A few of my journals.
At a recent writing workshop the presenter made the distinction between public writing and private writing. Thinking about this distinction is helping me to think about writing a blog versus keeping a journal. I have been writing journals for years and have over 250 volumes, mostly labeled, and shelved in my front sunporch. All my work begins in my journals–my rough ideas, my rough drafts, sketches that become my panoramic watercolors, the sketches that became the illustrations for The Robin Makes A Laughing Sound: A Birder’s Observations. My journal is where I have conversations with myself, sorting out ideas, priorities, organizing my life. What do I want my blog to be? I titled it HOME SCHOOL MFA because if I’m not in the process of learning, I get bored and withdraw. My journal is a center for learning, I suppose it is the textbook or maybe better, the homework, for my HSMFA. I don’t want my blog to replace or even copy my journal. My journals are private, written for me, uncensored, unedited, the raw material for my art, my writing, my days. My blog is public writing, ideas, images I want to share with anyone who is interested. This is a place where, in the words of Austin Kleon, I can “Show my work.”