Africa in Journals

I filled a lot of paper writing about my time in Africa.  Considering I've only managed to write in my journal a handful of times in the three months I've been back (yes, three damn months) I was quite impressed with my work.  Look!

Seems like a lot, yes?  Well I was just reading Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar.  He took a six month trek and he filled out six notebooks just like those!  Way to take the wind out of my sails…

But what, anyway, do I intend on doing with these tomes?  First I plan on typing them up.  I know, I know: why not type them up to begin with?  There is something much more intimate putting pen to paper.  You feel like you really created something.  Take a picture and impress me with anything you wrote on your computer.  When I write I use ink, because there is no taking back a thought after it has been born.  Plus typing them all up is to relive them.  Walk down memory lane.

Second is completely theoretical.  I'd like to turn them into a novel.  Based on the two journals from Italy and their current non-novella state, don't get your hopes up on fruition of that idea.  The hardest part?  Coming up with new names for everyone!  At the very least for the female characters of the show.  I was… more than a bit of an asshole.  I do apologize.  In my defense, you met me at a very strange time in my life…  Anyway, the only names I come up with sound fake: Sally or Larry or Gary or Mary or other names that end in "y".  You try renaming your friends; it's hard to even think of them without their names!  Ugh.

So, first step: type them up.  Second step: see if anything interesting is there.  Third step: pay someone else to turn it into something someone might want to read?  I really have no idea.  Let's just start with step one.