Writing equipment

There is an expectation that journals should start on 1st January, however there is no reason why you can’t start on any day of the year. Here are some ideas on starting you journal if you’ve just missed the beginning of January, although they could be adapted for any time of year.

Photo by retro traveller

1. Use a page a day diary and use the first few pages to write information you may not include otherwise e.g. description of current situation such as where you live, your job, list of what you want to achieve this year, description of the people who may make an appearance, or create an index so you can easily refer to key events / emotions in the future
2. Use a page a day diary and ignore the first few pages, there is no reason why they should be filled in just because they’ve been printed
3. Use an undated page a day diary, these are hard to find, but do exist in UK and USA
   

   Photo taken by petit hiboux

4. Use a normal notebook, you could still use one page a day or just let yourself write as much as you want each day without being limited by the end of the page
5. Use word processor so you can create your own structure
6. Stick in a photograph taken on each missed day
7. Use journalling software such as Lifejournal
8. Use a 5 year journal and loop around each year; so you start this year on today’s date and continue using the 1st row for January next year and when you catch up move on to the second row
   

   Photo taken by atibens

 ... Read more 390 words, 3 images

People who keep journals have life twice.

Jessamyn West
American writer (1902 – 1984)

As I have started rereading my journals I am thinking about adding the post in to some software so I can search my writing and use my journals instead of having them just sit in a cupboard. I used lifejournal years ago and it currently has close to 500 entries, however I don’t know if it the best software for me now, therefore I have been researching the software that is now available.

I am intending to continue writing my journal hardcopy and then transfer it in to the software so I am not interested in features such as prompts or timer, but the facility to search the text and tag the text is essential. I have therefore split the available software into two lists, those that seem to meet my requirements that I will test and other software that maybe of interest to other people.

Journal software I will test

life journal

i*write 3.2

Net time diary

The journal

Simply Journal

Alpha journal

Reflective journal

Other journal software

Forever journal 2.0

Ultra Recall this is much more than journal software, but it has a journal add-on

Star message diary

Dear Diary

E Diary Gold

1st Journal

All in one journal

Effective journal

Diary defender

Mondo! E journal I can’t access developers site, but there is a good review here. It is still possible to buy it from download sites

Diary One

My personal diary

Smart Diary Suite this appears to be underdevelopment so there is no information on the developers website, but there is a review at download.com  ... Read more 342 words, 1 image

So its the 1st January and you are thinking of starting a journal, but you don’t know where to begin. It is important to remember that there is not one way of journalling, the only correct way is whatever works for you. Here are a few ideas that will hopefully motivate you to get started

• Consider what type of journal you want to keep
• Think about how you will be keeping your journal as it dictate both the collection type and size, for instance if you want keep a mediation journal on your commute home using an audio recorder maybe most appropriate, but if you want to keep a gratitude journal as events occur a small notebook you can keep in a pocket or handbag maybe better suited
• Always date an entry and consider including the time and location as they will provide reference details when you review your journals later
• If you live with other people you maybe worried they will read your journal, there are several options you can try to stop them; tell them you do not want them to read your journal, keep it at a different location e.g. work, lock it away, encrypt it on a computer, write in code, write a joint journal or suggest they keep a journal as well so they understand the desire for privacy
• Write as quickly as you can and do not worry about whether you are writing correctly
• Write honestly, do not lie to yourself in your own personal journal

Of course, if you are writing a journal one of the problems with starting is dealing with that blank first page. It can look frightening, but instead think of it as the doorway to an exciting record of your life. Here are some ideas to help you start (you can fine more here).  ... Read more 435 words, 1 image

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

This is a question I’ve been asking myself recently. I’ve kept a diary on and off since I was eleven and feel that my life is more productive when I keep one. In recent years my writing has been more off than on, however, over the last few weeks I’ve had the urge to start writing again, but I don’t know why.

Of course, one of the main benefits of keeping a journal is the record of your life, which could become historically important (think The Diary of Samuel Pepys). However, there are also meant to be many other benefits of keeping a personal journal:

• helps goal setting and measuring progress
• simply your life
• strengthen your relationships
• empower you
• aids reflection
• reduces stress
• helps focus
• helps to practice writing skills
• creates personal space
• helps to develop self expression
• helps with problem solving

Why did I start writing a journal?

Kate's diaries

I started my first journal in 1989 because of the book The Diary of a Teenage Health Freak

because I wanted to have a diary published too. My entries were just writing about the day and thoughts on future events. I didn’t think any more deeply about journal writing until Amazon recommended a journal writing book in 1998. This opened up a whole new world to me that I had to know more about.

Why did I stop writing a journal?

Basically, I think I got overloaded with information and I forgot what a journal is actually for. There are so many different techniques that can be incorporated in to writing a journal and I think I was trying to use all of them so it got too complicated and stressful.  ... Read more 674 words, 1 image