Do You Keep Personal Journal Writing Separate

[Pussinboots]

Do you keep journal entries about private thoughts and feeling in a separate journal to day to day entries.

[Paddler]

I don't write anything that I don't want someone else to see. I mean, why would I write something for my own eyes only? I find it absurd.

 

I write in many journals the contents of which are separated by subject.

[Pussinboots]

You can write for your eyes only if it's something you need to get off your chest. Journals are used for therapeutic reasons aswell as for recording events and information.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

I basically only write events in my journal. I sometimes talk about my thoughts about issues of the day in it, but in general, I don't write my deepest thoughts in my journal.

 

I think that's what, at least to me, makes a journal different than a diary. A journal is more a record of facts whereas a diary is where you're bearing your soul on paper.

[Charles Rice]

No, and I'm glad my wife NEVER reads it.

[pbk31]

I value spontaniety as my most powerful tool for being creative. I do a lot of testing of inks, papers, pens, nibs, and feeds so I am always writing in a different notebook or journal. When something wants to come out in the here and now I have learned to give it life and write it down. I don't have private thoughts and public thoughts, I only have my thoughts. Spending time trying to figure out which journal it goes in is a waste of time and clogs the creative process. My biggest problem has been making sure to date the entries. Having to go back and search for entries is, in itself, a very enlightening process. Why did I write that particular entry? Wow, here is a months worth of disconnected entries that is a good start for a plot for that novel I have always wanted to write! Being spontaneous and staying in the moment has taught me much about myself.

 

Is that not the real reason we write in our journals?

Edited August 3, 2015 by pbk31

[Paddler]

I don't understand: how does writing something down "get it off your chest"? Seems to me, if that got it off your chest, it would just put it on your back.

[jmccarty3]

I would never write anything down that I wouldn't want to see on the front page of the morning paper.

[Charles Rice]

I would never write anything down that I wouldn't want to see on the front page of the morning paper.

 

Too bad that some Twitter and Facebook users don't think of that. Me - as things stand now, who in their right mind would waste their time going through 40 years worth of crud? (if they could read my handwriting) Of course, should I ever become famous, it might make interesting reading. But once I tip over I don't give a rip what people "know" about me.

[Pussinboots]

I thought it was well known that writing down feelings is therapeutic, it's something that counsellors recommend. I've been doing it for years, as have a lot of people, there are many websites that can vouch for this.

 

I also have a scrapbook type of journal where I don't write anything too personal and I sometimes think about merging the two but don't know how that would work.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I have too many 'journals.'

[Manalto]

I don't write anything that I don't want someone else to see. I mean, why would I write something for my own eyes only? I find it absurd.

 

I write in many journals the contents of which are separated by subject.

 

Perhaps you believe the fact that everyone isn't the same as you is absurd. You, sir, would perhaps benefit from seeing more of the world. On second thought, probably not.

 

Congratulations on your organizational skills.

[cimmerian]

I do.

 

I have a small faux leather cover notebook for writing any- and everything I might eventually "immortalise" on my blog or my podcast. I also doodle there a lot. I'll often cross the page(s) when that particular scribble has been committed to an electronic medium. But there's a lot of stuff there that ends up never being crossed out because I only realize either it's a stupid idea or it's something I should never say out loud after I wrote it down.

 

Then I have a big-ass wirebound, french-ruled notebook for the "professional" stuff. I'm very careful with my handwriting there because colleagues and professors are likely to read them. I also avoid fancy ink colors there.

[pbk31]

Pussinboots

 

You could always start a new journal and run it for a week, a month, or six months and see how it works out for you. If you don't like it, simple copy the correct entries to the correct journals and feed the used pages of the new journal to the fires of creation. There I go thinking out loud again.

 

I envy those who have the self discipline to get down to two journals. You have your favorite journal, pen and ink. I have a handful of favorite pens, inks as yet undiscovered, reams of paper yet to be tested and no hope of getting to a two journal system in this lifetime. It is a hard job, but someone just has to do it!

[cimmerian]

If you don't like it, simple copy the correct entries to the correct journals and feed the used pages of the new journal to the fires of creation.

 

Kinda loved picturing that. You made a tired man smile this evening, pbk31. Thanks!

Edited August 4, 2015 by Marcelo Ferrari

[J_MM]

In addition to to the therapeutic part it is sometimes very useful to have an accurate record of a days events. As time passes our memories often become distorted.

 

I thought it was well known that writing down feelings is therapeutic, it's something that counsellors recommend. I've been doing it for years, as have a lot of people, there are many websites that can vouch for this.

I also have a scrapbook type of journal where I don't write anything too personal and I sometimes think about merging the two but don't know how that would work.

[jmccarty3]

In addition to to the therapeutic part it is sometimes very useful to have an accurate record of a days events. As time passes our memories often become distorted.

 

 

 

Very true. I had a great uncle who kept a journal of the day's events for many years. There's nothing personal in it at all, just what happened with his family, friends, and business. Makes for fascinating reading for those of us who knew him.

[cers]

I don't write too descriptively, rather I use very apparent hint words. If the hint words ring a bell, then that thought which was not disclosed was important enough to me to recall!

Edited August 4, 2015 by cers

[HDoug]

The danger of writing something personal is that someone may read them. Yet somethings have to be written. The process of working through something on paper I call "writing through" a problem or vexation and some things must be written. Although not necessarily read. So I have something called a "throwaway journal" with pages that tear out. I write things down and then destroy and throw away the paper. Unless it's something particularly cool or meaningful, in which case I take pix and send them Evernote.

 

It took a while for me to be honest with myself when I write in my throwaway journal, and perhaps I am not yet very honest...

Doug

[Paddler]

 

Perhaps you believe the fact that everyone isn't the same as you is absurd. You, sir, would perhaps benefit from seeing more of the world. On second thought, probably not.

 

Congratulations on your organizational skills.

 

If you asked me how to find Johnny's Bar in Frozen Stalks, Idaho, I couldn't tell you. I would have to look the directions up in my journal. If you wanted to know about my "feelings" about The Battle of Johnny's Bar, I could tell you right away. No need to write that down; I feel the same way today as I did when the war was on.

 

As for seeing more of the world, I have seen a great deal of much of a hemisphere and have seen many damned, dumb, daft ideas that people fall for. If you want to listen to a full load of this swamp gas, just listen to "Coast to Coast" on AM radio, nights.