Writing equipment

Title page of an illustrated manuscript of Bartholomew Sharpe's diary, made by William Hacke, 1680s. Gift of H.P. Kraus, 1979.

I suspect many journal writers want absolute privacy for their writing, but are secretly curious about what other people write in their journals. I know I do, which is one of the reasons why I am currently reading The Assassin’s Cloak (extracts from lots of journals arranged by day).

There is an online exhibition at the Morgan Library in New York City showcasing 11 diaries from 1600s to mid 1900s. As well as a description of each writer there is an extract shown in both the original writing and type. My favourite is Bartholomew Sharpe, I love the idea of a pirate keeping a journal.

Several of these diaries have been gifted to the library and it started me thinking about whether it is something I would consider. To be honest I haven’t thought about what will happen to my journals when I die, apart from recognising they would be useful for someone researching my family tree. At the moment all my journals will be left to my husband or children, however I think I should consider what I would like (or not like) to happen with them, for instance would I want them to be published or used for research.

Have you thought about what you would like to happen with your writing? How do you plan for this to happen?

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