Wreck This Journal [Paperback]

Keri Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2007

For anyone who's ever wished to, but had trouble starting, keeping, or finishing a journal or sketchbook comes Wreck This Journal, an illustrated book that features a subversive collection of prompts, asking readers to muster up their best mistake- and mess-making abilities to fill the pages of the book (and destroy them). Acclaimed illustrator Keri Smith encourages journalers to engage in "destructive" acts-poking holes through pages, adding photos and defacing them, painting with coffee, and more-in order to experience the true creative process. Readers discover a new way of art and journal making-and new ways to escape the fear of the blank page and fully engage in the creative process.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Keri Smith is the author of the popular weblog Wish Jar Journal, which attracts 8,000 readers daily, Living Out Loud, and Tear Up This Book. She’s illustrated for the Washington Post, New York Times, Ford Motor Company, People, The Body Shop, and Hallmark. She lives in Canada.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039953346X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399533464
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (185 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Self-Help > Creativity
  • #3 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing
  • #12 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling

More About the Author

Keri Smith is an author/illustrator turned guerilla artist. She is the author of several bestselling books about creativity including This is Not a Book (2009 Perigee), How to be an Explorer of the World -the Portable Life/Art Museum,( 2008 Perigee), Wreck this Journal (2007 Perigee). Her newest book, Mess: A Manual of Accidents and Mistakes will be released fall 2010 by Penguin Books. She is the author of the popular weblog the Wish Jar, and writes on occasion for a variety of magazines. Keri spends her days playing with her husband and son, and divides her time between upstate New York, and the countryside of Canada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

237 of 241 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wreaking havoc on my journal while shedding fears..., July 7, 2007

By 

T. Adlam "professional consumer" (South Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wreck This Journal (Paperback)

When this journal arrived, my heart sank when I saw there was a tiny tear on the bottom of the spine. My first reaction was to contact Amazon and have them ship me a brand new copy. Then I came to my senses; the whole purpose of the journal *was* to wreck it, and in light of what I was going to do to it, a tiny tear would be the least of its worries.

You see, I made a promise to myself: Follow the instructions and wreck the journal, no matter what my better judgment told me.

It took a few days to get started. In fact, I spent those first few days grieving over what I had to do to the journal (yes, I started by reading through some of the instructions). When it comes to my books and journals, I'm a perfectionist and *damaging* any of them makes me uneasy. Even the sight of someone else damaging a book makes me uneasy.

But, when I finally let loose and did one of the tasks in the book, suddenly it didn't seem so bad. (Plus, it helped that I started with such an innocuous task -- sticking a sticker from bought fruit on a page.) Before long, I was flinging the book at the walls, ripping pages, drawing with glue, showering with it, and a bunch of other interesting (yet highly suspect) activities.

At the end of the day, my family members may think I'm a little nuts for buying a journal I would eventually destroy, however, it's incredibly fun, liberating, and therapeutic. Enough so that I enlisted the aid of a Starbucks barista for my recent experiment (and I think he liked it too).

Truth be told, it exceeded my expectations. Usually, I'm not a guided-journal girl, but Kerri somehow transformed what could be a boring task into something amazing. Kudos to her for it.

(Between you and me, I'm strongly contemplating getting one just for my journal collection. It's *that* good.)

171 of 173 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most fun I've had in years!, November 20, 2007

By 

Sarah Deer "Mvskoke Thinker" (Saint Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wreck This Journal (Paperback)

I received this book less than 24 hours ago, and so far it has been a blast! I battled cancer last year, and was given dozens (literally) of pretty blank journals. I didn't open any of them. I didn't want to write about cancer and process about cancer. I wanted to KILL CANCER and demolish any and all cancer-related merchandise. This journal is so cathartic. It doesn't take itself too seriously but allows for rage, anger, fear, despair, and all kinds of other messy emotions. Plus, I finally found a use for all the stickers I have laying around in drawers and cabinets.

It is sad that we live in a society in which some of us need "permission" to cut, tear, mutilate, and destroy things in an effort to purge nastiness from our heads. But -- since we do, I'm glad this book is out there.

170 of 175 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not quite expected..., July 24, 2007

By 

Elizabeth Metz "Muse" (Crescent, Iowa, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wreck This Journal (Paperback)

For some reason, during preorder, I thought this was a book to read. Like, a book full of words that you sit down in a chair with a cup of coffee and read through from start to finish. You know...a *book*.

When it arrived, then, I was a little disappointed to find that it wasn't, in fact, a book to read at all. It looked like just journal prompts -- bits of writing on the page and lots of blank space for you to fill in. I set it aside.

I picked it back up when I was getting ready to put it on the shelf, where it would have languished with the other books I'd get around to someday. I flipped through it. A prompt caught my eye.

I started reading the prompts and blurbs, and it started sinking in: this isn't a book at all. This is PARTICIPATORY. This is a book that doesn't let you sit there, passively, with your coffee, just observing what the author's trying to say. This is a book that makes you get up, makes you smear it with crazy and beat it up in ways that most people couldn't imagine treating their books or journals. Especially not a journal. Wrecking a *journal*?

Over the next few days, I carried this book with me and beat the livin' tar out of it. I followed the prompts. I wrote on pages with food and with my tongue. I ripped pages out and crumpled them up and stuck them back in. I sat with it in a chair with my coffee, for sure, but I also spilled coffee on it -- on purpose. I wrote in things backwards and scribbled really, really hard.

In short, this book went through things that most of us should never have to. I kicked this thing around and waited while it came back for more.

And, you know...? It was TREMENDOUSLY LIBERATING. I beat the snot outta the pages, but when I was done, there was a whole new surface for me to look at and consider. I found new colors (thanks to berry-blue gum and dirt). I found that I really like painting over surfaces that have been scored by ballpoint pens and fingernails, and that watercolor over crumpled paper makes the most interesting texture, always unpredictable.

What I thought was going to be a disappointment has probably been one of the best books out there for getting me to "lighten up" a bit and just get back to playing freely on a page. From one star in my brain, this book elevated itself with its simple presentation and revolutionary (to me) ideas to a five-star keeper. I'm even considering getting more, to hand out to artists-blocked friends this holiday season.

Get this book. Even if you're not blocked now, or can't imagine defacing a book (even if it tells you to). One day, if you ever are, this book can help knock you out of the rut you're in, and put you on a whole new path.