them! But when I do, they tend to be pretty cool. I like the dream journal idea as well. Such great ideas from everyone!
You said, "I just don't know what to do with my new journal..." May I suggest going out to buy a really fabulous fountain pen? Such a journal deserves such a writing instrument; I know. It's what I do every day. Then, the thoughts will just flow naturally.
Speaking of Guilermo del Toro, have you seen the extras on Pan's Labyrinth? There is a section that shows pages of his journal and he also shows pages of it in the Charlie Rose interview on the second disk...his journals are AMAZING!!!! He lost one once and supposedly paid $800 to get it back..and I can see why, they'd be priceless for a geek like me.
Bellezza, That's actually the first thing I thought! "This journal needs a really cool pen." What can I say, great minds think alike ;)
Carl, I still haven't bought the DVD! Can you believe it?! It's one of those things...I didn't buy it in the first week...and then haven't bought it since. That's why I have to buy things as soon as they come out. If I don't, I keep putting them off. I can imagine how incredible his notebooks must be. Especially a Pan's Labyrinth notebook. Priceless is the perfect word for that. If I ever got my hands on something like that, it would sit in a glass case and never be touched. I'd probably never even turn a page in it :p
What a beautiful journal. You could always use it as
a photo album/ creative art project. I notice that I
take a lot of pictures for my blog and that not all of
them make it in.
Some of those pictures have their own stories, some
are just pretty.
You could perhaps make the journal a work of creative
captions.
I can't wait until my little red arrives, I just
ordered her! (I'm lusting after the strange little
monochrome, but she's not in my budget atm)
Creative captions...I like that Kim :) You'll love your little red! They have great personalities. Her one of a kind poppets are amazing, but I've yet to find one in my budget range :/ They are well worth the money for the creative genius behind them, I just can't afford them unfortunately...
I love your little blue. I was too late - at least, when I got to the ebay site at the time you linked to it, there were no little blue poppets left.
The journal is stunning. I would suggest you carry it with you to take notes, but that might be a pain. I've had a little leather journal in my purse since Ann Arbor and . . . well, I got tired of the weight and changed purses. LOL Simon Van B. carries a notebook everywhere and writes down notes on things he sees or hears and wants to remember. That's the kind of thing you can use in a NaNo story, when the time comes. But, no, I wouldn't recommend trying to write 50K long-hand in a month. It is definitely hard enough to type that much! And, it probably wouldn't all fit. :)
Oh no Bookfool! She just posted some more too, but the last one sold this morning :( I'll let you know when more pop up!
I love the notebook and do indeed want to start carrying one around for NaNo ideas. She makes some smaller, pocketsized ones as well and I was thinking of ordering one of those from her. She does such great work and she's trying to make a career out of making these...she's stuck right now teaching at a miserable school! So I might order a smaller one...or might carry this one around. who knows!
Hey Chris, I'm afraid I only just to blog reading today! Thank you again for your lovely comments, and to all who think the journals desirable. I love making them, taking normal looking things and making them into something not only useful, but nice to use. Your support is appreciated!
Of course, Stormfilled! I have a feeling I'll be back for seconds ;) Hope things are looking a little bit better for you...life can be a pain sometimes, eh?
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