I knew what I wanted to write about — my road trip in 2006 — but I had no idea how to start writing. I had never embarked on such an ambitious project before. So I did the only thing that felt natural: I thought back as far as I could, to my earliest memory of the road trip.
In this case, the first thing I thought of was my dining room in the Abdab. The Abdab was my home from the summer of 2005-2007, and it was a home away from home for many of the friends of its inhabitants. We would play host quite often to Zach’s, Greg’s, and Max’s friends (they were my flatmates), since our home offered a warm atmosphere without the specter of parents lingering over us as we partook in activities they may not have approved of. This mainly meant we wanted to drink in peace (Max did not drink, but he definitely was a great friend to have around when we would drink, especially if we started doing wild things. His camera was always at the ready).
Naturally, then, the Abdab was where the first plans for the trip were laid out — literally laid out on the dining room table. Shane, a friend of Zach’s who I had met about a year before planning began (do I really have to introduce everybody in the book and in the blog?), supplied the map (and the beers, since he was the only 21-year old of us), and we supplied the space. It was a match made in heaven.
That memory was the first that I could recall regarding the road trip. Unfortunately, I cannot recall when we first discussed the idea, or when we made plans to make the plan. But I worked with what I had, and came up with a concept.
That dining room table
That first concept was to include a picture of the table — and the map too if I had a picture of it — along with a description of the place “where it all began.” This would presumably set the scene for how a road trip might begin, especially interesting to someone who might not have ever been on such a trip before. I thought that it would make sense to start small, and then build up to the first step on the gas pedal.
Unfortunately, there was no picture of a dining room table, with or without a map. So what now? I have a habit of sketching imitations of my favorite artist’s work. They often involve flowers, wheat fields, paths, and people (I have never been any good at drawing people), and since they are sketches, they would probably fit in with a journal-style writing, and the themes are represented in the trip which took us down park paths, by and through flower fields, and down roads surrounded by wheat and long yellow grass.
What this got me was the idea that perhaps I could sketch the scene myself in a style I love to imitate. Roger King of the Pine would draw all of the band’s artwork in a rough pen & ink style. Here is an example of the front and back cover for one of their 7″ splits:
I’ll right come out and admit that I have nowhere near the talent Roger has. I got as far as drawing a semi-3d dining room table with Shane’s head right above it before I realized it was a completely lost cause. I can handle drawing the “sewn patch” thing and the 2d flowers and grass sketches, but people, tables, and other three-dimensional objects were out of the question.
A compromise
This led me to a compromise. I would write about the dining room table, but there would be no picture or sketch of it. The best I could do was use a picture of the dining room from when we first moved in, sans table at the time.
I still wanted to incorporate drawings and sketches into the journal pages, so I decided to do this in a few ways. The first way was that I would begin different “entries” or “sections” with a title and miniature drawing underlined with a line of “sewn patch” stylings:
The second way was to draw one map of the proposed route, and then a new map for each new drive right before I began writing about it, each surrounded again by the “sewn patch.” For each of the “new” maps for each drive, I would include the previous routes and end with that day’s destination, so that the reader might feel like they are making progress with each new destination they read about:
The final way I planned on incorporating Roger’s style of artwork into the book was by asking him to design the cover of the book. I sent him a picture and an explanation of the book for inspiration, and he has agreed to do the artwork! I will hopefully have it in my hands tomorrow, and I’ll post the results here on the blog.
Now I can begin
For me, these decisions marked the beginning of the writing process. A bit convoluted, yes, but they laid down a foundation of style that was crucial to work out before I began writing, since handwriting is a lot more difficult to rewrite than words in a word processor. I couldn’t exactly white out an entire paragraph if I decided to draw in a title at the top of the page a month after I first wrote it.
On the flip side, these decisions also limited me going forward to a specific style if I wanted to maintain continuity throughout the book. So far, I think I’ve made the right choices, but I won’t know for sure until I change my mind. Hopefully those changes can wait until the 2nd Edition.