Rip It Up And Start Again

[Pussinboots]

This is what I am tempted to do. After destroying previous diaries and deciding to start all over again, I now have a mixture of systems and am unsure as to what to stick with. I started off keeping a day to day record of my life, along with memorabilia pasted in plus a separate journal for private thoughts and feelings (and rantings), then I decided this was too much upkeep so I have started keeping a daily journal all in one place with daily events and brief thoughts and feelings and anything really angsty and ranty I write elsewhere and discard later. However, I do miss writing in the sporadic journal but I do like the daily record. What do you do with your systems?

[SallyLyn]

One thing I do keep in separate notebook - daily gratitudes. Seems better to have them all together rather than mixed with my less grateful or kind thoughts.

[DrCodfish]

Why? Why would you write something about then destroy it? Who (or why) are you writing for?

 

My recommendation; write your thoughts in one place and hang on to them. What may seem a rant or tantrum now may seem to be no more than a bug spot on the windshield in 5 years. I've been journaling since the late 60's. Most of it is drivel but there are occasional passages that seem semi-profound.

Really, hhang on to all your stuff some of it will be good for a laugh I a few years. (Don't take yourself so seriously, believe me other people don't).

[Ink Stained Wretch]

A Composition book that I was writing what I thought were profound things in will be 50 years old in October of this year.

 

The notebook that started me really doing what could be called a journal, although it probably isn't, will be 49 years old this September.

 

The diaristic writing helps me to figure out when some things happened, and those writings serve to remind me of details that I have otherwise forgotten. Very good stuff.

 

I would never rip up and throw away any of this stuff. It amounts to a sort of loose autobiography, or at least a chronology of me.

 

I say, write what you please and keep it all. Even the stuff that embarrasses you now could be comforting to look at in half a century .

[Pussinboots]

Thank you for your replies. Would you keep the private thoughts writing along with daily events in the same book?

 

The only diaries I now have previously to 2012 are appointment diaries, all my journals prior to that got thrown out. I do regret it but I can't get them back

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Thank you for your replies. Would you keep the private thoughts writing along with daily events in the same book?

 

Yes, that's pretty much what I do.

[DrCodfish]

It all goes together to create the complete picture of you. If you were creating a self portrait would you cut off the part with your ear or your shoulder or something? You seem to fear committing your thoughts that paper, if so let I go, unless of course you are an axe murderer or something. Really your 'private'

thoughts are probably of little interest to most everyone else.

 

One exception:I keep a bathroom log where I track health data, my weight daily BP, and any health issues I may be experiencing.

Edited June 27, 2016 by DrCodfish

[ridiculopathy]

I'm in a similar situation. I envision keeping a regular journal, but I fall behind unless I'm feeling particularly angsty (a great motivator for writing an entry). However, when I look back, all I see are the negative times. I'm going to try again, though. Even banal details like "it rained a lot today" or "visited [my friend] today" can jog my memory!

[PAKMAN]

Just keep one journal but I'm not one to rant of fume particularly on paper, it's more of a day to day remembrance of normal life.

[DrCodfish]

Bananaclaw:

 

There is an exercise you can do that will help you be more regular and also have a little more positive impact your writing. Check out Shawn Achore's books on the happiness advantage. If is hard to get started so just tell yourself you are going to do this for 6 weeks. You know 6 weeks to make or break a habit.

[Pravda]

I am starting to also have separate notebooks for various uses. A smaller one to tug around that has my to do's and a large one for comfortable journal/diary entry. Then a third for nib customizations, doodling etc.

[LilyBeth]

I keep all of my journal type stuff in one journal. Unless you're leaving it out somewhere that someone you wouldn't want reading it could see it, and isn't inclined to respect your privacy, then who cares what you write in it - good or bad? My journal started out as a way of working out ideas for my stories and has morphed into a general diary, including my thoughts on the particular ink I'm writing with that day.

 

@bananaclaw - if you find yourself tending towards negative entries then do an ink or pen review for one you particularly like; find an inspirational quote and write it down, maybe include why you found it inspirational; write about someplace you've always wanted to go and why or someplace you have been that you absolutely loved - even if it's just the stationary store down the street. Just find something positive to write once you've gotten the angst out of your system.

[Studio97]

I recently used an 8 1/2 x 11 arc notebook for a journal and now using a small pocket size Moleskine. I use a variety of sizes. I like to mix it up but only one notebook at a time for a journal. Basically one journal for everything except for a notebook for budgeting and expenses. Shopping lists are tossed. Everything else is kept.