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Wednesday 15 September 2010

letters and diaries



there is something about pen and paper that really gets me. jotting down notes, writing a personal message, wanting to keep that fleeting thought, documenting memories, showing someone you care. i used to write letters a lot. now i only occasionally do, but write cards rather a lot. and i keep a diary in a very basic sense. every couple of days i will write down what happened or what keeps going through my mind. and i will use my diary as a scrap book as well, for magazine clippings, the odd ticket or recipe. apart from enjoying the writing-down part of it, i believe it's an important way of keeping things alive. sometimes it amazes me how much i forget. and by looking at old letters, postcards or diaries, things come back, sometimes hesitantly, sometimes rushing back vividly. very much like photographs, and yet all different.

do you write letters, notes or keep diaries? and why?

22 comments:

SH -ic said...

hi.. yes < love letters and diaries .. they create so much cosyness

cioa from denmark

Enia Is (Almost) Here said...

oh god yes. i always regret not writing a diary for more of my life. but i keep scraps, notes, bits of paper, old half-filled journals. and then every so often look back and remember things long forgotten. which is why i'm now trying to keep a diary and stick to it. too much to lose by not doing it.

as for letters, all the time, to A especially. they are wondrous things.

Unknown said...

I write always I travel...travel diaries...helps me to keep the feelings about a place, a time...alive.
I write letters, because I find in the distance of lines something confortable to say some things. Feelings fly better in handwritten words.
I used to keep a diary. Just to talk to someone. Later I learnt to be confidence on people, but when there is noone to talk to...I write, just to clarify ideas.

Marion said...

Love that picture of the pile of notes and books.

I guess if anyone have a look at my diary or my trip diaries it must be hard to understand. So much drawings, lines and shapes in it...

Ida/FarEastLogbook said...

I've always wanted to be a 'diary-person' and I've started one many times but times quickly lost interest....
In someways I see my blog as my long lost diary :-)

MANDY said...

Firstly that photograph is so so beautiful, I adore it !!!
I really don't write as much as I should, thank you notes are always nice, I do try to do that ... I would love to be a "diary" person, I suppose it's never too late !!!

Ginta said...

I used to love writing letters, I just loved how my handwriting looked on the page, how my pen draw the line. I try to keep a diary but it's usually very sporadic. And I'm a piler, too, in my planners and diaries there are old boarding passes, tickets from every country I've visited, postcards, old post-its, notes, just name it! I love to look through them and bring back memories :)

Bárbara said...

i love paper and pens so so much! also i'm slightly obssesed with moleskine notebooks so i've got a bunch of them: some of them are for notes and places or ideas i take out from magazines, other ones are from places where I put pics and things like that and other ones just for random notes or things.

Unknown said...

oh yes! I love to handwrite, and blogging has given me the opportunity to exchange letters and notes with people all over the world.
I also write notes and sketch virtually daily :)

P.K said...

Very nice photo. I try to keep a journal, sometimes there a gaps. Also I make a point of sending thank you notes after a special dinner or event. Mail is fun to send and receive.

Theresa said...

I keep diaries have since childhood, because I have to. And I am using several to help me write a memoir...

Valéry Lorenzo said...

Of course, papers, films, postcards, letters, sketchbooks, books. For 90 %.
Why ?
Maybe because : "verba volant, scripta manent"...
Oh Sugimoto !!!
Who did the Lemons painting ?

Bee said...

I'm afraid that I keep post-it notes, mostly! (sort of joking) But yes, I love to tuck postcards, unusual bookmarks, jotted writings and letters into books.

I regret throwing away some of my old love letters . . .

isabelle said...

Computer has changed everything.
Everything is so fast, right here and right now... so I stopped writing letters or cards. But I feel sorry about it so I might come back to it. I love hand writing and I love the nice paper...
I started again writing postcards because I created my owns with my phtos...

Lollipop said...

ho dear...
I do write my children words, I do write postcards to my friends.
I used to write a lot when I was a teenager. I had a lot of penfriends...
Your words heat my heart. My heart is now full of memories.
thanks
a
lot
xxx

april said...

liebe kristina, auch ich schreibe gerne notizen, gedanken, einfälle...leider immer in verschiedene bücher und hefte auf kassenzettel auf cd hüllen oder meine hand. ich bin da leider sehr unorganisiert. als rücklickendes kurztagebuch benutze ich meine agenda und früher hatte ich brieffreundschaften aus aller welt. danach lange nichts mehr, aber in den letzten jahren im zusammenhang mit dem blog habe ich auch viel mehr briefe und karten geschrieben. so schön etwas handgeschriebenes im briefkasten zu finden. ganz liebe grüsse, wünsche dir entspannt leichte septembertage. love your blog ♥

kristina - no penny for them said...

hi everybody - thank you so much for your comments! i love to hear from you, i really do. thanks also to all first-time commenters: yay!

valéry: the painting on the postcard is by paula becker-modersohn (1876-1907), a young german painter who spent some time in paris - she was very impressed by cézanne et al and friends with rilke - and sadly died far too young. much of her work is kept in bremen, germany, in the kunsthalle.

et lille oejeblik - a little moment said...

that photo is just amazing. it captures exactly what you're talking about, how paper, books, notes and scraps are so full of life, stories.

i don't keep a diary. i did when i was younger, but i do have a sketch book/note book where i write ideas and thought as well as draw. and then i have a recipe book as well, which is a mix of hand writing, scraps from magazines or printed out. i like that mix, it makes it come alive.

beautiful post, kristina.

outi said...

oh i do write, all of them!
especially i like to have a book for my trips, travel-diary or so. there i collect different kinds of things from my journey, tickets, maps, postcards..

and little notes i write every day. more or less important stuff to remember. and how often i totally loose them..

Polly said...

I love paper too, it's my guilty pleasure (guilty, because it's so NOT environmentally friendly...) but I love the feel of it, books, magazines, pen on the paper... like you, I used to write letters a lot - now I just email - and like you, I have kind of a diary, or rather a large moleskine notebook that's also a callendar and write in it constantly and stick postcards and newspaper clippings between its pages... sometimes I feel that my soul is hidden there

great photo!

inna karenina said...

me too, I love paper as well! I used to write plenty of letters, but this year I have kind of forgotten it.. I used to love writing letters and postcards so very much, and I still do. I have never kept a diary though - tried so many times but always lost interest after a few days.

P R I M O E Z A said...

love the image. i keep notes. i stopped using diaries since i work from home now.

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