Thanks for this! I journal about every other week about life, in the traditional way, but I type for speed, which can make it feel like work. The other thoughts - on articles or projects - pile up in a mess of digital notes that are easy to lose. It’s helpful to think about another approach. And I can definitely see how yours helped with Elephant In the Room.
Thanks. I enjoyed hearing about the colored sticky notes -- never seen that before. I like creating an index in the opening 10 or so pages where, unlike a table of contents or an organized system, it's just simply the page numbers and what is on them. I don't index each page (I index the page numbers for each month, e.g.) but some pages I do index individually like "Books I've read this year" or "shows to watch." I find this helpful in finding things quickly when I look back on previous years' journals. Thanks for sharing! Agree with you on writing even on the bad days and seeing, from a distanced perspective, the grit and resilience we all can have.
I have tried. I do have notebooks I write in most days, but I guess they aren't really journals, they are more writing/project specific. My problem is that I seem to end up writing such whiney-ass stuff, I disgust myself. This was especially true during the lockdown days of covid, when I (wrongly) figured that a pandemic should lend itself to journaling. The sticky notes are brilliant... I remember one teacher who would do a sort of index on the outside cover of each notebook, so he could see roughly what was inside. I'm trying that out, but I like your color-coded stickies!
I borrowed from Clyde Edgerton and keep a sort of running epistolary journal to my son. I bought a nice leather bound one the day we found out that we would be coming, and periodically write a "letter" to him in it. I try to do so at least once a month. It can be big deal stuff ("You sat up today for the first time!") or quotidian minutiae ("We called your grandma last night and you asked her how she was feeling") or even time stamp stuff (the emotions I felt getting my first vaccination shot for COVID). The entries are always written *to* him. Sometimes I get a little wistful with the entries, or try to offer up some sage dad advice, but more often than not it's the silly little day to day things that fill in the corners of our lives. I imagine he'll one day get a kick out of reading it . . . that is, if folks can still read chicken scratch cursive by then.
Thanks for this, I am sporadic and have not been determined about keeping up with it but tend to go to it on the tough or angry days. Thank you for the inspiration
I imagine you want to stick to analog; pen and paper. Have you seen note taking apps like Roam Research or Zettlr that map/graph related notes? https://docs.zettlr.com/en/academic/graph/ I find using emacs with org-roam great for notes at my desk/laptop/phone. I wish I could easily use both pen and apps.
Thanks for this burst of inspiration! I suck at keeping a journal, frankly. But I like the idea of the size of the notebooks you use, so I just bought some to give it a try. Been trying to journal more the last two years, since I'm starting to wonder where the days are going. I bought a 5-year journal called "Some Lines a Day," but I really want to carry something around when inspiration strikes -- keeping in mind that the inspiration could be anything from a great philosophical insight to a reminder that I need laundry detergent. I didn't go with the Moleskin because I tend to like to use fountain pens, and their paper isn't the best for that. Leuchtturm 1917 to the rescue!
Tommy, this post was awesome... thanks so much for a peek inside the mind of one of my favorite writers.... for me, my 'journal' writing began when my kids were young. I created emails for both of them and wrote down what they said or did throughout their young lives and emailed it to them. That way, they had the date that it happened and would know how old they were when they said things. As a Christmas present to my wife, I created three books over the years and gave them to her as presents. Doing these entries captured moments of their lives that would have probably been forgotten. Now they are stories we talk about often.
Now that my kids are older, I write a few times a week, capturing the smaller good stuff that happened during the week. With Covid, I've tried to remember that good stuff does happen daily. If I look for it, so i can write about it, it cheers me up a bit on the tougher days we've had for two years.
Thanks for this! I journal about every other week about life, in the traditional way, but I type for speed, which can make it feel like work. The other thoughts - on articles or projects - pile up in a mess of digital notes that are easy to lose. It’s helpful to think about another approach. And I can definitely see how yours helped with Elephant In the Room.
Thanks. I enjoyed hearing about the colored sticky notes -- never seen that before. I like creating an index in the opening 10 or so pages where, unlike a table of contents or an organized system, it's just simply the page numbers and what is on them. I don't index each page (I index the page numbers for each month, e.g.) but some pages I do index individually like "Books I've read this year" or "shows to watch." I find this helpful in finding things quickly when I look back on previous years' journals. Thanks for sharing! Agree with you on writing even on the bad days and seeing, from a distanced perspective, the grit and resilience we all can have.
I have tried. I do have notebooks I write in most days, but I guess they aren't really journals, they are more writing/project specific. My problem is that I seem to end up writing such whiney-ass stuff, I disgust myself. This was especially true during the lockdown days of covid, when I (wrongly) figured that a pandemic should lend itself to journaling. The sticky notes are brilliant... I remember one teacher who would do a sort of index on the outside cover of each notebook, so he could see roughly what was inside. I'm trying that out, but I like your color-coded stickies!
I borrowed from Clyde Edgerton and keep a sort of running epistolary journal to my son. I bought a nice leather bound one the day we found out that we would be coming, and periodically write a "letter" to him in it. I try to do so at least once a month. It can be big deal stuff ("You sat up today for the first time!") or quotidian minutiae ("We called your grandma last night and you asked her how she was feeling") or even time stamp stuff (the emotions I felt getting my first vaccination shot for COVID). The entries are always written *to* him. Sometimes I get a little wistful with the entries, or try to offer up some sage dad advice, but more often than not it's the silly little day to day things that fill in the corners of our lives. I imagine he'll one day get a kick out of reading it . . . that is, if folks can still read chicken scratch cursive by then.
Thanks for this, I am sporadic and have not been determined about keeping up with it but tend to go to it on the tough or angry days. Thank you for the inspiration
I imagine you want to stick to analog; pen and paper. Have you seen note taking apps like Roam Research or Zettlr that map/graph related notes? https://docs.zettlr.com/en/academic/graph/ I find using emacs with org-roam great for notes at my desk/laptop/phone. I wish I could easily use both pen and apps.
Thanks for this burst of inspiration! I suck at keeping a journal, frankly. But I like the idea of the size of the notebooks you use, so I just bought some to give it a try. Been trying to journal more the last two years, since I'm starting to wonder where the days are going. I bought a 5-year journal called "Some Lines a Day," but I really want to carry something around when inspiration strikes -- keeping in mind that the inspiration could be anything from a great philosophical insight to a reminder that I need laundry detergent. I didn't go with the Moleskin because I tend to like to use fountain pens, and their paper isn't the best for that. Leuchtturm 1917 to the rescue!
Tommy, this post was awesome... thanks so much for a peek inside the mind of one of my favorite writers.... for me, my 'journal' writing began when my kids were young. I created emails for both of them and wrote down what they said or did throughout their young lives and emailed it to them. That way, they had the date that it happened and would know how old they were when they said things. As a Christmas present to my wife, I created three books over the years and gave them to her as presents. Doing these entries captured moments of their lives that would have probably been forgotten. Now they are stories we talk about often.
Now that my kids are older, I write a few times a week, capturing the smaller good stuff that happened during the week. With Covid, I've tried to remember that good stuff does happen daily. If I look for it, so i can write about it, it cheers me up a bit on the tougher days we've had for two years.
Thanks so much!