A DAY OF A JOURNAL

The restaurant where I work is usually quiet on weekends... so I had time to read the first 72 pages of "Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden letters" and it is AH-MA-ZING!! This journal are all the letters that he wrote to his editor while writing "East of Eden." What's cool is that his editor wouldn't receive the letter until he was transcribing the text which would be a year later, so really it is Steinbeck talking to himself mostly, Mr. Henshaw style. I usually don't dig writers on writing articles, but I am truly appreciating all of Steinbeck's neurosis, including his one with pencils.

"You know I am really stupid. For years I have looked for the perfect pencil. I have found very good ones but never the perfect one. A pencil that is all right some days is no good another day. For example, yesterday, I used a special pencil soft and fine and it floated over the paper just wonderfully. so this morning I try the same kind. And they crack on me. Points break and all hell is let loose. This is the day when I am stabbing the paper. So today I need a harder pencil at least for a while. I am using some that are numbered 2 3/8. I have my plastic tray you know and in it three kinds of pencils for hard writing days and soft writing days. Only sometimes it changes int he middle of the day, but at least I am equipped for it. I have also some super soft pencils which I do not use very often because I must feel as delicate as a rose petal to use them."
-- "Journal of a Novel"

It actually goes on for another paragraph and this is just ONE entry that talks about his obsessive nature with pencils. I don't excerpt it to bore you, it's actually so charming in the book because it is just the type of thing I'm sure all of us have worked out for ourselves. Steinbeck frets about being "too comfortable" in his home to write.

More than anything else, I feel like Steinbeck views writing as a craft which can be practiced and improved upon. He constantly states that writing "East of Eden" is a culmination of everything he's learned before. He even talks about all the experimenting he's done in preparation for this novel. The man works hard. I think what's most relatable is the feeling of depression. Steinbeck talks about up and down days, how moods can change without warning and how this effects his mindset and his attitude toward his writing. His letters are mental warmups to his novel writing, a bit like the first ten minutes of a run before a groove is hit.

I love this journal. So intimate and revealing.

ready like spaghetti, t

ps. my signing off doesn't really make sense, but one of my favorite first graders, Majesty, says that to me all the time.

pps. I have two more weeks of teaching and then that's it! I've already started crying every time I think about leaving my kids :-(