Earlier this year I bought a book called Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith.
The subtitle of the book is ‘To Create Is To Destroy’. Bascially it is, as the name suggests, a book that you are supposed to wreck. Each page has an instruction for something you’re supposed to do to the page or to the whole book in order to destroy it.
A couple of examples are ‘poke holes in this page using a pencil’, ‘sew this page’, and ‘create a non-stop line’. You are also supposed to cut through the book, take it for a walk tied on a piece of string, and take it in the shower with you.
The point of the book is to let yourself go a bit crazy, do things to a book that you simply don’t do to books, have fun, and get over the ‘blank page syndrome’ that people like me often face when we sit down to try and create something. It’s an attempt to get yourself unstuck from your creative rut.
I’m sure the concept of destroying a brand new book doesn’t appeal to everyone, but for me it’s been a bit of fun. I’ve been putting off some of the more destructive tasks, and also some that require a bit of thought, but I’ve noticed as I’ve been working through the book – not in order, of course – that I’ve started to get a bit more reckless with it and am happily making more of a mess than I did when I started.
Today I decided to drop the journal from a high place. The highest place I have easy access to (other than my work building, where I understand dropping things off the roof is strictly forbidden) is a second storey balcony, so that had to do.
Dropping it didn’t cause as much damage to the book as I’d hoped, but it was kind of cool to see it flying through the air for a couple of seconds.
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| The instruction. It doesn't say how high! |
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| Ready . . . set . . . |
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| Go! |
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| Bye! |
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| Safely landed. |
I wonder what I should attempt tomorrow.
I have never heard of this book, sounds interesting!!
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