Caleb's Public Writing Journal

Me Caleb. Me write good words.

Journals aren't meant to be read, but…

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Hello you. This post is the first in a collection of journal entries from my meatspace journal. Some of them I will post for academic purposes, so you can see how a fellow writer does it, and some of them I will post just in case my black lab puppy eats my meatspace journal. Which is likely.

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ENTRIES I:

“I don’t know what month it is, but I know it is the 28th of that month. It’s a Saturday and I’m still exploring the new house. We moved yesterday, or better the move was yesterday. My wife and I hired some hands and we employed her brother as well. It was the least amount of moving I’ve ever done during a move…”

“The cars are all nicer here. In Camarillo it was old ford trucks, twenty year old BMWs, and endless Mitsubishis that always made me feel sad. Just the sporty ones though, because it seemed fake to me. If I was into fast sporty cards, I would buy an old-old car and fix it up. That way it had some character to it…”

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Wow, what is this guy thinking right?

Thanks for checking it out mate!

Cheers,

Caleb

Well, here's a midnight prompt.

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I thought I would leave this first part here to show people what I started with.

PROMPT: Write a scene in which two characters struggle to understand each other.

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The following was written in about six minutes while I had the conversation with myself.

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RESPONSE I:
“China’s a weird place huh?” Chet said, looking up from his brownish nails. “China speaks differnt, you know?”
“You what?”
“China. China speaks differently.”
“Well you is speaking differently.”
“China does.”
You is!
Man, china don’t speak a word like me fool.
You ain’t making sense friend and that’s where I stand.
Chi-na you shit. China. The county of China. China invented explosives.
You can’t invent explosives you idiot, the Chinese already done that.
Stands
Man I’m gonnna hit you one.
Like hell you-
I hit him one
Well shit, why’d you do that
I was trying to tell you something fucking smart you idiot.
You’ve been trying to do something this whole damn time that’s why I thought we was talking!
You shit, what?
You hit me.
You shit.
Why’d you hit me Chet?

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Now here is the response, ten minutes later, after I finished cleaning it up:

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RESPONSE II:

“China’s,” Chet said, pausing for a moment, “China’s a weird place huh?” He was picking at his brownish nails and pushing the backs of his teeth with his tongue. “China speaks different, you know?”

“You what?” I said. The sawing wasn’t going to get done by no one.

“China,” Chet said. “China speaks differently.”

“Well you is speaking differently,” I said slapping the too long piece of plank onto the horses and started to yawn it.

“China does. China speaks different then us.”

“You is!” I said. I got a twig in my thumb and it was black in my thumb. I sucked at it. “You is talking different you fool.”

“Jesus, China don’t speak a word like me.”

“You ain’t making sense friend,” I said. “And that’s just where I stand.”

“Chi. Nuh. You shit! China. The county of China. China invented explosions.”

“You can’t invent explosives you idiot,” The pile was just as big as it was when we began this.

“The Chinese already done that.” My thumb hurt. Chet stood up and pulled at the back top of his trousers, then pointed at me.

“Man I’m gonna hit you one.”

“Like hell you-”

It was white and then there was holes in my sight like stars and I held up my hands.

“Well shit, why’d you do that?”

“I was trying to tell you something fucking smart you fucking idiot.”

“Well, you’ve been trying to do something this whole damn time that’s why I thought we was talking!”

“You shit! What?”

“You hit me.”

“You shit.”

“Why’d you hit me Chet?”

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Ha! That was fun, and I wrote from 12:27 to 12:43.

From now on, I’m just going to be posting the second draft. This one is pretty raw, but I wanted you to get an idea of my process. I won’t be getting into any third drafts on this blog though: we play for keeps!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that and keep an eye out for the next post.

Cheers,

Caleb

Welcome to my blog!

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Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Caleb Jacobo and I am an aspiring writer living in Southern California. This blog is serving both as entertainment for anyone who reads it, and also for my purposes which are admittedly selfish: becoming a better writer.

A fortune cookie once told me that writing is like a muscle and you must exercise it to keep it buff…I guess. The point is that this blog will give me the opportunity and platform to stretch my fingers and just write.

That being said, I am glad that you are taking time away from the thousands of important things you could be doing right now, and reading some humble scratchings of a guy in a beard.

Cheers,

Caleb