How Many Journals And Diaries Do You Keep At Once?

[Pussinboots]

I keep a journal for writing down my thoughts in a notebook, I also keep a visual type diary in an exercise book which is a log of my days and where I paste in photos and tickets etc and my appointments go in my phone diary.

 

Does anyone else keep more than one diary, sometimes I think I may be repeating entries but they all have a different purpose.

[TSherbs]

I keep two: one for my daily journaling, and one for recording significant events, quotes, milestones, etc.

[sombrueil]

One. everything goes in there. Drawings, plans, lists, speculations, observations, quotations, bible study, everything. I can't keep track of more than one anyway.

[HDoug]

I keep one for day to day stuff. I also have two others on specific subjects to document my thinking on those subjects — kind of like inventor's dairies. I also invented/discovered a type of journal I call a "throw away" journal. I'll post a more complete description later. In a throw away journal one writes down things knowing that one will just tear out the page and throw away the entry. Some things need to be written to allow ourselves to articulate something clearly, but not kept. (It also helps use the number of fountain pen friendly tablets that people have given me.) And what if you happen to write something you wish to keep in a throw away journal? Take a photo and send it to Evernote for future reference!

 

Doug

[GatzBcn]

I only keep one at a time. I write there two or three times per month (or when I am sad) about events happening in my life which mark me. Happy times, places I've been, activities I've made, arguments with friends, etc. Anything I consider relevant in my life.

[Ccnati]

I keep a planner type journal for school stuff, and I keep a writing journal where I force myself to write one page per day of whatever to improve my handwriting.

[Buckandball1842]

I have a couple but I don't use any of them religiously unfortunately. I kept a daily journal in midori travelers notebook (first pocket then full size), tried a Rhodia webbie, Quo Vadis notebook, and now I've got my eye on a levenger. Unfortunately I think I have multiple notebooks because I like buying them and not because I have the need.

[Pussinboots]

This is interesting. I used to keep just one journal and a diary for appointments which I would also keep to look back on. I like the visual diary for day to day stuff and the journal to offload but I do worry sometimes about the more sensitive entries and the throw away journal seems like a good idea. Is this what you use it for?

 

How about appointment diaries, do you keep these on paper or digital? I now put appointments in my phone and the visual diary has really taken the place of the paper one as I can look back on that for daily events.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Pussinboots

[Polanova]

_I keep a main journal (Midori A5 blanko) for everything, diary, thoughts & remembered dreams.

_My Midori Traveller`s includes a yearly calendar, a notebook & a sketchbook.

_Additionally i keep a Clairefontaine ring notebook for taking notes like shopping lists & "To-do-today"-lists & trying out pens & inks & doing a little calligraphy

_3 different Moleskine sketchbooks (2 small ones for water colors & a big regular sketchbook)

Edited January 11, 2015 by Polanova

[Paddler]

I keep one for the music gigs I have played with various string bands since about 1988. I call it the Musiksaga.

There is one for our cats and their doings.

One for my two years' active duty in the Army.

One for family stories.

One for canoe/kayak/raft trips.

One for gardening.

One for stringed instruments: 8 guitars, two hurdygurdies, an Irish bouzouki, a mandolin.

One for house repairs (paint, mortar recipes, window glazing recipes, etc.)

One for walnut ink recipes (like a lab notebook)

One for radio design (coil winding records, DX contests, antenna experiments, impedance matching experiments, etc.)

 

Whazzat? Ten?? There may be another one or two lurking around, but these are the important ones. I also keep a commonplace book for information that doesn't warrant using a whole book.

[byggyns]

I keep several:

A personal journal for thoughts, dreams, random writings

A Bible study Journal to track notes from daily study

A sermon note journal for weekly Church services

A prayer journal

A pocket notebook system with a personal journal (Field Notes) that I carry around & write down random thoughts

 

I've been thinking of starting one specifically for poetry, since a lot of the entries in the personal journal are random poems I write

 

That doesn't count my various notebooks for different hobbies / projects:

ink / nib journal

FP & ink collection notebook

leatherwork notebook

notebook with plans, parts & fabrication ideas for my project truck

various notebooks & pads of handwriting & calligraphy practice

several sketch books

Edited January 12, 2015 by byggyns

[Sailor Kenshin]

I keep a journal for writing down my thoughts in a notebook, I also keep a visual type diary in an exercise book which is a log of my days and where I paste in photos and tickets etc and my appointments go in my phone diary.

 

Does anyone else keep more than one diary, sometimes I think I may be repeating entries but they all have a different purpose.

Too many. If I counted, I would have to start crying. This is why I'm trying to cut down to one. Maybe two. Okay, three.

 

Wait, do those teeny Field Notes even count? You know. The ones where you keep track of your passwords and pen pals.

[inkstainedruth]

The main one I have is my morning pages journal (I think I'm on volume 26 or 27 at this point). I have other notebooks as well. I'm on volume 2 of the ink combo journal (have the pages marked with post-it flags for each pen, and make notes about whether an ink does well in it -- or not, as the case may be. And I'm on volume 2 of an ink review journal (although I have to remind myself on occasion that the Piccadilly paper sometimes does weird things to ink colors). I also have a couple of writing notebooks, and a very nice handbound journal from a friend (commissioned by my husband last year from her) that I've been using for doing _The Artist's Way_ creativity course -- unfortunately, that's fallen a bit by the wayside recently: it took 5 or 6 weeks for me to get through some small fraction of Chapter 9, and the holidays have taken their toll on Chapter 10 as well...). And I have a commonplace book, in a sugarcane paper composition journal (although I'm considering rewriting that one to make it a bit more cohesive).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PaperDarts]

Isn't this interesting - I would have said "one" journal before I read this post. Now I realize that in addition to my personal journal I keep several other notebooks: a 5-year diary for general events and weather (just begun this year); a reading & books notebook; a travel notebook; a notebook for something I am studying out of personal interest (brain plasticity at the moment); and what HDoug called a "throw-away" notebook for odds and ends, where I do tear pages out if they are full of out-of-date info.

 

Good thing I can't resist buying more notebooks...

[Miz Black Crow]

At the moment, I'd say 4-5. I have my personal journal, a Traveling Journal that I'm doing the beginning section of, a Moleskine sketch diary / inky place, a Habana journal that's in the process of becoming an ink review journal, and two or three writing journals that I haven't looked at in a disgracefully long time. The first two are CR Gibson books, the third and fourth I mentioned, and 5th/6th are a Rhodia staplebound and a Staples college comp book (USA). Huzzizzle!

[Yaakova]

I have one journal for a record of the day's events, my thoughts and feelings about the same, and pithy observations on the state of humanity. I keep another mini-composition book (7" x 5") with a list of books I've read.

[JimCouch]

One journal.

 

I keep my schedule on a wall calendar and also have a small notepad for notes at work.

[ac12]

Currently just one, that I write EVERYTHING in.

I am thinking about a separate journal for medical/health stuff, so I don't have to plow through the "everything" notebook looking for medical stuff. Then I can also take that when I see my doc.

 

Well maybe 1 more, but I don't call it a journal.

I keep an ink BINDER that I put ink samples into.

It is divided into sections

• by ink, so I know how the ink looks like with a standard test, and in different pens.
• by pen, so I know what different inks looks like in a pen
• as I ink a pen, I record the inking

It is a binder because the organization of it has changed and will continue to change. As a binder I can easily rearrange it, and insert new sample pages (so that the contents of each sections are in order).

Edited January 12, 2015 by ac12

[Miz Black Crow]

ac12, +1 on the health journal, particularly if you have complex medical problems or are having an ongoing/undiagnosed issue. They're AMAZINGLY useful. Also, if you take more than 1 or 2 medications you can easily remember in a crisis, write them down along with diagnoses, and allergy information. Those are absolute timesavers during medical emergencies and may save your life if you are unconscious. (I wish no one needed either of these, but if they did not I would be out of a job).

 

Also, I really like your idea of an ink binder. If I start doing my reviews on Rhodia pads rather than a Habana book I may switch to that format, though A4 binders and protective sheaths seem drearily hard to find in the US...

Edited January 12, 2015 by Miz Black Crow

[mtmowl]

Lessee, there's:

 

A letter-sized desk one for daily writing and records,

A letter-sized one for recording work done on the house and yards,

A letter-sized one for writing exercises,

A medium-sized one for trips and travel,

A medium-sized one for deeply personal thoughts (locked up),

A medium-sized one for long-term financial records and planning,

A small one for passwords and daily financial records,

A small one for quotes and inspirational writings (Design Y 226, yippee!),

A small which-pen-has-what-in-it one, and

A small ink log.

 

It only _sounds_ over the top!