I have written in a book. A book I owned not one borrowed from someone else or a library. Also, not a book I was going to trade in at my local secondhand bookstore for more secondhand books. So, I didn't feel it was defacing the book, but it still felt as if I were breaking some kind of cultural barrier.

Quoted from the Amazon book description of "The Reader in the Book: A Study of Spaces and Traces" by Stephen Orgel.

"One of the most commonplace aspects of old books is the fact that people wrote in them, something that, until very recently, has infuriated modern collectors and librarians. ... The underlying question is at what point marginalia, the legible incorporation of the work of reading into the text of the book, became a way of defacing it rather than of increasing its value-why did we want books to lose their history?"

I made notes about what I was thinking as I read the book. I made wonderful notes I wish I could read again now and be inspired by what I thought years ago when I first read the book. But, I gave the book to someone else to read and they didn't value it the way I did. It's gone. I don't even know if they read it cover to cover as I did, or just humoured me when I said how wonderful I thought it was.

Beyond that sad little story, I think people who write in a book are those who did find more inspiration, more to explore, in the book than the people who read it (maybe even loved it too) but did not leave any notes. Leaving a note, making that decision and acting upon it to crack into the pristine pages of a book... it takes guts, for lack of a better word. Writing in a book, leaving a mark is one thing, quite a thing for some. But, that's just the start. Your personal thoughts are there, exposed, for as long as that book is still around.

A book has to be burned to be destroyed. Throwing it into the garbage is not a final end. Someone could still pick it out, clean it up a bit and read it. Composting, is closer to an end, but that takes time. Quite a lot of time and you're not going to be there to guard the spot where its composting for as long as it would take for that book to break down. So, your thoughts will be there beyond the time it takes to jot them down.

Knowing and thinking about all of this, would you write in a book? I still do.

Have you ever seen a birthday card for someone already deceased? I don't mean so recently that people still have a memorial sort of birthday for them. What about when it is your Father, long gone.

Today is my Dad's birthday. I forget how long ago he died, it has been about 15 years, possibly more. I can't give him a pretty or funny card. I didn't find any wise or witty quotes. Not a single birthday card found for the deceased.

Has no one else ever thought of this? I will see what I can think of. Nothing brilliant so far.

What would you write, draw, create as a birthday card for family or friends long dead?

Create your own haunted house.

Plan the layout, the type of rooms, the design and colours. Write about the street appeal and what people see, hear, smell and sense from out on the street.

Then, create the monster living in the house, the surprise in the centre of the maze of rooms and storytelling. What happened to create this monster and what will happen in the future? Do things get better or worse for your monster in your haunted house?

I moved my blog to Divorce Darling awhile ago.

Now I decided to write a weekly writing prompt for adult writers, erotica writers and sex bloggers.  It happens to be Tuesday today so let's call it Tempting Tuesday. This post is just an announcement. See more on Divorce Darling each week, on Tuesday.

The first writing prompt will be...

There's a fly in the room. Not just on the wall, like a spectator, but actually buzzing around and making a pest of itself. Write an erotic scene, including an annoying fly.