Traveling Notebook: Looking for some creative fun

A few years ago, I attempted to do a traveling notebook. The goal of it was for it to travel and eventually make its way back to me.

Always with an ulterior motive, I wanted something to blog about.

Unfortunately, during that time, I was unemployed. The interest was rather low and I lost interest trying to figure the best way to organize it. But the idea has always remained with me. It’s something I still would love to do.

So I figured what the heck, how about we revisit this?

The idea behind this is simple. We have a list of people who agree to get involved. I’ll try and set up a list of how things can get to one another as close as possible. So, for example, I’d send to Pennsylvania, not to somebody in California. But we’d try and get it going so it wanders around before coming home.

I’m going to open this to more than just bloggers, though. I am offering this, first, to people I have dealt with online and a few I know in the real world. Whether through Flickr, geocaching, blogging, letterboxing, disc golf, softball or something else, I want to see what I can come up with. I want different people to be involved and see as this book makes its way around. The only thing is this … I’d like to try and keep it to people who I’ve had interaction (even just a tad) with in the past and such, even if just through blogging or something else. This way, I kind of have a feel for those involved. I won’t rule anybody out, so if you are interested, post a note in the comments section!

I’ll have to cap it at some level, though. I’d love to get like 20 or so people to make this something that could last a bit as it traveled.

Once we get all the interested parties, I’ll divide it up geographically and then get going on it – the book will start its journey.

Each person, depending on how many sign up, would get a certain amount of pages. Right now I am looking at a spiral-bound sketch pad with 100 pages. But each person will get a number of pages to do whatever they want.

What does that mean?

Write a story. Make your pages scrapbook-like. Put in a photo or three. Do a couple of  drawings. Put your favorite recipe in there. Maybe a label from a beer bottle. Or a wine bottle. And a story or two to go along with it. Maybe you’ll write about a day in the life of _____ .

That’s going to be the best part of this book — people can do whatever they want. Maybe a concert ticket. Or a speeding ticket. Let’s just try to keep it as flat as possible!

Please, though, keep it clean. Let’s not put anything in there that could offend somebody else.

You also don’t have to necessarily use up your allotted pages. That’s up to you.

The one thing I ask is that you at least put your name (first only is OK) and where you’re from and a little something on at least one or two pages. After all, what’s the point of getting involved with this if you aren’t willing to do something?

For now, I am going to limit this to the United States/Canada to save on shipping and to be able to have tracking. I would request that when you send it out, please send it with confirmation so we can track it. And, please, when you send it, e-mail me to let me know the number. If you are Canadian, my plan would be to group all of the Canada spots together and not have it going back and forth between the US/Canada. Basically, one time up, then one time back down.

There are but just a few rules for us to follow:

• Please don’t share/blog the pages. The reason I am doing this is partially a blog project, so I’d like to blog about the whole thing once it’s done. I plan on scanning/photographing each page and having it available for all to see.
• Please agree to be able to send this out within seven days of getting it. I realize things come up, but if people keep it too long it can become long and tedious for others. If there is a delay (vacation, illness, family etc.), please just let me know.
• Please use delivery confirmation when sending this and make sure the package is secure and sealed. I will be putting the notebook in a heavy duty ziplock for inside the package, and this might need to be changed (as well as the mailer) at times.

A couple of other notes for you to all know.

I will be attaching a Geocaching.com travel bug. If you are not a geocacher, then this won’t matter. But if you are, please feel free to discover this.

I am also planning on making a letterbox stamp to put with this. If you like stamps, feel free to stamp something with it. Please keep this with the package. I will also make this available to log on Atlas Quest. If you are a Letterboxer, stamp your personal one in the book when you do your pages!

When this is done, my plan (as long as we have enough people) is to have a pathtag made. Everybody who participates will get one. For those who don’t know, these are small little “coins” that cachers use as signature items, or as trading items. The best is you can put a keychain on it for that purpose. Please, though, log it when you get it as it will be neat to see. I will only make these once we see how many people are involved and once the book successfully makes it back to me.

I would love to see this start and end within a year. That might not be possible, but I am hoping. An occasional photo of it on Instagram or in the Facebook Group I am setting up with be fantastic, too.  I am posting this now so I can share with friends and such to see if we can start this soon after the start of the year.

If you are interested, let me know. You can comment here or e-mail me or call or text, depending on how you know me. I’ll put you on the list and keep you up to date.

The day it launches, I’ll do a post on my blog. I’ll then send it out. If you are a blogger, I’d like to make sure everybody is linked up so others can check out your blog and such, too.

I look forward to seeing if this will take off and if it will do well!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!