Days in amber

Today I’ve been going through a dozen or two of the diaries in Special Collections. Most of them are from early Latter-day Saints, since that is of course our special interest. For example, there’s one of William Clayton’s journals (written in pencil, very small, very hard to read), one of Parley P. Pratt’s (which his wife also wrote in, when they were on a mission), Emmeline B. Wells’s (I read her entry from the day when President Joseph F. Smith died, in 1918), and several others. Very cool.

One that piqued my interest was John Doyle Lee’s. He was the guy executed for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The journal itself was from 1840, so nowhere near the time of his death, but it was still fascinating — doodles all over the margins. Now, he was born almost two hundred years before me, but when I saw those doodles, I felt a connection, a mildly electrifying arc that leapt across time and space and brought us both into some kind of interworld where those differences melt away. Only for an instant, though.

Anyway, it got me thinking about my own journals. I began mine in 1990, but I didn’t start writing every day until 1994. (Every day since then is accounted for, however.) I’ve alternated between writing them on the computer and writing them in notebooks; of the notebooks, half of them have been cheapo spiral-bound and half have been hardback (mostly my mission journals, and now I’m writing in a large-size Moleskine).

The main goal when I write, I’ve noticed, is to get the facts down. Occasionally I’ll write my thoughts and feelings as well, but even then my object isn’t to write beautiful prose; it’s to record the essentials so that I can go back later and heave the skeletons out of the closet, draping flesh on the bones until I’ve got enough for a story, and then I sew on some skin and utter the magic words (got them from wishing upon a star) and let it come to life. But I don’t store the flesh — there’s no point to it, it’d go bad. But bones last a long time. And so bones are what I store.

A word to the wise: don’t write your journal in pencil. These pencilled journals are so hard to read, it really isn’t fair to posterity. Ink is the way to go. (Preferably the kind that doesn’t leak through the pages. I use a Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball, Extra Fine, and it’s served me well.)

In other Special Collections news, today I got to see the Orson Scott Card shelves. It’s a shrine. There are five or six shelves per section, and about 10 sections. We’re talking twenty to thirty feet long. It’s insane. And very cool. :) (Speaking of which, last night I was talking with one of the counselors in our stake presidency in between interviews, and it turns out that he was actually mission companions with Card. Small world.)

I also got to see an original handwritten letter by Abraham Lincoln. And yesterday I saw an original daguerrotype of Brigham Young. I love my job. :)

You’ve written in a journal every day for the past 13 years?

I am way impressed.

I love journals, autobiographies, and biographies. I also collect old books to read and cherish.

My sister’s father-in-law kept a hand written journal everyday for over 40 years. The night before she married, he asked what the date of our baptism was. He pulled out the journal, flipped to the page, and there it was. He had been at our baptism, though we did not know him then.

I used to buy expensive journals. Now, I just use plain old composition books. I thought they were ugly when I was a kid. I use them now. I keep lecture notes in them. I keep one with my scriptures and write inspiration in them. I blog. I have kept a temple journal since January 1987 when the Denver Temple opened. I record each ordinance except sealigs, which I only record the number. I also write down inspiration within proper guidelines.

That facts are great, but insights, struggles, lessons learned, hopes and aspirations, as well, as feelings ought not be left out. A journal needs to be more than a travel log. I also like the concept of commonplace books. I have about 35.

Ben,

I usually respond to your blog when I find that there is something that I want to write about. What you see in my comments is the tip of an iceberg. It gets me started. When I was young –not much older than you are, I was given a blessing wherein I was instructed to write my story, keep a journal, and teach using my life’s experiences. I have been valiant on and off, but life keeps getting in the way. Last January, when I turned 60, I realized that if I live to the age of man as defined in the scriptures, I have 13 years left. I think that is when my panic set in. I realized that I needed to get busy.

Anyone who knows me even a little has told me that I should write a book, and that my life would make a good movie. But, I realize that other people would tell my story differently than I would want it told. They would portray the action and the drama, but never come to an understanding of what I am all about.

When my two daughters-in-law confessed to snooping through my journals and diaries, I realized that I have a wonderful opportunity to endear them to me and to teach my posterity the truths that I know through my journals. Since I started my blog less than two months ago, almost 700 people have visited it. When I write in my journal, I put meat on the skeletons in the closet. I don’t want anyone else to dress them for me. I want my journal to be compelling and entertaining so that 700 people will read them also. I want people to know God like I do.

From an old lady’s experience, I would advise you to make your journal entries as complete, compelling and entertaining as possible. You never know if there will be a tomorrow wherein you will have the opportunity to complete the work. You wouldn’t want to stand in front of the Lord unexpectedly some day with only a rough draft would you? I hope that your journals are as good as your blog.

I actually like the idea of just getting the ‘bones’ in. That would be a good new starting place for me and it goes well with having an entry for every day. That’s a challenge that sounds kind of fun!

Alyssa: OCD helps. ;)

Donna: Two thoughts. First, journals certainly don’t need to be expensive; however, it is nice to make them special, and having something that’s actually bound (as opposed to the metal coil) makes a big difference, at least for me. But then again I’m a book fiend, so… :)

Second, and this will be a response to J as well: Looking back over my post, I think the place where I said that the flesh would go bad was perhaps drawing a bit too much from the analogy itself and not so much from the thing I was describing. :) I think it’s great when people flesh out their journals. I wish I did. I do write about my feelings, impressions, and thoughts and such, but even then they’re usually just enough to remind me what the feeling/impression/thought was and no more. If I feel like I need to write more, then I freewrite on the computer. (And I often do.)

Shirley: I hereby challenge you to write in your journal every day for the next year. (And hopefully by then you’ll be so used to it that you won’t want to stop. :)) I give you no minimum entry length; all you have to do is write something each day. And heck, I don’t want Shirley to be the only one getting the blessings — I challenge all of you who can hear the sound of my “voice” to do likewise. :)

An interesting way to keep track of the barest of bones is to keep a 10-year journal (concept and link to a pdf available at: http://crueltown.com/wordpress/?p=168).

As for pens, I told my wife I needed an ‘acid-free’ pen to write in the 10-year journal I printed out. She gave me a “Gelly Roll Fine,” which is not only acid-free, but “archival quality,” and popular among scrapbookers. I’ve been writing with these things ever since. Great for left-handers like me as the ink dries fairly fast, and very smooth to write with. In some ways it has a bit of a scratch to it when you write, so if you’re really imaginative you can pretend you’re writing with a quill pen :-P

Thanks Ben! I will do it! That 10-year-journal that Dan mentioned sounds like just the thing! I noticed at Amazon.com that there were none available though. I’ll have to look into that more. The idea of not having to write the day, month, and year appeals to me! (Did I really admit that?) Oh, well.

Dan: That’s fascinating. Being able to instantly see what you were doing five years ago is really cool. :) Who makes those “Gelly Roll Fine” pens, incidentally? I’m all about the quill pens. :)

Shirley: I don’t think they’d be on Amazon, actually — it looks like it’s something you print out yourself, then get bound at a copy center. And there’s no shame in not caring to write the day, month, and year — it’s the words that matter, not the date. :)