Raw Material: Open This Book at Random

Raw Material is a book for novelists, songwriters, artists, thinkers, philosophers, and the clinically insane, to be opened at random, to inspire further thinking beyond its pages. An experiment in mindfulness, exercising stream of conscious thought, and creative writing, Raw Material, is meant to be read with an open notebook, or a blank pad of paper, to inspire further thought and creation in its readers.

Raw Material began as a writing exercise with the simple goal of filling an entire spiral bound notebook with beautiful or thought-provoking word combinations. It was meant to be filled with starting points, short poems, book titles, band names, or future lines for longer projects. Originally intended to be written slowly over years and thrown in the back of a closet, suddenly unfolded into an interesting and unique manuscript.

Filling each page with stream of consciousness writing, with each line totally unrelated to the last, a practice of mindfulness developed through the writing process. Each thought would come, be written down, acknowledged, and then let go. It became an exercise in both meditation and creative writing. The book took shape, becoming something worthy of being shared with the world. Rather than thrown in the back of the closet, it was turned into the book that it is today.

Raw Material shines when it is opened at random, and the thoughts within spark further thoughts in the reader. There are even a few blank pages in the back of the book to be filled by the reader, with their own mindful, poetic thoughts, hopefully inspired through their unique perspective upon their individual reading of the book.