Query: Journalling

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

And query for my flist:

Do you journal? If so, what about?

The issue is I have two daily agenda/schedule/calendar books for 2021. One, serviceable one I bought at Staples, which I plan to use as my 'Mom' one with to-do lists, reminders, dentist appointments, etcetera.

The other one is a nice Edward Gorey agenda book that my sister gave me for Christmas and I want to do something with it. It has a lot of nice artwork itself, some of which I've never seen before.

Ideas:

A diary (I've never been very good at keeping a diary but the daily section is small).

A creative journal (for my own poems. Or for things that inspire me or things I like.)

A crafting journal (I have my miniature coffee shop).

I have heard of gratitude journals. I don't know much about them other than the obvious.

Do you have/keep New Year's resolutions?

I suppose I could use it to keep track of resolutions but that seems a bit, well, sad, because I'd like it to be fun and resolutions are always a bit awful.

Anyway, if you do something with a journal or have any ideas about any of this, drop me a comment.

Comments

[garonne]

I tried to keep a bullet journal a few months ago. Like you someone gave me a really nice notebook/agenda and I wanted to somehow use it. (If you google "bullet journalling for writers" you'll see what I mean.)

After a few weeks I ran out of steam and stopped, but I wish you more success with it!

[lunabee34]

I have so many notebooks in current use. LOL

I use one to keep a journal where I just write my feelings or whatever I want to write. I sometimes draw or put stickers in this one.

I have another where I write to prompts and this journal is intended to maybe be minable later for creative non-fiction pieces. More recently I have been writing my dreams in that journal because new meds are making me have vivid and intense ones.

I do a lot of gratitude journaling. It's a way for me to focus on the positives in life and to counteract some of the bellyaching I do in my journal. LOL

I have another book where I write down cool quotes I come across.

And then there are all the random notebooks I make to-do lists in, etc.

[smallhobbit]

I have three! One is a basic diary, which is a combination of Calendar (ie things happening), anything I particularly want to watch, general to dos, FutureLearn course breakdown, plus the week's writing allocated by day. The last bit generally doesn't happen on the set day, but it's useful to keep planned and then when I do stuff at the end of the week I get the great satisfaction of ticking it off!

The second, larger diary I use to record due dates for challenges/exchanges, plus also I keep a record of what I've written each day, plus number of words written (because I post all over the place), and DW blog posts of varying sorts.

And the third is just for all those notes I'm not going to throw away instantly, and may want to refer back to in a few days time (I used to use scraps of paper but I always lost them). I find it surprisingly useful.

[ancientreader]

To the extent that I have a journal, it's probably my posts here. The other things one might maybe count: a cheap notebook in which I tape copies of poems I like (it is labeled "Poetry Scrapbook," because I'm imaginative like that); and, as a species of writing journal, notes on the draft document of whatever fic I'm working on. The notes can be anything from fragmentary scenes to links to articles that inform the characterizations dear God do I sound pompous but yeah.

[cuddyclothes]

I've kept diary-type journals off and on over the years. I generally carry a notebook to write down ideas or anything else that catches my interest or if I need to vent. I'd had regular pocket calendars but this year there hasn't been any point!

[debriswoman]

An interesting question...
I have failed many many times to sustain a written journal/ diary
I have a slim 2 year diary which simply has set dates and work related events and time tables, but has a few items stuffed into a plastic sleeve , which I am loathe to remove

I kept a sort of gratitude journal for a while in darker times, trying to find something positive each day, but it petered out...

A sketching journal is the only one I have persisted happily, if somewhat erratically, with. One was filled with sketches of the Oregon/Washington trip, and included sketches from photos on my return. One lasted 3 years and was a scribble mix of text and sketch...all done on scene...and covering local trips as well as holidays...just started a new one this year. I have an older incomplete one, which spanned 10 years or more, when the offspring limited sitting with a pen. And I have one which I record things at home in, flowers, bark, favourite green shoe, anemones drawn with different pens/pencils.

I was daunted at first by books on sketch journals, re the quality and skill displayed, but then carried on regardless.

Oh...and do personalised needlepoint cushions count as a form of journaling? A bit unwieldy, perhaps...

[firecat]

I have kept journals since I was 13 or so. The format and frequency have varied. Composition notebooks at first, then files on my computer, then both files on my computer and blank books I picked up in various places.

Sometimes I wrote a lot about mental/emotional stuff I was working on. At other times in my life they've been more like notepads, in that I didn't write daily and mostly didn't write in order to write, but I was using them to keep track of things. But they'd sometimes accumulate a few poems here and there. (Mostly written in train station parking lots.)

For the past decade and a half I've had most of my journal in Scrivener. I have folders for daily entries (or for whichever days I've felt like entering something), to-dos, goals, and a folder where I keep track of my entertainment consumption (books, audiobooks, tv/movies, games). This year I started to do fanfic and now I have a giant folder for that, too.

I don't do new year's resolutions. I have a list of goals that I look at a few times a month. I add new ones when the time seems right.

[luthienberen]

I haven't succeeded in keeping a regular paper journal but I do use a diary for work purposes for meetings, deadlines etc so it is in one easy non-electonic place to refer to.

I have notebooks where I scribble down ideas for fic before transposing mostly to a word doc :-)