To Create is to Destroy

This is something I have been meaning to blog about since before I left Canada. Seven weeks later, I'm finally getting around to it. Better late than never I suppose.

Before coming to France I bought myself a journal to supplement my creative process. Not just any journal, however. No, no. The sole purpose of this journal is to be slowly, and systematically destroyed.

The journal is called Wreck this Journal and was written (if you will) by Keri Smith. The book certainly does have space for journaling, but really, it consists mostly of propositions lending to its destruction.

This might sound really fun (and it is), but let me tell you something about my relationship with books. I love them. I treasure them. I take great care not to damage them in any way. Frayed edges, smudges, tears, or, heaven help me, a broken spine, all these things make me wince. So the idea of buying a perfectly lovely book only to kick its ass from here to your mom's house?

Whoa now.

This is the journal in question:


As you may or may not be able to see, there is a small arrow on the lower right hand corner of the cover. It says "Start Here". And I did. I bent that corner, and I bent it good. I felt bad and strangely exhilarated. Unsurprisingly, one of the first propositions is to break the spine. I did that too.

I may not be giving a clear impression of the book though. While there are all kinds of crazy 'exercises' to do, they are all meant to be approached with complete freedom. The instructions at the beginning of the book flat out say to interpret everything however you choose. Its just nice to have a choice of paths to follow.

Some of my favourites include documenting your dinner on one page by smearing your food all over it, tying a string to the journal and swinging it around wildly and allowing it to hit walls, taking a shower with the journal, inviting random strangers to write in the journal, and, should the journal get lost, inviting whoever finds it to randomly choose a page, do what it says, and mail it back to the owner.

Those are all pretty extreme examples. Maybe that's why I like them. But there are more simple things like collecting fruit stickers, covering the page in circles and tracing your hands.

I have much more to say on the subject, but that is best left for another day when I have better documentation of the destruction of my journal.

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