j’s scratchpad

"For many writers, a journal acts as a compost pile. They throw a whole bunch of stuff in there, which separately is not worth much more than this morning’s coffee grounds or this afternoon’s banana peel; let it sit for a while and heat up; and before they know it, they have a rich compost, from which whole stories, memoirs, screenplays, you name it, can be made.” –Jane Steinberg

I began reading the weblog of someone whom I started talking to recently. Moving back to the beginning of the archive, I found a writer’s statement including the quote above, which I like and find quite appropriate for blogging.

Reading the statement has me remembering things about why I blog. For some reason, it reminded me that I never have told you why I call it the scratchpad. If you’ve ever seen my office, you know I have huge stacks of paper for ‘recycling’ under my desk. (No, really, they’re stacks as opposed to piles, which are what’s on top of the desk.) When I need to print something that can be on recycled paper, I grab a stack. When I need to take notes for a phone call or something of that nature, I grab a sheet. It is, after all, my scratchpad, which is what this space is. I like blank paper. No lines. Nothing. I like staring at a blank page, knowing I can fill it with what I wish. Sometimes paper and a writing utensil is the best way for me. When I take a journey, often I’ll buy a new notebook with the idea of journaling. I almost managed to carry that out recently, only I don’t exactly know where my journal is right now, so I can’t finish recording my trip in it. Now that is real, physical writer’s block.

I guess I should note here, too, that j is my nickname. It’s been my nickname for many years. It’s not me trying to be anonymous. (Is there really such a thing as anonymity in the blogosphere anyway? And aren’t we all really anonymous?) I know quite a few people assume that because I go by j, I’m trying to hide who I am.

Addendum 10/19: I found my journal the next day.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 5:11 pm and is filed under About this Weblog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.