compile my journals

cleared through 2000 now. can’t get started on 2001.

completed! I still have a long way to go, but actually, in years i’m halfway done! (but not in number of entries). Its very interesting to go through and see what i’ve written and when, although i think once i’m done some changes to the tags may occur.

The first few years are completed. The LJ has been tagged and images uploaded using flickr. The correct aliases have been used and a few other edits here and there. The entries have also been put into MS Word and printed out. They look pretty good and everything is linked up to a table of contents and list of figures. Its a lot of work, but not horrible going. I need to buy a binder after work today.

1. Format decided. I’ll enter everything into LJ, then go through as put it into MSWord. It means I can save the drawings and whatnow right into it, and print it myself. It won’t be so classy as a bound book, but maybe I’ll have it printed at a Kinko’s and use a higher grade paper than I might otherwise use. That or things will have to be done in small steps.
2. Weekend goal is to copy in 3 months of entries from current LJ to the new one. Not too hard, just tedious. Its really the only reason I wish I had a laptop.

I’m not ready yet, but part of the goal is to have all the journals in book form at some point. I’ve got multiple options, each with their own ups and downs.

1. Blogbinders – lets me choose the book and make it how I want, doesn’t include pictures.
2. LJbook – includes some pictures, but not those that are links. This only makes a PDF, i’d have to put it in book form separately using cafepress or lulu.
3. Me – I could turn it all into chapters in MSWord, with pictures, and print it out. I have a slow printer and it would take a long time. Binding would also be a problem. Still, any edits would be easy to do. Printing doublesided would be harder. I could also try out a Staples or Kinkos.

The other night I added all of November 2003. It was not particularly entry heavy month, but i did edit the names/locations and add tags. I also realize that if the thing about tags only working 100 entries back I need to get more specific and create more interesting tags, as at the end of this updating, I will have well over 2000 entries plus whatever else I write in the future. Things like family or babble just won’t be the best ones to use. I’ll come up with an extended list in the next few days. I’ll keep my vaguer ones too, but try to use a number less than 100 times.

I spent two months in Venice. During that time I wrote a lot and often. It was my period to escape from the pressures around me and just go with it. There was a lot of introspection. This weekend I got up to June 13, so about 25% through. I made those entries into the form I want the rest of the journal to be in, with the exception of spelling & capitals. I had to type those all in from the paper journal, which makes it slower going, but still, progress. They are tagged, images included and the right dates and subjects. I also changed the look a little and reserved a username on tripod so that i can refer to other things outside of LJ land. Not bad, just need to keep going. Its A LOT of stuff there. Plus trips to Florida and Mexico later on, and other paper writings…

So I’ve had about 5 paper journals, 3 livejournals and plenty of other written bits saved here and there over the last 13 years or so. I’m working on getting them into one central location. The plan is that I’ve set up a new LiveJournal account (ellemenopea) and I’m putting them all there, as public, with the names/locations editted for privacy. I’m aslo adding the doodles, pictures and such that add to the story. Once its all in the LJ, I’m going to PDF it, then put it into MS Word, spell check, do additional edits, add tags and re-update. Then re-PDF it, and print into a binder, so I have a hard copy of the whole thing in one place. All this while still keeping a journal. yeah!