sophistry | (no subject)

Papertrail what now?

So, y'all may remember that, once upon a WAY LONG TIME AGO, I talked about this! People seemed pretty interested, and so here we are, at long last. To quote the above link for the browser-lazy, I break in a new Moleskine, then send it on to someone. That someone fills up however many pages they want, with whatever they want - writing, journalling, poetry, photos, art, collages, ticket stubs, postal stamps, recipes, lolcats, whatever. And when they're done, they send it on to the next person, and so on and so forth until it arrives back home. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. A record of thoughts, days, what's making you laugh these days or itching at your fingertips, or just what you have in your pockets - an anything-project, pootling around the globe, from mind to mind. And when it arrives home, I'll scan it - yes, the whole thing - so that participants can see what they missed.

What can I put in the Papertrail Moleskine?

Anything that'll stay on/between the pages. No, seriously. Anything. Well, okay, within reason - nothing that might, say, go bad, or soak the whole thing through, or break the covers, or somehow cause it to explode mid-transit, or wind up causing a hapless post office to be quarantined whilst men in hazmat suits wander around looking grim, etc. etc. But you know what I mean. Go nuts. It certainly doesn't have to be paper media, either - glue in a bit of embroidery, for example, or make a music mix and stick in the CD in a plastic sleeve. I know you are all more creative than I am, so I will stop trying to think of examples now, but you get the idea! You can plan your page(s) in advance, or just sit down and doodle/write whatever comes into your head. Review a film, or muse on the nature of love, write a drabble, or get up close and personal and conduct a colour test of new lipsticks via an array of variously-hued lip-prints. SERIOUSLY ANYTHING, GUYS.

I'm totally in, but how is this going to work?

Easy! If you're up for taking part, just fill in the poll below with your email address, the country you live in, and the state(/county/province/whatever equivalent) you live in most of the time. Meaning, for example, if you live in X, but spend most of the year at college in Y, put down Y. Or if a move to Z is imminent, put down Z. The reason for this is so that I can work out an efficient-ish route for the book; getting it around to everyone in roughly the same area before sending it off halfway across the country, to everyone on the same continent before sending it across the Atlantic, and all that.

A list with all the participants' emails will go in the box with the Moleskine. When you're next in line, the person before you on the list will email you so you can provide an address to send it to. And when you've finished with it, simply cross off your name and email and contact the next person on the list for their address. That way, you're only ever giving your address to the person that is sending you the book, instead of to everyone taking part. Give your address in whichever form you're most comfortable with, whether that's the whole shebang, using your LJ name instead of your real name, or just a P.O. Box.

How long am I allowed keep the Moleskine for?

I don't really want to put any kind of hard and fast limit on this, since if the inspiration bug isn't biting, there's obviously not much you can do to force it. BUT, at the same time, I'm sure we'd all like to see it arrive on our doorsteps before the dawn of the fourth millennium. So a reasonable goal would be, I suppose, to try and send it off within a month after you receive it. Nobody's going to raise a stink if real life bites you in the ass and you just can't get it in the post by then, but... you know. Try not to leave it languishing in a corner gathering dust, either.

How many pages can I use?

I know I said 'however many pages you want' above, but a Moleskine only has so many pages! The designated Papertrail Moleskine is a large size sketchbook, which means 100 pages. So this really depends on the amount of people that sign up; 10 people are allowed 10 pages each, 20 people get 5 pages each, and so on. I'll tot it all up before sending it out, and include the number of pages each person is allowed somewhere in the box. Of course, this doesn't mean that you have to fill up all your pages - and conversely, if your magnum opus simply demands that you take up an extra page or two, that's fine too.

HOWEVER. If the per-person page limit ends up being small and this happens (or you go substantially over a fairly generous page limit), something to consider might be throwing a few dollars into the box - just $1 or $2 per extra page, or something - in case anyone near the end of the list winds up with a full Moleskine and needs to buy a second one to add to the first. You don't have to contribute. But, you know. It'd be nice.

What else is going to be in this mysterious box?

Aside from the Moleskine and the list of email addresses? A short letter from yrstrly with things like the page limit, the URL of this post in case you need to come back to it, and, uh, whatever else I can think of. And I may also throw in a stack of post-its, in case people want to jot down little hints and tips they've discovered whilst Papertrailing - 'don't use [X] type of pen, they bleed through the pages', or 'if you're using watercolours, put a spare sheet of paper beneath the page you're painting on'. That sort of stuff.

Can I pimp this?

If you like! If you want, you can use the mini-banner at the bottom of the page.

I have a question which you have not answered!

Ask me in the comments! I have been writing this post for a SQUIDZILLION HOURS, so I have probably forgotten some really obvious things.

[Poll #1233867]

You can sign up to take part in Papertrail until the 10^th August.
~~Unless nobody shows up, in which case they will stay open longer, cough cough.~~

C&P the following to your LJ to pimp: