Writing equipment

Having a new notebook is a fantastic feeling, its so exciting to think of the potential of the notebook, the things you could right. That is until you open it to the first blank page. Of course, it is no different to any other page in the book, but for some reason the first page can feel daunting. If this happens to you, here are some ideas on what to do with the first page:

1. Copy in a headline from today’s news
2. Write a list of wishes
3. Leave it blank
4. Write a list of things you are grateful for
5. Stick in a photograph or picture of yourself
   

   Photograph by cone_dmn

6. Explain the notebook theme and why you chose it
7. Complete a questionnaire about yourself e.g. weight, height, where you live
8. Explain the people who you may mention in the book e.g. family tree, groups by association like work,  list any abbreviations you use to refer to people such as initials
9. Contact details (just in case you leave it somewhere)
10. Write a prayer, mediation or affirmation, something that describes your current spiritual outlook
11. Leave it blank so you can add a review or synopsis of the notebook once you’ve filled it
12. Stick in a year summary calendar (potentially useful if you use a blank notebook instead of a dated one)
13. Stick in a favourite picture
14. Keep a store of useful information e.g. frequently used telephone numbers
15. Write a summary of your goals or your mission statement
16. Explain how you got the notebook e.g. gift from friend, bought on holiday
17. Keep a list e.g. books read, countries visited
18. Write a greeting to the book, possibly including an agreement about when, where and how you’ll use it
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As the start of the new year approaches, people often think about starting a journal. There is no reason why you need to start a journal on the 1st January, but it is a popular time to start, perhaps because of preprinted diaries. If you are thinking of keeping a journal here are some ideas for the type of journal you could keep.

Time capsule

This is a record of events that are important to you, for instance news or sports stories. You could simply keep newspaper cuttings or you could add your thoughts and comments on the headlines. I kept one of these at school which covers the first Iraq war and my sister kept one of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. It does not need to be national events, it could be more local events, for instance connected to your local town, school or sports club.

Specific topic

You many want to follow your progress on a specific topic, such as your exercise habits or children. You may find it useful to start these entries using a template so you can easily track progress over the year, such as exercise undertaken, weight. These journals do not need to be limited to one topic, for instance Ira Progoff encourages writing on different topics and filing each topic within different sections in a folder rather than chronologically.

Dreams

A dream journal should be written every morning as soon as you wake up to capture as many details of the dream as possible, the longer you leave it after waking the fewer details you can remember. You could just capture the dreams or you may want to analyse them using a dream dictionary , or just looking at the imagery yourself and suggesting meanings; it is often easier to do this a few days after having the dream. It is good to give each dream a title and keep an index of them so you can review them later, perhaps monthly, and notice any patterns.  ... Read more 1564 words

In the past, I’ve known people to feel threatened when they learn I keep a journal. This feeling always surprised me, but I’ve recently discovered that my mother in law has started keeping a journal and its made me think what it is like from the other perspective. This is almost completely new because although I know my sister, husband and sister in law have all kept journals in the past, I believe they were all fairly short lived.

Photograph by edenpictures

Journals are a great way of providing social context to history and as the journal writer that context is in your hands.  So how do you feel about people close to you writing journals, such as friends or family and adding their views to the social context? You could see it as a threat as their writing may provide a different point of view, but I see it as a great strength. For instance, when I read the first part of Virginia Woolf’s diary there were footnotes with information from other sources expanding on points that Woolf glossed over.

When my daughter is learning to write I will encourage her to write a journal as I hope it will teach her to enjoy writing and to respect the privacy of my journal. In the future, I hope she will enjoy comparing our journals and viewing events from our different perspectives (this is something  I would love to do with my childhood).

Therefore, I don’t feel threatened by my mother in law’s journal; in fact I’m curious about it. She looks after my daughter one day a week and I’m sure she will write about the time they spend together. As I haven’t written a lot about my daughter as times, I’m sure in the future her journal will be a pleasure to read for both me and my daughter.  ... Read more 339 words, 1 image