9
I found a 1978 journal at a thrift store in Portland and tracked down the writer
Found this beat-up spiral notebook at Goodwill with entries from 1978 to 1982. The writer was a woman named Beth who documented her attempts at writing a fantasy novel about a librarian who finds a portal in the stacks. I spent about 3 weeks searching Facebook and local genealogy sites and actually found her daughter, who said Beth passed away in 2019 but kept writing until the end. The daughter let me keep the journal, and now I'm using one of Beth's abandoned plot ideas for my own novel. Has anyone else found old writing in the wild like this?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
jana_davis9021d ago
That is SO cool that you tracked down Beth's daughter and got permission. The fact that she kept writing until the very end makes this feel like a sign or something. You should definitely keep one of her old character names or a setting detail in your novel as a little tribute. I found a half-finished sci-fi story in a library book once, typed on an old typewriter, and I still wonder who wrote it and what their big idea was supposed to be.
3
bailey.sam21d ago
Nah, @jana_davis90, let the dead stay dead. Why borrow someone else's unfinished work?
1