Off to market....

Choosing our words carefully...

I have been thinking a lot about journal writing..........of course......not just because I am making them, but why we have them. We record out thoughts, our lives, our dreams, our pain, and then what happens to them when we are no longer there tending to them, or guarding them under lock and key.
I was recently listening to an interview about the late Manning Clark by his biographer, and he was talking about the history that Manning created through his own journal writing. His biographer seemed to be saying that unless we burn our journals and therefore our thoughts they are left behind and read and in some cases, like Manning's, used to perpetuate his history. He thought Manning's journal writing was a well crafted and carefully constructed history that had been left behind for people to read, He seemed to indicate that it wasn't necessarily the truth, but the truth wasn't going to be told in what would eventually be such a public piece of work.
I had not given a great deal of thought to all those journals containing all my thoughts ever being read by someone...when I go. My journal writing is not something that is constructed for anyone else to see or know about, but one day it could in fact be just that (I'm not suggesting my biography will be written!)...but. will my daughters sit and read them when I''m gone and does that worry me if they do? I probably need to ponder that a little more...will it change the way I write and pour my thoughts on to the page knowing that they will share them. It's a bit of a confronting question in many ways.

People and paper inspiration

This week I have been inspired by these wonderful replica papers of old newspapers and advertisements. They make very quirky notebooks to record present day memories and those of long ago. One of my recent customers purchased a notebook giftset for her dear friend who is extremely ill, and is journaling her life. I felt honoured that this lady felt the notebooks were a fitting place to record her friend's memories. Once again it is heartening to hear where the notebooks end up, and more importantly what their purpose is. It is stories like this that keep me making more and more.........

Encouraging boys to write.....

Creating journals and sketch books for boys is a great passion. I am encouraged by the many requestst that I have for notebooks for boys....................wonderful to see the art of journaling is so alive and well.

The joy of Journal Writing

The art of journal writing is something to treasured and encouraged, especially with little ones. This was brought home to me yesterday at the Burnie Farmer's Market, where I had a record number of purchases of children's notebooks. Whilst a number of mums and nans bought them as presents, quite a few children also buried into their purses to pay for them themselves. One little girl bought a vintage travel book, even after her parents tried to sway her to buy a more traditional child's journal. It was obvious she had made up her mind about the one she wanted and was clearly not going to change it. She looked to be bursting at the seams to get home and write in it.What is wonderful is the fact that children want to write, create, sketch and keep their ideas in a precious place.

It has made me stop and think about the place that notebooks have always had in my life. From the age of 9, when I received my first diary for Christmas, I have always recorded my thoughts. I now have a small cupboard filled with an assortment of well worn notebooks containing what is essentially my history. From my childhood dreams, to my teenage angsts, to my loves, hopes, travels, joys - they are a record of both good times and bad. I have used them to record the little joys, the huge milestones and the every day gripes that I know no one else wants to hear and know about. Everyone once in while a look back and have laugh or cry and more than often think - did I really do that?... I can't remember that.... and as time slips past I imagine they will be the only record of what my memory fails to keep.

Little treasures

Clever Zebra Designs has been working away on a collection of notebooks for little ones: journals, sketch pads, travel books, and matching pencil sets.