It's Been A While

Yep, it's been a while, and there's a good reason for that. My internet was cut off. 

Now, it's not because I didn't pay the bill, it was because in my area, the National Broadband thing was going through and they switch everyone off so you can either join or make your phone a hot spot and make life harder for yourself.... I chose to be normal and join the Broadband system.

Today it came all together and I'm all hooked up on the system and now back onto my computer! Yay!

My home office has undergone the first of its renovations: the tall bookcase and Grandpa's home made desk swapped places. That took a day to do on Friday - after much swearing, cursing and needing to be patient.

Well, now, I'm going through a 2-drawer filing cabinet and shredding anything I no longer need - and believe me, there's a lot in that drawer! I've already filled 2 garbage bags to the brim with unwanted paper; all shredded and ready for the bin! It's a great thing that I've also finally decided to get rid of the filing cabinet too. Dad said he wants it - so there's a home for it as well. 

Now all I have to do is save up for a new desk and two bookcases... there's around $300 right there I have to save for in the next 2 months. It's not going to take long, I know it.

Grandpa's journals are going really well... and I've found some photos of the family when they were living out at Allora and Warwick and the work he used to do out there too. So, it's getting a lot easier seeing what he used to do as well. 

So, what kind of work are you doing in writing or reading? Are you reading any good books lately? Until my next post, happy reading!

Working Hard

You know, no matter what a writer works on, it's never an easy task. You may be working on a fantasy novel, and you still have to do research into costume, food, historical fact and weaponry. 

With my Grandpa's journals/diaries, it's the same thing. I've had to Google a lot of things he's mentioned in the 1930's and yet am still learning about farming equipment which has been updated over time. This also includes everyday terms which were used back then and aren't used now.

For example: 'Flicks' or 'Pictures' is now called 'the movies'. It took me a little while to get used to those first two terms, but it's something people did on Friday nights. However, 'Eisteddfods' were around then more than ever; and my Grandpa and his mouth organ band took part in them all the time; so long he put in the entry forms in time. 

I'm finding that I'm forever looking on YouTube about how they're using fencing equipment - like strainers and struts (and for somebody who's never put up a fence in their lives, I'm learning new things about all of the things my Grandpa used to do for a living). 

In between the gardening work, fencing, cattle herding, and biking between Warwick, Allora and Cecil Plains (yes, all on a bike), he's was dating my Grandmother, going to fellowship, church twice on Sundays, Band practice on Thursdays, and following the cricket on the wireless (radio) as well. He also went out to a few dances, yarned to a couple of friends and enjoyed his early mornings. But my Grandpa was a hard worker. 

He put a lot of humour in his diaries too; something I missed out on when I was a youngster, but I'm seeing now. I now wish I could have spoken to him more. But, it's a good thing I'm doing this - and learning so much about his life and him as person now, as well as how life was back in the 1930's. 

So, how is your writing going - if you write as well? Do you love research, or do you love the invention part of the book? Until my next post, happy reading and writing.

Haven't Been Around... I know.

I'm sorry... really.

But the reason why I haven't been here - or any of my other blogs (go and check, they're kinda blah too) - is because I have been busily writing something.

Yes, I'm writing again - but not what you think.

I'm looking at getting my late-Grandfather's diaries computerised. I tried this before, and my computers crashed each time... this time, I've been going for a few weeks, and typing faster than ever, and it's all been going better than the last two times I've attempted it.

I think it's because the technology is better than it was years ago, and I'm more confident than I was before; and I have some idea of how it will look as a finished product. 

I have learned so much about my Grandpa in his early years. He was such an innocent teenager when he came out to Australia... and yet, he worked his heart out to get where he did in the world. He was so far from home, from family, from his Mum and his brothers and sisters and his Mother Country - England - and yet, he never forgot why he came to Australia: to carve out a better life for himself.

I've had to use magnifying glasses to read some of his writing - as a bit of it is so tiny and he wrote in pencil (which has faded over time) and fountain pen (which blots at the worst of times) and ball point pen (which was very expensive in the 1930's). So, using a magnifying glass has saved my eye sight a lot. I'm also writing out 2 diaries out at the same time. There's one I'm writing during the day - which is really small and I can only see in the daylight - and then there's a bigger one I can see better at night with the bedroom light behind me. I still have to use the magnifying glass on the bigger one at times because I can't always make out words.

And speaking of words, I'm learning new words. For example: Sundercutter. No, that's not a spelling mistake. This is a machine which ploughed fields and was built between 1926 and 1932. It wasn't a very expensive piece of machinery, but it was useful... however it broke easily and had to be fixed all the time; thus the reason why it was discontinued. Then there was Shiftshanking - which sounds either rude or made-up, but it's not. It's a machine which is now called Hay Baler. It did the same thing as it does now, but it was the first models way back when. My grandpa used these two machines - along with a combiner - and he built fences, gardens, bird cages, mended watches, bought a motor cycle with a side car and did many other things. And like I said, it's a real education learning about somebody who lived out in the middle of the country and yet I live in a city. 

Have you learned something new like this about a relative or family lately? I find this kind of thing fascinating. Until my next post, happy reading and writing.

Journals and Diaries

You know, it's been something of a past love of mine to sit down and write - actually physically write - in a proper offline journal.

But of late, I've been too unfocused to do anything near it. For somebody who has been keeping a journal almost every day for over 20 years, I found this weird; until recently when I picked up my current journal and suddenly started writing again.

How this happened was when I bought my new shelving units, then did the last markets for Crafty Pegs and cleaned up and stored away my hand-crafted works for good, I had one broken box and one good box. Well, I decided to use the good box to transfer my 30-odd journals into it. First though, I thought it would be a good idea to number them. So, I grabbed my price dots and looked on the inside sleeve of each one and found I was smart enough to do just that from the start! 

*Phew!* That saved me a lot of time!

Well, after I found I had two 24's and mis-placed #33, all of them are in the one box and looking great - all numbered and in good order! The flat box they were all in now holds my wrapping paper, ribbon and Christmas cards. How cool's that? 

But when I looked at my first journal with #1 on it, I thought it wouldn't hurt to read it... and so I sat down and started on it. Well, it was all about my first boyfriend, the first time I fell in love and first time I moved out of home with him - aged 24 - and I found I spoke and wrote pretty much the same way I do now in my journals. There was one thing that was different:  I put down every single thought that was rattling around in my head into my earlier journals - unlike my later ones, where I have found I hold back a lot of my thoughts. 

I don't know if I've become more conservative or I just don't want people knowing me as much as I used to as I get older. It's weird, isn't it? Also, I think it's the technology which is right at our fingertips - literally - which makes sitting down and writing with pen and paper such a chore. But, now I'm making sure I really do enjoy the time I take to write in my journal... when I think about it, there really isn't anything that interesting on television anyway. Until my next post, happy reading!

Keeping Notes

It's the middle of Winter here in Australia and we're going through the wonderful and typical Winter of chilly nights and lovely cool days with some showers here and there.

It also means nice hot, stodgy meals with hot chocolate just before bed while reading a few pages of my favourite book - or a new one I have yet to read. 

Right now, I'm reading 'The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer; and it's a great book of letters which isn't stressful, and has a great pull on me every time I pick it up - it reminds me a lot of '84 Charing Cross Road' by Helene Hanff; but less modern, and more wonderfully written. However, from the start, it has more than two people writing to each other... which took a little getting used to.

And that's a great thing with this book, it's a society within a society... a society of letters within a society of people who love books writing to each other during World War II in the UK. 

While I'm reading this book, I'm also putting my little back garden into order... this is what I do when I mourn the loss of somebody in my life: I get out into the garden and really involve myself in Mother Nature. It's my way of hiding. And while I've been doing that I've been taking notes of what I've been doing out in the little garden - and my Gardening Journal is being filled up with every single thing I've bought, potted up, back-filled and cared for and built in the tiny backyard I call my garden. 

It's been only a month - and almost 2 months since my dear friend committed suicide - and I've spent more money on my garden than I do on books in a year. Yes I miss my sweet, dear, and troubled friend, Hannah, and this is my way of dealing with my loss. I guess everyone deals with loss in different ways, right? I read and get into my garden - taking notes along the way. 

But I have tried keeping a reading journal on what I've read; and it didn't really work out - except online. How weird is that? Well, until my next post, happy reading! 

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.

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!

The Art Journal of Frida Kahlo by Frida Kahlo

At Christmas-time, I always get myself a nice little present or two to spoil myself.  And this year, I bought off Amazon this very book.  Okay, it's a given that it's not the original, and it's a copy (I haven't got anywhere enough money for that kind of book).  But it's a great book nonetheless.

When I opened it, I found I had received a brand new copy of this book, when I asked for a used copy.  

Bonus!!!!

Those wonderful people at Amazon had wrapped it, as I asked so I couldn't cheat and open it up before I was supposed to.

Then, when I did get in and start reading it down here at Brunswick Heads, I found the book broken up into sections.  There was a rather large introduction about Frida and her life... which I skipped over, as these parts are best read last for me.  There was an essay about the journal, and Frida Kahlo, which I skipped over as it mentioned parts in the journal that were interesting only to those who have read it. Then, there was diary itself (so colourful and filled with emotions!).  And then, there the translation into English.  Now, I put a bookmark into this part and started reading, and finding the pages back in the Spanish section so I could see the full-coloured prints of what was being described to me in the translation.

I'm only halfway through it, and it's the most wonderful book!  I can't wait to read the essay... it ought to be wonderful.  Well worth the wait.  Until my next post, happy reading!

Frida Kahlo's Diary

For Christmas, I normally buy myself some things - special things - because I don't have a husband or boyfriend or girlfriend - in my life.  Yep, I'm single.  It's difficult to be single when this time of year comes around, and when it does, us single people either accept it and buy ourselves those presents we've been eyeing off all year, or become very bitter and despise it.

Either way, this time of year isn't easy.

Especially seeing it's the second year since Little Miss Stevie died... yeah, that was today.  Those two years have zoomed by, right?

Well, this year, I've improved greatly!  This year, I thought to get myself something off Amazon for Christmas; and that something is Frida Kahlo's Diary.  Yeah, it's on its way right now to my PO Box.  I can't wait to get it on Christmas Day and take the wrappings off it. 

I read the review and found it's a diary of her writings, water colours and poetry from her last decade of her life.  What a book it ought to be!  I can't wait to read it!  

And this gave me an idea... yeah, when doesn't a writer get a good idea from another's?  I thought to start my own writer's journal; and seeing I'm an artist too, I'll use my journal as that too.  Very cool, eh?  Well, I hope mine is as good as Frida's; but I doubt it, hers will be better.  So, what have you collected from an artist or a writer where you've been inspired to do the same or similar in your life?  Until my next post, happy reading.

Journaling Types

I've been very busy lately around my place, and I've been keeping different types of journals while I've been working too.  
Being a writer, an artist and a gardener, I keep a journal for each type of hobby I take part in so I know where my projects begin, how I get them done, how much they cost me, and when they are completed.  It's just something I do.  And I've found in my travels to second-hand bookstores that writers and famous people also did the same thing.  If they were big gardeners, they kept gardening journals of how they built their gardens, where they bought their plants and where they planted them and when.  
Artists do this with their paintings and work as well as take photos to keep track of how long it takes for them to work on their pieces.  It's all a record-keeping thing for them; even if it's time-consuming.

I have begun my second Gardening Journal just last year and am happy to report it's a great book.  It's a proper gardening journal which has tips and advice on how to grow other plants besides the ones I wish to grow and little pockets where I can put packets of seeds and names of plants I have heard of and want to look at, receipts from shopping at Bunnings - or other gardening stores - and other little things within its pages.  I thought it was such a great book that I bought a second one, but not for myself, I bought it for my brother and his fiance as they have a large garden filled with fruit trees and they wish to begin growing a veggie garden soon, so it'll come in handy for that too so they know when to rotate their crops.

So, do you keep a number of journals for your work around your house, or your reading or writing?  If so, how long have you kept it?  Or is it something you just write you inner-most thoughts in?  I also have one of those and have been keeping a personal off-line journal since 1997; which brings the number of journals to over 30 books I've written in!  Until my next post, happy reading!

'Nelson Mandela: The Authorised Book of Quotations' by Himself

I've had a lot of time to kick back and read here at my brother's house; and one of the books I brought with me to read is this one.  Now with books like this, I don't read them from front to back; as there's no real storyline or plot.  These books are just quotes of a famed person at different times in their lives.  However, normally, these books are done up by a second party - a biographer or family member - who's been there right from the beginning.  With this wonderful little book, Nelson Mandela has pulled together his quotes over his whole lifetime himself.  And what a book it is!

I have admired Nelson Mandela since I was in high school and the whole world was fighting Apartheid in South Africa; and this great man was in prison for something he said and did.  Once he was let out, and I found out exactly who he was I followed his life.  I have tracked down a couple of his books down at bookstores (and have yet to read them; but at least I have them on hand when I want to get into them).  But when I found this one, I knew I just had to have it as it was purely about him, by him; and that's something wonderful as it speaks volumes about how much he has influenced people and the globe and history as we know it when we see what a single, important person has said over their whole lifetime that has changed the way the world works.  Until my next post, happy reading. 

In Verse

I do love to read books in verse sometimes; and I don't just mean poetry or sonnets.  I mean books that have a proper story and plot all writte in verse.  'The Monkey's Mask' by Dorothy Porter is one book which comes to mind; and has stuck in my mind, even though I read it in 2010.

However, I'm one of those people who keep not only an online journal, but also a very personal, private, hand-written journal as well.  I have been keeping this kind of journal since 1997, and have recently thought to write in it in verse for a year and see how it turns out.  I'm on my second entry and have found it very much a challenge as I have to call upon how I ordinarily write in the journal and change it completely into a poetry book just for this year!  Have you ever done this kind of thing - or better still, come across anyone else who has?  Until my next post, happy reading!

'The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones' by Pocket Books

Welcome to the secret world of Dr. Henry Jones - better known to you as Indiana Jones - professor, archaeologist and the man who can fly a plane (but not land it), carries a bull whip and a hat and never lets go of either one when the going gets tough.
Within the weathered pages of this lost journal, you'll find plenty to read.  There's treasures Dr Jones found when he was a child - and they were taken from him - and he recorded them in this journal.  He talks briefly about his mother and how little time he spent with her before she died at a very young age.  And this well-presented journal is dotted throughout with notes from - of places - but the KGB.  Yes, sadly, it had fallen into the wrong hands; and Dr. Jones' notes have been sifted through by them.  All of his friends, no matter who they were (dead or alive) have had their backgrounds checked out by the Russian Government.  Unfortunately, just when he's looking for the Crystal Skull, the journal ends; without any notes or ideas of where it will end up next.

I bought this book a couple of years ago as I'm a big Indiana Jones fan.  And I promised myself I'd read it this year; yep it was on my Mt TBR by the office door.  And this afternoon, I spent the last hour and half reading this fun book.  It was full of photos from the movies and I found it very entertaining and funny in some places.  The stories within this journal twist and turn around themselves  and work along the same lines - or similar - as the movies.  And they have letters, notes, menus, a driver's license and other things taped inside it.  It all looks great and I loved reading it.  The publishing company even got the cover right and it looks like leather; but it's really vinyl.  So, if you can get your hands on this funny and brilliant little book, do so.  It won't take long to read, and it's a lot of fun.   

Gardening Journals

Like most writers I have other hobbies to keep myself active; and one of those hobbies is gardening.  Today, I sat down and found my two journals about my garden; and found that a lot has happened over the last 7 years.  Now, unlike most writers, I have a very tiny yard; but I make the most of it.  
It's what is commonly known as a 'postage stamp' back yard... so small you don't need a petrol mower to mow it - a push reel one will be just fine.  I have had a good few years of growing plants of all kinds in this garden - as my journal between 2005 and 2008 will contest (this is my first journal).  In this little journal, I wrote recorded all about the vegetables and herbs I grew, the aphids I killed off with White Oil and the many slugs the drowned in the shallow tubs of beer I left out for them (or as I label them:  naked snails).  
Also within the pages of this gardening journal I speak about how the possums ate all my Basil by stripping the leaves off all the branches; thus killing the poor 7 year old plant with shock!  And if that wasn't bad enough, there were water restrictions that hit everyone in Australia where we weren't allowed to water anything - not until it rained again.  This killed off not only my plants but my lawn - making it look like one big ant hill!  I couldn't walk outside for months without being attacked by angry green ants - at least I could see them coming.
My journal continues onto this year - when I bought a new journal for a new beginning to my garden.  It begins in April of this year when I bought some plants at the Springwood East Community Centre to start off my garden.  And then the next day, Mum and Dad take me to Bunnings to buy new pots, potting mix and a few other things that would help my garden get started in its new beginning after the Brisbane Floods hit us and broke our drought.  Now, we still have water problems, but not as bad as before.  And there's more plans for my little garden... but being an on-going project, my guess about this little lot of land is as good-a guess as yours. 

So, do you keep a journal about another hobby you take part in?  An art journal?  A sewing journal?  Or do you scrapbook?  Jump in and leave a comment and let us know how your other projects are going and if you keep a journal for them.  Until my next post, happy reading.   

Keeping Track

As a collector of books, it's not unusual for me to keep collections of journals or diaries that other people wrote.  I have my Grandpa's journals kept in the desk he made; and they span from 1926 to around 1984.  He lead an amazing life and wrote every day.  

I find that there are fictional diaries of people I find fascinating that I collect as well.  For example, I found a couple of journals that were written around WWII by two different people who did totally different jobs, but socialised within the same circles.  The first one is 'Observations From The Bar: Aerobleu, Paris 1947 - 1950' by Leslie Anne Nash.  She is a bar tender of a bar in Paris in the middle of the Second World War and it's of her dealings with people, who came into the bar and how Paris looked at that time.  The second one of these was written by a man who frequented the bar - a pilot - who was in love with her and it's titled 'Aerobleu: Pilot's Journal, 1939 - 1959' by Max Morgan.  I love both these books and their format is totally different to any book I have ever owned in my life, so I have never parted with them.  Really, I should read them again; as they were great books.

I have 'The Diary of Anne Frank' as well; however, I've never finished it, but I have tried.  

And I also have my own journals.  They may be a little bland - of everyday things - but there are some high points where I go places, enjoy a great night out, go on holidays (and there I use a travel journal) but then, I journal for my private reasons.  I get the best ideas for writing.  I also have around 35 journals I've written in since I began journaling in 1997; and have had to store some away in containers!  Now, that's a lot of journals to keep!  My journals aren't all the same.  I buy them from a particular store and they cost around $25.00 each and have gorgeous colours and designs on them, are fully-lined and have plenty of space in them to write in the margins if needs be.  But there's a funny thing I do with my journals.  Seeing that while I keep the one I'm using on hand in the living room (as I sometimes write during a television show late at night before bed), I sometimes find the most fascinating things during shows and adverts are said and shown to me; and I must write them down!  So, in the back of all of my journals, I have to leave around 3 pages spare so I can write down book titles, people's names, websites, ideas and other things I find interesting from the television... and I title it 'To Google'.  I began doing this about two years ago and have about four journals filled up at the back with all kinds of things that have been scribbled down in note form.  The funny thing is that sometimes, I'll remember it's there and find it and use those notes while other times, I won't.

So, do you keep a journal? How long have you kept yours?  Is it for ideas, your personal private thoughts or other things as well?  Do you do what I do with mine and scribble ideas in the back?  If so, what kinds of ideas do you have in yours?  Until my next post, Happy Reading!

Deceased Collections

This past Sunday, my family lost a wonderful Uncle to Prostate Cancer.  His service is this Friday and we're all just taking this week one day at a time.  However, I've always wondered what happens to people's collections when they pass away.  I mean, what will happen to my 1,000+ books when I'm gone?  Will my niece like the books I've picked out for her to add to her collection?  Or will she send them off to have them picked up by a charity because there's just too many?

With my Uncle passed on now, I know he has some books in his house in a spare room.  But I'm not sure who will get them.  He never specified who was going to be getting what from his Will; but I'm sure we will find out soon enough.

However, I have always wondered what happens to collections of famous people once they've passed on.  Did their families split up the books and share them around?  Or were they shipped off to a charity, a school or somewhere else?  Or did the unfortunate person who passed on not have a family to give their books to and the whole collection ended up being stuck somewhere else or given to a second-hand bookstore where it was split up completely?

So, have you ever picked up books from deceased relatives and found them to be a wonderful reminder of who they are?  I have.  I picked up my Grandparents' books - which are taking up a shelf here in my office.  And I have my Grandpa's complete collection of journals from 1926 - 1984.  What a life he had.  Grandpa may not have left a big mark in Australian history, but his journals speak of what kind of life it was over those decades; and that's just remarkable in itself.  Well, until my next post, happy reading!