FROM HERE ON is a journal for my publication project.

Tuesday 1st December:

Meeting with Will Buckingham to discuss initial ideas for publication project.

• Theme idea has been from poem i wrote based on the psyche of a woman who was very beautiful when young, and is having to come to terms with her own aging. I like the idea of working on a strong voice of this woman, illustrating her insecurities and adjustment, observations of self and clashing of reality and delusion from her own vanity. There could be a sense of coming to terms with your own mortality.
• Need to think about quality of paper for printer, maybe photo paper for a shiny effect.
• will incorporate both prose and poetry, perhaps short stories? will look through my old work to find my own and ask others in the class if they have any old work appropriate in case my own work cannot fill up enough pages.
• will there be chapters? will they start on the left or the right page with one blank? Probably right with a blank page as this could show a separation in time. But i don't think at this point chapters will be necessary.
  

Tuesday 29th December:

Developed thoughts on project

• Potential idea for title: Growing Pains. Something in another language would look good. A character from a book who is fearful of aging, just the name.
• Keeping theme of aging, with thought to awareness of own mortality. Aspect of vanity from being an attractive younger woman. Keep strong sense of voice.
• HOWEVER, not the voice of just one woman. it will be ambiguous to encapsulate the growth of any woman as she ages.
• Having found my old blog from a couple of years ago i will show the younger part of a womans life rather than just the moment when she realises she is getting older. Be interesting to track the highs and lows of the average woman's life through various forms of writing.
• I have been using my own old family albums as stimulus. They are battered and worn but are full of fond memories, so am giving serious consideration to publishing my own work like a photo album. using real photos of the woman from all the generations in my family, photos showing them from young till middle aged. May edit photos to look older in the beginning if they look new, to keep the photos looking like they'd been on the pages a long time, and thumbed through many times.
• Layout: Will work the poetry in around these photos, in a nonlinear fashion.
• Typography would preferrably be handwritten, even scrawling in places, but this effect could be created through word processing also, with an appropriate font.
• Will use a book from the library for tips on how best to give a personal touch to a publication.
• IN CONCLUSION, the aim of my work would be to show, in an interesting and visual way, the thoughts of a young woman through her life with snippets of poetry, prose from my own blog written when i was 18, and perhaps stories as my work develops. I will show both the highs and lows of a woman's life without ever explicitly setting it out for the reader. it will be important to me to convey emotion through the voice of the average young woman. The publication with most probably be void of setting, time and personal identity.