• Sat, 13 Jun 1998

From: JulieR <baubo@eskimo.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 06:42:00 -1000

I've had a pretty simple format on my front page for listing my entries: I simply listed them by date.

But over the weekend I hope to go ahead and make titles for each of them, and change my format. I'm not doing it for the readers, though... up until now I've not been fond of seeing titled entries. I'd rather just read through them all, without caring much about titles.

What I've found is that I'm going to title my entries for myself, so that I can remember what they're about! *chuckle* At first it was generally easy to recall about what time of entry it was that something occurred, and I'd browse until I found it. But as the number of entries grows, it becomes more difficult. I'll be able to tell which days were the ones with slugs or clams, as opposed to the ones about poker playing dogs or the guy on stilts.

Anyhow, as it was sort of a minor revelation (d'oh!) for me, I thought I'd share it with any new journalers who aren't currently titling their entries and are wondering why others do.

From: Danny McGuffin <mcguffin@mcguffin.org>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 09:00:55 -1000

I stopped titling my entries and went to a calendar style format that a lot of other people use. Personally my entries sometimes have no purpose and are realy just stream of consciousness writing, how can I put a title to that?

From: Al Schroeder <al.schroeder@nashville.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 01:41:18 -1000

I love titles myself...makin' 'em, that is...because I love making puns or puzling titles. (Of course my entries usually are really more essays, with usually just one or two themes, so that makes is easier...)

From: Dreama <dreamalynn@geocities.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 07:28:45 -1000

I'm a title maker also, though most of my titles are either really banal or song titles or lyrics twisted to fit my mood when I write or the topic of the entry. Recent entries have been "Just Like Starting Over" "City Living, Heavy Trouble" and "Soul Free" all of which were the inventions of terribly clever lyricists who are far more talented than I could ever hope to be.

I really hope they don't mind.

From: amanda page <amandag@iname.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 07:50:24 -1000

I had this idea that the lyrical content can be copyrighted, but song titles and album titles can't be, anyone know if that's right?

From: sarah <word@western.wave.ca>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 07:44:06 -1000

My titles are one word ones most of the time. I pick an odd or relevant word that I've used in my entry. Yesterday was chickenwire.

From: GeeksRack@AOL.COM
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 07:49:18 -1000

I've been doing that a lot lately, too...one word titles. I usually talk about 3 or 4 things in each entry, and whichever I talked about the longest is the name of the entry. Stupid system, but it'll probably change by next month. It's the fastest way for me to remember what happened on a certain date without going and reading through the whole month.

From: scott liles <scott_to_trot@email.msn.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:11:42 -1000

I like naming my entries and I like reading other people's journals who've named theirs.

Sometimes the titles require some attention as to why they were chosen in the first place. That's always fun.

I kind of miss how Danny McGuffin at http://www.mcguffin.org would name each entry after a movie. That was pretty original. I always wondered if he would ever run out of movie titles. But now he doesn't use movie titles. The calendar setup looks good though.

I like odd titles myself, though I agree with Ginkgo that titles can be a pain in the rear to come up with sometimes.

From: Dreama <dreamalynn@geocities.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:40:05 -1000

> I had this idea that the lyrical content can be copyrighted, but song
> titles and album titles can't be, anyone know if that's right?

Essentially. That's how there were three songs released 1983-1987 called "Hold Me" and there are two books readily available in stores now entitled "A Thin Red Line."

Though, on second though, protection of lyrical content is sometimes sticky too, just ask Bob Dylan, who lost his case for plaigarism against Hootie and the Blowfish. (The judge said that since they mentioned Dylan's name, it was a proper attribution of the entire line of his song that they quote in "Only Wanna Be With You.")

From: Danny McGuffin <mcguffin@mcguffin.org>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:48:05 -1000

Well, when you have to start dipping into the Adult Movie world for titles of some of your entries you know, I think I was running a little low on titles. www.imdb.com helped out a lot in those respects, but sometimes I would have an entry totally lost on meaning, what could I name it?

SO I went with the calendar thingy, I have liked the new look.

From: Carolyn <carolyn@onramp.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 10:19:36 -1000

I usually title the entry before it's written. I know what I'm going to write about so it just comes out first. It kind of keeps me focused, not that I don't ramble on anyway!

From: IslandBoy <islandboy@friedtofu.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 15:26:58 -1000

Actually I was doing the movie title thing back in January till I ran out of movie names to describe my life. Also I ran into problems of wanting to use the same movie name more than once so I eventually stopped doing it. I still title my pages but they're at the top of the entries.

From: Isaac the Human Being <ischankl@umich.edu>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 16:23:51 -1000

Yeah, song titles and song quotes make for great titles of any kind... if imitation is the best form of flattery, than allusion would have to be the best substitute for creativity as well...

I title all my entries partly so I can remember what I wrote, but mostly for dramatic effect. I'm not interested in a bland historical record of my life, I'm interested in telling a story, so I have to do some necessary "fictionalizing" of my life. Titling is one of those things that lend an air of importance and mystery to the story of your life. A title for each day shows the bumps and cracks and things that change from day to day. Life's not a smooth, seamless 1 + 1 + 1 + 1... (etc.) kind of progression.

Titles usually come from somewhere within the entry. Sometimes it's a theme which unifies everything I've written, sometimes it's a particular phrase which catches my eye. It doesn't always perfectly describe the day, but if it doesn't, it still grabs your attention... at least, that's the desired effect.

All you really need is one cool phrase in your entry to become your title. If you're a decent writer, that's not too hard, is it? The trouble is finding the right phrase, finding where it lies.

I dunno. For whatever reason, titles are 10 times easier for me than the actual writing. The writing is fucking grueling sometimes.

From: Marcio Caparica Carlos <obvious@altavista.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 17:00:31 -1000

The system I use to title my entries is pretty simple. All the entries start with "On...", and then I list the one or two main things I've talked about. It has worked pretty well, until now.

From: Kymm Zuckert <hedgehog@hedgehog.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 18:44:55 -1000

My titles tend to be song lyrics as well, or sometimes a movie quote or something I heard somebody say. They rarely have a thing to do with my entries, though they sometimes have alot to do with things that I am thinking about but not including in entries. Right now I'm mostly using Billy Bragg lyrics.