If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, it is obvious that I am a fan of books. Paper is one of my other favorite things. Sometimes, though, managing the paper I have is not easy. Here is a picture of five shoeboxes of letters I have. They are letters mostly from family and one of my friends. I don't want to get rid of these because they are irreplaceable. The best thing is I still get some mail (letters, postcards and the occasional package) from my family because we like to write, though e-mail and phone calls have definitely reduced what I do get.
Then there is my stack of journals. I have
39! That is a ridiculous amount considering I started writing in 1990. (22 years of journals). One summer I started reading them in chronological order and quit. It wasn't riveting reading at all. And it changed the way I journal and now don't even write every week. Some days I think about getting rid of them, but am afraid I could want them, and they would be impossible to replace. Would you keep them?
If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, it is obvious that I am a fan of books. Paper is one of my other favorite things. Sometimes, though, managing the paper I have is not easy. Here is a picture of five shoeboxes of letters I have. They are letters mostly from family and one of my friends. I don't want to get rid of these because they are irreplaceable. The best thing is I still get some mail (letters, postcards and the occasional package) from my family because we like to write, though e-mail and phone calls have definitely reduced what I do get. 
6 comments:
oh. my. goodness. You have to keep them.
I'm currently reading an essay about creative nonfiction that's called "Researching Your Own Life." This would be an invaluable tool for such a task.
Someday I think I should ask you for entries/excerts from certain days and I'll use them in a story...
I would absolutely not throw them out. Like you Clair, I am an avid journaler. I am now 61 and have been keeping a journal since the 7th grade consistently. It is pretty riveting (and funny!) reading when it gets to be that long ago! Maybe more years out will make the difference.I have also changed how I write over the years. In 7th grade: what did I wear, where did I go, etc. Now they are more spiritually based I would say. The unseen world has become more important.
Keep them!! Maybe they will end up in the Museum by Lindbergh's house --I forget the name of it.
How many years worth of letters? I save about 1/3 of the letters and try to save postcards (well over the past few years)
Keep them yes yes yes
could you scan them, and email them to yourself......(at a yahoo or gmail address) so you don't schlepp the bulk around anymore? would be a huge job to scan them all - but a relief when it would be done; they would then be forever accessible.
xo
eva
(via your sis's blog)
The question is how do you want others to perceive you after you have left! Every writer, from literary giants to wealthy business men, will edit the journals and letters to reflect what they want others to see. It begs the question about honesty, integrity, and lots more.
I have been journaling since 1993 and know that some those journals ar just boring and painful to read. I plan to answer the toss or keep question this year and i dont want to invent my life history like Martha Stewart did!
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