It took me some time to decipher the intent of the writer. I quickly realized that the journals were all penned by the same hand. The time consuming task seemed daunting to me, I have never been a fan of the delicate art of replication, but these journals were obviously the meticulous product of many drafts. There were hardly any errors on the pages and the plain brown covering of the journals gave little indication of what was to be found inside.
I at first thought these books were a series of diaries written by someone and I was very interested to see what the life within held. It was after reading the first two that I realized that was not what I owned at all. What I actually held before me was seven different lives narrated within separate bindings. I was astounded. It basically felt like opening one present, expecting a single gift, and suddenly finding that a box full of toys is inside instead.
The story actually grows from here. After completing the seventh book one early morning I set my cup of coffee down on the breakfast table and walked out onto the deck. I looked up and watched as the sky gave birth to our daily sun once more. I contemplated what I had just read and the amazing impact it had on me. I was aware I had just been given something special, but it was not yet clear to me why this story was so important. I believe after reading The Lost Journals, my readers might begin to understand and to share what I felt that morning. A glimpse into what was, what is, and what could be.
***
This is my blog book I am offering to the readers of my blog. The whole story can be found at the following link http://shatteredsmoke.com/category/the-lost-journals/ I hope you enjoy the story. All content is owned and copyrighted. You may re-blog, pingback, or share the contents but please give credit to the author and this website. Thank you, -OM
Page 2 OM 12/16/2013
A Good Blog is Hard to Find 
“They sold the “worthless articles” to a small…” what? Person? Mom-and-Pop store? Industrialist? Your second entry doesn’t complete that thought, and I’m frustrated. The identity of the articles’ recipient seems like a key element in your story’s development, so please, fill me in.
🙂 But that is the point. In journals or diaries you won’t see every detail. You will see a “over usage” of detail in key points, but then a lacking in other areas. That is the “fun” of it… but probably not to an editor heh. 😉
I like where you started out with this, but I must say that you could use a better way of helping readers transition from one part of the story to the next. I followed a link to part 2, read it, and then spent several minutes navigating in your blog to find part 1, taking several detours to Facebook, which weren’t much good to me, as I have no Facebook account :).
Simple links on each page of text, leading to the next or previous page of text is what I chose to do, and it’s super easy in the visual editor to just highlight some text and edit it into a link, but I’m sure there are other ways to do it.
Interesting, that is good advice. Let me add and work on those links now. Thanks for the input!
I had people poking me about the same thing when I started 🙂 Took me a week to figure out how to plug in links forward and back to other chapters. Makes it much easier for me to navigate too, when I’m re-reading for edits or prepping for the next chapter by reviewing this or that.
I agree and thanks for the advice! I am working to make those links more clear now. 🙂
hmm! You’ve got me wondering. A very good sign.
Thank you I am glad it perked a little interest! It is a story in progress and I hope you get to check back in!
I plan to …
Thanks! Hope you have a great rest of your week! 🙂
It’s a good story. Can’t wait to see it develop! (oh and ps thanks for the follow we just joined tonight) 🙂
Thank you and I am glad you are liking the intro! I appreciate the encouragement and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
It has potential? Have you checked out our first story yet?
Not fully yet, I was about to pop over to your site now actually. 🙂
Cool, we’d be glad to have you check out and leave some feedback! We could really use it
Just commented. 🙂
Thanks so much! Appreciate it. Good luck with your story!
I like the idea of journals being the product of drafting… mine are first drafts I’m afraid 🙂
I agree, not to mention my handwritting has been referred to on many occassions as “chicken scratch.” 😉
I’ve inherited my father’s handwriting style so… apparently I have a man’s style of writing. Don’t quite know what to make of that.
Mine is so bad I can’t even read my own writing sometimes. I just stick to a keyboard. =\
I can write beautifully, but that takes effort. My mind works too fast for my hand to keep up with it, so… I agree: the keyboard is a saviour when it comes to this.
Yes indeed. 🙂