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  • Writer: Kimberly Jayne
    Kimberly Jayne
  • Oct 23, 2016
  • 3 min read

Updated: Aug 1, 2020


I love journals. I request them for birthdays and other gift-giving opportunities where I can actually tell people what they can buy for me. They're going to buy me something, so it may as well be what I want, right? Journals are beautiful inside and out, and I must have them. Plus, I have never found a reason to re-gift a journal. Ever. Because that would be wrong.

But here's the problem. You knew there would be one, right? Yes, there's a problem. It's the girdle of perfection that squeezes the daring out of me. See, my beloved journals are perfect. I adore them. I fondle their smooth edges and bindings and dream of the worthy thoughts and ideas that only I can pour inside. I covet them like Scrooge covets his bags of gold, all for myself. The one thing I don't do is write in them. They are simply too perfect.

I currently have a collection of a dozen beautiful journals that now serve only to taunt me because they’re gathering dust and slowly disintegrating, as all things do with the passage of time, without the glory of someone's pen (mine) scrawling and jotting and doodling and masterpiecing across their pages. I know. This could be the very definition of sad. *Sheds pitiful writer’s tears.*

So, obviously, this is a bit of a conundrum because the reason I ask for journals in the first place is precisely because they're beautiful, and I really do want to write in them. One would be perfect for recounting my life so my children would actually learn who I am after I'm dead. One would be perfect for writing my innermost thoughts about men and relationships and sex—but, er, what if someone finds it after I'm dead? And still another without lines would be perfect for drawing and sketching and arting, except that I'm no Michelangelo. I’m not even a Southpark Trey Parker. And there I'd be, embarrassing my children from the grave. *Pauses. Considers the merits of this one.*

I have intended to change this situation for a long time, coaxing and finagling, and bribing myself into writing something in each journal. So far, I have inscribed my name. I do have nice handwriting. Meanwhile, I keep adding more journals. Every time I walk into a book store, I walk out with a perfect, hoardworthy journal that remains as I received it: empty and deprived.

So I mentioned this little “problem” to some writer friends at a retreat last weekend. One of them is not only a writer and a longtime friend but a life and creativity coach. A wise and delightful woman, she immediately identified a solution. Wabi-sabi.

Wabi-sabi represents Japanese aesthetics and a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. A concept derived from Buddhism, the aesthetic is described as beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. Like my journals. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, and the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes. In other words, Wabi-sabi says the beauty of an object is in its flaws. In a pretty but cracked vase, wabi-sabi is the flaw where the gift of light pours in. And whose broken heart isn't the personification of wabi-sabi?

In short, wabi-sabi struck me right between the brain lobes, creating a fissure in my thinking—and how very wabi-sabi that there the light shined in. It was so simple. So illuminating. So right in front of me all along. By writing in my journals, I'm not sullying their pages with my existential drivel. I'm not destroying the beauty and perfection of their craftsmanship. I'm not wasting the trees that gave their lives to be tattooed by my brain matter. In fact, I'm making my journals more beautiful, more valuable, more worthwhile—if to no one else but me. And any family that survives me.

To make sure I won't slide back into [absurd] old habits, I invited two of my nanababies to color on the first few pages of one of my newest and most beautiful journals. And guess what? It's even more precious to me. And now far from perfect, I'm free to fill it up with abandon—and writer stuff.

What about you? What can wabi-sabi do for you? How can it break the girdle of perfection that binds you? Can it free you, as it has freed me?

 
 
 
  • Writer: Kimberly Jayne
    Kimberly Jayne
  • Oct 16, 2016
  • 1 min read

Updated: Aug 1, 2020


Wow, another great review for Take My Husband, Please! This one from the BookLife Prize in Fiction by Publishers Weekly.

"Romance comes in many forms—not just the frenzied excitement of a new relationship. Even old relationships, especially the ones we thought had fizzled out, can have a spark. Slightly madcap, suddenly sweet, this novel combines the best of female friendship with soulful exploration of passion in its many forms. Of particular note are the themes of getting lost to find the right path and acceptance of even the most difficult things in life. The dialog-heavy, elegant writing style pulls readers into a world that is difficult to leave."

It's nice to see this fun story recognized and getting more readers. From a grateful author, kudos to Publishers Weekly and BookLife Prize in Fiction for their support of indy publishers.


 
 
 
  • Writer: Kimberly Jayne
    Kimberly Jayne
  • Oct 11, 2016
  • 1 min read

Updated: Aug 1, 2020


Five reviewers from Readers Favorite took an in-depth look at Take My Husband, Please, and gave it an average of FIVE STARS! You can see all five reviews here. I'm pretty excited because this is a well-respected site that reviews even big-name authors as well as little ol' me.

One of my most favorite reviews comes from Deborah Lloyd, who said this:

"Sometimes a reader simply wants to be entertained; this book is a fun and humorous read that will lighten up the day. Author Kimberly Jayne is a skilled and savvy writer as she describes the antics of Sophie and Will Camden in Take My Husband, Please. Sophie and Will may become the modern-day (romantic and sexy) version of Lucy and Ricky! Ms. Jayne’s writing is fast-paced, witty and unexpected; there are numerous twists and turns in her plot, making it difficult to put the book down. The story is simply provocative and hilarious. The best part is this: the story ended in such a way that a sequel may be in the works."

I love Deborah Lloyd.

Anyhoo, they gave me this cool emblem to show it's a nice book that you should buy (heh), and I'm happy to display it here. Want to get a copy of your own? Here ya go: Take My Husband, Please on Amazon.

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© 2015-2020 by Kimberly Jayne

All rights reserved.

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