by Laura Bickle
I'm a big fan of indulgences. They don't have to be big. But I think it's necessary to indulge ourselves once in awhile, to demonstrate that we care for ourselves...after all, if we won't, who will?
I have many...my Tarot card collection. My collection of Wonder Woman dolls and action figures (yes, my inner ten year old is alive and well). I occasionally bring home fresh flowers just to bring some life to my desk.A long, hot soak in the bathtub is a daily requirement. And an occasional massage at the spa is just wonderful.
But my favorite indulgence are journals. Especially ones with gorgeous colors, textures, and bindings. I devote a journal to every project I work on, to fill with notes and research, outlines and hooks. I cut out pictures and paste them into the pages. I doodle maps and sketch the characters. It becomes my Bible for the book I'm developing - part scrapbook, part journal, part file folder.
It's a way of honoring the work that I'm doing at the moment - and a way of keeping a record of the past. I always smile when I run across a journal of a past project on my bookshelf, all tattered and lumpy and full of paste and scribbles and cut-out articles. No one else ever sees them, so it doesn't matter.
They start out pretty. They don't stay pretty. But they're all mine.
