Friday, September 23, 2016

Banned Book Week!

Banned Book Week is coming up soon - next week, actually - and I'm hoping to dig amongst my collection to get my nose into the some pages of some really great books which were banned to the public. The week spans between September 25 - October 1.

So, what's Banned Book Week? It's a week to celebrated the written works which were banned to the public at some point in time, but people have written them to put the word out there.

Some of it was political, some of it was written in a way where it may have broached subjects which were taboo at a point in time where society just didn't think it right to talk - or even read - about it. But then, those books were banned from being circulated. 

Here's the link to the Banned Books site you can look at which talks more about Banned Book Week. I'm sure you have some banned books and didn't even know it. Until my next post, happy reading.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Travel Journals

I love to travel places - as anyone does - and what I love to do most is to pick up one of my old travel journals and read it. 

I know, I know! This sounds really corny and silly to do! But I really do love to read about the experiences I've had places and when I do, I feel as though I'm reliving it.

Has this ever happened to you? 

Okay. Now, whenever I go traveling to Brunswick Heads, I take a travel journal with me... and not just any travel journal: I take the same one! I bought a little black, hardcover sketch book and took it along to my holidays with me on year, wrote in it, then put it back on the shelf. The following year, when the time came to travel back down to Brunswick Heads, I grabbed the very same black, hardcovered sketchbook, took it back down the coast again and wrote about my time in Brunswick Heads - but a year later! However, the year later, I forgot the sketchbook and so this yearly travel journal misses a year... it has yet to make another journey to the coast with me. This was because I had had surgery on all 6 sun cancers on my hands and arms and clean forgotten to pack it - and besides, I didn't have the energy to do any writing. I did have plenty of energy to read though - as that's all I could really do.

I have begun writing a book about a travel journal though - and it's been great! However, I hit a snag really early on in the piece as I sat at my computer trying to write it. It just didn't sound right with me typing it out on the page on the screen. So, I went out to OfficeWorks and bought a nice little notebook and pens and started writing the next few chapters by hand in the notebook - and you know, the words came so much easier when I wrote it by hand! I don't know what happened, or why this has happened, but it's been going really well. I'm not sure if it's going to transfer to the computer page all that well... I'll have to wait and see.

Has this happened to you when writing a book or transferring your journals to a computer? They just didn't seem to look right up on a screen and they looked and read better in a journal written by hand? Well, I have this quandary. I wonder if it's best to have a book published looking like it's been hand-written or should it be published normally and have the unfinished appearance (like books were a few years ago)? I guess I'll have to wait and see.Well, until my next post, keep on writing and happy reading.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Notebooks

I just love collecting notebooks - as well as books themselves - to use for different things. I have so many of them and hold onto them for a variety of reasons - but mainly I use them as journals; and so I often ask for them for Christmas. 

Sometimes, I'll be at the coast for Christmas and I'll find some at obscure stores in artsy towns and I'll buy some just so I have them to use when I want to. Dad thinks I'm wasting my money... but when my Mum looked through my journals, she thought the difference in them was great.

You see, I come from a long line of journal and diary writers - and boy! Can we write! I often just write about my day, what's been going on in the week, or how something just affects me when I feel trapped or I can't sleep at night. Otherwise, I might leave my journal alone for months on end. But I've been keeping a journal - on and off - since 1996; a year after a Melanoma operation which saved my life when I was 23 years old. I found that writing in one really helped me; and I went from wondering if I was writing the right thing to knowing what to write when I sat down with pen and notebook in hand. 

But I have found that the notebooks aren't only for journals. A few of my notebooks are for particular purposes. I have one which is being slowly filled with things, sayings and information for somebody I'm writing it for - it's a work of art really. I'm hoping that when it's finished, I can just hand it to her and she'll be able to work on filling it up more with other things - as I won't fill it completely. 

Then, there's the large number of notebooks which I have dotted around my office which are poetry books, dossiers and filled with stories and story ideas. They're really just Mont Mart Art books which have been great to work with and I've taken them place where I can sit and write in them without the lines on the page haunting me. I also fill other little notebooks with poetry... these ones have been used usually in my bedroom when I have insomnia; and I can't get myself to sleep. I write the best poetry then about just about anything in those notebooks.

Just yesterday, I was at Officworks looking for a couple of purple pens when I stumbled upon an aisle filled with notebooks! I wished I had more money on me so I could buy a few of these wonderful things! But I whittled my choice down to one and found it was the most lovely little book! Isn't it the cutest thing? I think so. I'm currently writing a book and having problems doing it, so I thought it would do me good to write it in a notebook first and see how I go... see if that works out. Yep, I'm going about it through the back door of writing; instead of sitting at the computer and forcing myself to write (which never ends well). 

So, what kinds of notebooks do you have in your collection, and what number of things do you use them for? Are your uses the same as mine? Or do you have other uses for them? Do you collect on a large number like I do? Or do you buy them as you need them? Until my next post, happy reading!

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Fan Fiction and Spin-off Storylines

Writing is a dangerous thing to do - just like art is. However, it's how you write a book or a story that really does get your idea across.

I recently wrote a flash fiction which took on an 'X-Men' theme and had some idiot out there leave a comment on my blog telling me off about it. This 'person' didn't leave their screen name or anything, they went under the 'Anonymous' name/bio and thought they'd be safe. 

When somebody does that to my blog, I immediately delete their comments, because if they don't have the gut - the courage - to tell me who they are, they don't deserve a space on my blog to comment.

Writing is a thing of the mind. It's a craft I've been working on since I was in high school and it's something I'll working on well after many people have made it big in the world. I'm not in it to make money, I'm in it to entertain people - and it's great for my mind as well.

However, when somebody goes and abuses the system, leaving abusive notes and comments on a person's blog, it makes you wonder exactly why they're following your blog in the first place? Are they there to see you stuff up and they can point out the problems with your work? Are they waiting for you to make a spelling mistake and laugh at how you didn't correct yourself? Or are they just there to make sure their narcissistic personality gets online and makes you feel like crap? 

Either way, I don't care for it. If somebody doesn't like my work, don't read it. If you think I've ripped off a trademarked works - like Marvel or D.C Comics or Thor or X-Men - well, take a good look around, there's plenty of people doing fan fiction (which is pretty much the same thing) and you're not bugging them about it. 

So what if I wrote something a little sub-standard and not against the grain? I thought getting in with the X-Men thing was something good... I hardly ever get my mind into it as it's difficult to do. And if I want to write stuff like that, it's something I want to write. And other people are writing something similar to it as well.

You see, 'Anonymous', I don't care. You're the one who is the problem in this society. You're a troll, you're a bully and you're the biggest problem going online. If you don't like my work, don't read it. Until my next post, happy reading.