I have started to comb through the blog, fine tooth style. I plan to archive the archive. I may tweak some things, delete some posts, fix some typos. I’m going through it all, rehashing it, if you will. I’m mining more sense out of this, finding more meaning, identifying more patterns. Perhaps…finding a way to form this all into, yes!, a book?
I started at the beginning, my first post.
In it I write:
These diaries hold endless surprises yet I search for the familiar, the connection, verification, that such a long life really existed, every moment of it. Someday she wont be with us any longer and I wish to preserve her life, to pay homage to it.
The reverence I had for these journals, her stories, and her was apparent. I felt like I was embarking on a magical quest. This was two and a half years ago and none of that feeling has died. At times I’m even rushing because I can’t wait to hear about her experience during WWII. The drama is building and it is going to be so intense.
I’m thinking about making artwork, collages to be exact, using “Babu Lines” that jump out to me. I’m thinking about writing black out poems with photocopies of pages. I still snort laughter and some times squirm in my chair if things are going badly. I work on or think about this project every day. I care greatly, still, for all these people, even though all but one of them is gone. None of the magic has faded.
I love your collage idea!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know if you know, but there are various sites that can turn a blog into a book. If you want I can try to find you one or two of them.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Do tell Val…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’d love to check those sites out out of curiosity but it wont help me in my case. My problems have deep roots. I am not sure yet how I want to tell the story, what form and focus I would want the book to have. It is a really exciting part of the process to be in!
LikeLiked by 1 person
These might give some ideas (and one or two have links to external sites that create books from blogs or from pdfs)
https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/how-to-turn-your-blog-into-a-book/
Amy (whose family history blog I follow) has done it and wrote about it a couple of years back:
https://brotmanblog.com/2015/04/24/turning-your-blog-into-a-book-or-several-books/
and there’s a way to make your blog look like a book (personally I’d get a separate blog for it as you can have any number of wordpress dot com blogs on one account, and I’d keep it private til ready.)
https://en.support.wordpress.com/write-a-book/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great suggestions. Thank you for your generous help!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Babu collage sounds so fun.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes! I’ll probably botch it because I am not crafty at all, but when I find some time I’m going to try it out!
LikeLike