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What do people write in their journals?


bsaint

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No details, but just an idea. I have a nice blank one, I dont know what to write in it. I don't really have the desire to keep like a daily diary. Is there something else people do with journals?

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I just took a creative writing course in which our professor encouraged us to keep a journal of all the story ideas we had, to write them down so we wouldn't forget. This also included any intriguing conversations we "happened" to overhear, or even mundane ones to get a feel for how people talked. Also to write down thoughts we had about what we wanted to do with a story or where it was to go. That's one idea. I'm sure there are others.

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I write entries about what is going on and how I feel (not quite daily or even weekly), I also write random things like different alphabets, and I have been writing some fiction. Next quarter I am going to take Keeping a Journal so I will have more to add when I start the course in about 10 weeks (it is still the begining of this quarter).

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One possibility is to make it a commonplace book

 

Write into it recipes, inspirational or pithy or humorous quotes, letters, poems, your or your family stories to pass down or repeat, reminiscences of events, short references not likely to change (tables, lists, etc. - how big is an A4 sheet, what is the best resolution or format for uploading to You Tube), jokes, ideas to remember, thoughts and observations, sketches and diagrams, notes on topics of interest, useful web addresses, references to magazine articles or other sources, notes about books you have read, list books you intend reading, etc. Paste in clippings, photos, tickets, etc. You might also use it as an address/phone book.

 

Sort of a cross between a scrapbook, personal blog/wiki, and memory jogger.

 

You could also add notes about fountain pens, inks, and (as Hélène notes) alphabets or writing styles. Add some writing in different inks and a description of what the ink looks like - see if it still looks the same 3 years later or has faded/changed.

 

If you aren't using a looseleaf arrangement (or something like the Rollabind or Levenger Circa system), and you plan on using a large commonplace book (or series of books) for an extended period of time, it can be helpful to have some sort of index - possibly looseleaf, card catalogue, or computer based.

You can also use "continued on page nn/continued from page nn" notes if you need to continue a topic on another later page.

 

Regards, Myles.

 

The palest ink is better than the sharpest memory - Chinese proverb

The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice - Mark Twain

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My mom kept a diary with one page for each day. I copy her style and use a journal as a logbook. I record brief notes of things that happened that day, contacts with people, births, deaths, what I ate, what the weather was. It sounds boring but it's interesting and sometimes useful to be able to refer to what happened on a particular day in the past.

 

 

I like your signature graphic. :ltcapd:

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I currently begin every entry by recording the day of the week, date, time, and room temperature. (I started recording the room temperature in order to figure out why my November electric bill was always the highest of the year when common sense told me that the temperature would be low and my air conditioner shouldn't be running as much -- I figured out why and to tell anyone would expose my stupidity so I won't.)

 

The old ship captains would have to record three things: (1) Position; (2) weather; and (3) remarks. A classic entry by Captain Cook, written in the tidiest handwriting, begins, "Gales from the South West with heavy seas from the same quarter." I found out later that he would write his journal days later sometimes -- after the seas had calmed down a bit.

 

Anyway, taking this as a start, I note my emotional position -- happy sad hopeful discouraged etc. -- and direction. Am I going in the direction I want to go? Do I want to change direction? But most times I don't know what I'm going to write when I start. Sometimes it's something interesting, sometimes (most times) not. But I get to go back later and read what was going on in my life at some day in the past (usually in answer to, "What was I doing two years ago today?"). I also write down ideas or whatever -- all very chatty, but it's the chatter that I find interesting later on.

 

I write however much or little as I want and try to use a different color ink from the previous day to make it easier to find the boundaries between days. My shortest entry is a one sentence paragraph, and my longest is 11 pages of small handwriting (about an unpleasant experience).

 

All this in answer to your question hoping it might help get you started.

 

Doug

Edited by HDoug
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All my diary entries start out as:

 

*Day* *Number* *Month* *Year* *Weather:...*

 

So:

 

Friday, 11th of January, 2008. Weather: (Cool, hot, cold, wet, rainy etc etc).

 

Weather is always UNDERLINED so that I can tell where a new entry starts.

 

I finish each entry with:

 

Yours (not sure why) and then my name.

 

And next to it, I record the pen I used (Yes, I handwrite all my entries and make a record of the pen used to write that entry).

http://www.throughouthistory.com/ - My Blog on History & Antiques

 

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The things that thektulu7 mentioned go into my pocket notebook. The things in the notebook destined for long-term storage and reference get transcribed into my "commonplace book". Stories from family history go into a journal. The acquisition and repair histories of all my pens are written with those pens in another journal. Stories describing my bands' musical engagements are written in another journal. The crazy antics of our cats are written in another journal. Stories about our wilderness canoe trips go in another journal. Stories that I write and e-mail to friends are kept in a copy book and in a computer file called "Letters from the World". Some of these things are written in modern English; some are in archaic English; some are in pidgin German.

 

Paddler

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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I'm attempting to improve my handwriting and I started filling pages with song lyrics.. but then after a while, I started writing random thoughts. Over the past few weeks, it has evolved into me rambling about anything important from the day and a lot of comments on handwriting. I guess it's more of a steady stream of consciousness that makes very little sense if I were to re-read it but it provides me page time to work on my penmanship.

 

I don't know if I call it a journal yet.. but I can see it migrating to that. Once it's a full blown true journal, I'll probably treat my thoughts to a nicer notebook (using a mead composition book right now) and expand my ramblings to include things that happened that day, reminders of things I need to do, how I feel, etc. I never thought journaling was something I'd do but it's turning out to be somewhat therapeutic.

- Brad -

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I finish each entry with:

 

Yours (not sure why) and then my name.

 

 

Maybe "Yours" is an homage to Anne Frank...she did that, too.

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I use a journal for 'processing' things...usually the difficult things...that come up in my life. I've done this for close to 30 years and it's very helpful.

 

As an artist, i also keep a 'creativity' journal. It's not so much for my ideas (they go in my sketchbook) as it is for writing about my relationship to art, my creative self...creativity in general, and the spiritual nature of creativity.

 

Then...my husband and i keep a journal together. We did this in 2000 and kept it up for a yr. and a half. We started it up again just recently. He writes...i respond...back and forth....back and forth...it's great. Don't get me wrong, we do talk to one another, too. :)

 

~Jasper

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Anything and everything!

  • thoughts and feelings
  • things I keep forgetting to do
  • shopping lists
  • daily weight tracking
  • handwriting practice (song lyrics & some prose)
  • quotes I want to remember
  • things/people I hate
  • things/people I love :wub:
  • things I want to buy
  • research on various topics
  • fiction & fantasies
  • food journaling
  • exercise tracking
  • scheduling
  • meeting notes
  • foreign language practice
  • volleyball notes & plays
  • knitting/weaving ideas
  • restaurant notes
  • surreal NYC moments (there are a lot of these)
And, oddly enough, these are usually in separate journals!

"Life is too short, or too long, to allow myself the luxury of living it badly."

Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

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I have several journals, used for different purposes. One is my daily "mind," where I note items I need to do or anything I want to refer back to later or pass on to Terri when I get home.

 

I keep another to record bits of dialog or gags that come to mind (habit from when I was writing comic books on a regular basis -- I maintain a library of jokes and patter "just in case").

Freelance Word Pusher, Societal Leech and Genial Bon Vivant

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myles wote "One possibility is to make it a commonplace book"

 

Without knowing what a commonplace book is (I do now though), it seems that is what I am compiling.

 

I have names, addresses of places I wish to visit when travelling to other cities. There is some basic data ie. postal/zip codes, brands of papers/notebooks/inks to check out, book titles to locate, etc.

 

There are also some quotes and references that I have come across that I've jotted down.

 

Pretty much anything that I want to keep or remember longer than a couple of days goes into the book.

 

Regards,

 

Milton

Cross Solo,Waterman Phileas,Pelikan M200,Reform 1745,Senator

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Thoughts, happenings, and major events that happen each day. I change pens and inks often which will look goofy to someone if they ever try to read it. I usually note which pen and ink I am using when I change.

PAKMAN

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I use it as a semi-regular diary/log, with pretty much anything being fair game. I don't write in it daily, just regularly to semi-regularly -- whenever time and inspiration strike. I realized some time ago that there are periods in my life from which I've forgotten a lot of detail; I remember big things and general things, sure, but a lot of the day to day stuff isn't really in my memory anymore. I now wish I'd had a semi-regular journal from those years ago to remind myself of some of those details now. So, now I try to keep one partly to jog my own memory in future years.

 

I also have a couple of other more purpose-specific ones; one is pretty much just for class notes, for example, and one has blog posts and drafts thereof, and ideas for possible blog posts.

 

But that's just me, of course. :)

A handwritten blog (mostly)

 

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I finish each entry with:

 

Yours (not sure why) and then my name.

 

 

Maybe "Yours" is an homage to Anne Frank...she did that, too.

 

It is, actually! :ltcapd: But I don't start each entry with "Dear Kitty".

http://www.throughouthistory.com/ - My Blog on History & Antiques

 

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Then...my husband and i keep a journal together. We did this in 2000 and kept it up for a yr. and a half. We started it up again just recently. He writes...i respond...back and forth....back and forth...it's great.

 

Wow...I REALLY like that!! What a great idea! :)

 

~~King

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