[pct-l] Trail Journals

[Alison Rose]

YIKES!!  You'd rather gouge out your eyes than follow somebody's recommendation?  What a drama queen.  A few suggestions were made to journalists who place their product on the world wide web.  Where's the harm in making suggestions?

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: G. Lowe aka Wheeew 
  To: Alison Rose ; PCT 
  Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 7:21 AM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] Trail Journals


  Favor:  Would all those post-ers that came up with "rules" for Trail Journals please send me the web addresses of THEIR journals, so that I might critique them??

  And this:  If anyone writing a TJ IS following all the suggested "rules", I can promise you, I will never, EVER read your journal again!!!  

  The point missed is this:  TJ's are (or should be) for the AUTHORS enjoyment, not the readers!!  If the readers should enjoy them as well, so much the better.  But write them for your OWN enjoyment.  Not all writers are created equal.  Like most people, I am inept at many things in life, and proficient at others.  The unmitigated arrogance of thinking that I, or other TJ authors "owe" you a "performance"  or need to follow a RIGID set of guidelines DICTATED to us is a shameful slap in the face to those who take on the labor-intensive act of keeping a TJ.  

  I would rather poke my eyes out with a phillips head screwdriver  than follow the suggested "guidelines".  Let's hear if for artistic freedom!

  Hike On!

  Wheeew

  Alison Rose <a.rose at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
    Dear Dr. Bob ~

    A very good point indeed and I, for one, certainly thank you for making it.  
    A whiney, long-winded, self indulgent journal should be kept private. That
    being said, the well intentioned advice is offered to those who specificially
    wish to post a public journal for the world to see.  As most will notice,
    those journals will be read by somewhere between 20,000 and 150,000 people.
    Many read these journals in preperation for their own hike, so providing some
    of the recommended information is a tremendous gift to them.  Thus, if
    you want your journal to be interesting and relevent, kindly follow the
    recommendations.  If not, as in Dr. Bob's example, keep them private.  And I,
    for one, will thank you.  Thank you, thank you very much.


    One thing I like about trail journals is their wide diversity, reflecting
    the individual.  The fact that all journals do not follow the same terse
    guidelines helps one with insights into differing personalities and the
    trail day as experienced in differing ways by different people... the
    essence of HYOH.  Besides, for whom is a trail journal written?  Is it to
    entertain or educate others and written with an eye to avoiding critical
    comment?  (Gee, should I write this...?  I may be viewed as "whining.")  If
    so, some might suggest it may be flawed from the outset. I use a MP3 player
    to talk into as I hike. It's in my front pocket and several times a mile I
    grab it to record thoughts, sightings, people's names, as well as host of
    comments on my physical state of being that I want to remember as part of my
    trail experience.  Example: Whew, did I just have projectile diarrhea! (No,
    not this posting, folks).  Sometimes I ramble on (just like this post,
    folks). I am guilty of writing more a trail diary than a log or journal.  It
    is precisely because of comments like the well-intentioned guidelines
    suggested below that I have never publicly posted my four trail "journals."
    While I sure enjoy reading other accounts occasionally, mine proudly include
    whining and stay deliciously private.  :)

    Dr Bob 

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  -Wheeew-
  www.trailjournals.com/wheeew/
  ---->MexiCan----> 2008


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