Beyond "Dear Diary" by Steph Beth Nickel

Photo Credit: Desk Smartphone Iphone - Free photo on Pixabay

"Rambling until I stumble across truth."

This is how I’ve often referred to my “Dear Diary” type journaling, and it has countless benefits, among them . . .

1. Priming the pump so we can get into the flow of writing words meant to be shared with others.
2. Discovering what’s truly on our minds and in our hearts.
3. Writing without judgment. The page is a great place to be honest with ourselves.

Currently, I’m not journaling in this way, but I may do so again in the days ahead.

The closest I’ve come recently is based on the one-line-a-day journal concept. I use a blank journal to summarize the highlights of each day, mostly in incomplete sentences. I intend to use the same journal for 3-5 years.

While we can begin again any day, for many people, January 1 feels like a brand-new start. This is the case with me. I love purchasing a new planner and at least one new journal.

This month, instead of purchasing a multi-subject notebook to keep track of what stands out to me in the various devotional materials I’m using, I purchased the same notebook in a variety of colours. I use pens of corresponding colours to make notes in each of them.

I do love beautiful journals and planners, especially those that are leatherbound and contain handmade paper, and would buy a plethora of them, except . . . I have several that still have available space. But because I want to be able to look at a journal and know exactly what’s inside, I purchased the aforementioned 50-cent notebooks.

While it may sound strange to many of you, I must give myself permission to do a number of things in order to optimize my planners and journals.

Among them, I must remember . . .

1. My handwriting doesn’t have to be perfect—not even in a leather-bound journal.
2. Even if a notebook or journal contains a number of different types of entries (sermon notes, random thoughts, lists, etc.), I can assign a specific topic to the remaining blank pages and go from there.
3. I can toss those that are full, or almost full, without rereading the entries. If the information was truly important, it would be recorded elsewhere or would be in my working memory.
4. Even if I’m going to get rid of my planner at the end of the year, it isn’t a waste to decorate it with stickers and washi tape as an expression of my creativity and to bring a smile to my face.
5. Like author Myquillyn Smith says in her book House Rules: How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget, it’s beneficial to “admire not acquire.” While she is applying this principle to decorating one’s home, I find it applies to every area of life. This is also the case when it comes to the beautiful journals some people create. I can admire these journals without taking the time to learn how to emulate these incredible results.

So, do you journal? If so, which type of journaling do you find most beneficial?

Steph Beth Nickel is the former Editor of FellowScript and the current InScribe Contest Coordinator. Steph is an editor and author and plans to relocate to Saskatchewan from Ontario to be close to family in 2027. (Headshot Photo Credit: Jaime Mellor Photography)

Journaling Rambles by Joylene M. Bailey

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Wow, the 20^th of the month is here again! How did that happen?  Again, I’m stumped for what to write for InScribe Writers Online. Why do I always feel like I have nothing to contribute?

This month's topic is journaling and writer's notebooks. Oh boy. I wish I were a more consistent journaler. I might actually have something to share then. But I’m more of a spurtster, like Glynis.

Hmmm, it looks like a lot of the writers this month have several journals for different things. Me too! Only, so many of my journals had great beginnings and then petered out.  I have a whole drawerful of enticing journals, just waiting to be filled.

I love journals - give me a journal and you’re my friend for life. And I love the idea of journaling everyday, sitting in a fragrant and shady corner of my yard on a sun-dappled day putting down words of beauty, encouragement, wisdom and wit. In reality that’s not what happens at all.

Oh man, do I have anything at all to share on this topic? Let’s see, what do I seem to be writing down these days?

Oh! I have that quote notebook I have been keeping for years. I wonder if that counts. I also started that JOY journal – in fact I think I started two … No, those aren’t even worth mentioning.

I guess I do have my prayer/devotional journal that includes sermon and teaching notes. But then when Sweetie called in the middle of the night to say the twins were born, that was the nearest paper to hand, and I opened to the back page to write down the little boys’ names, weights, times of birth, what the names meant, and even how long she pushed for each one! Then I took that journal to Manitoba when I went to help with the twins, and continued from the back to the front, writing little rhyming verses and songs for 3-year-old Little Man. Now I even have jot notes for blog posts in there and a whole list of Edmonton Sites to See This Summer. Again, back to front. What kind of journal is that?

There must be another legitimate journal that’s worth sharing about …

I have that junk-drawer-journal. Everything but the kitchen sink in that one. Anybody else reading it would be so confused. Email addresses, books I want to read, somebody’s very detailed dream, accounting figures, lists, quotes, passwords, definitions, schedules, flight times … You name it, it’s in there. Nah, this journal would never count.

I did start “Morning Pages”, as suggested by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I appreciated that exercise, I think I’d like to get back to that. I also love the sound of an Artist’s Daybook that Sandi Somers mentioned in her post. It has a nice ring to it. Yes, “Morning Pages” and my Artist’s Daybook, those will be goals for my summer writing.

But to get back to my journal post … The only valid journal I might be able to share about is my In the Coffee Shop, In the Library one I started in September as an exercise to get me out of the house when I was on doctor’s orders to rest. It was fun to just sit and write down observations in coffee shops and libraries, and a good exercise in coming up with the right words on the spot. But then came surgery, 6 weeks of recovery, and then right away off to look after grandchildren, including the newborns. I haven’t written in that thing for at least 3 months.

It seems I’m not currently journaling at all.

So, it’s finally happened … I have absolutely nothing to contribute this month. Zilch. Zero.

I might as well go find the topic for next month and get a head start on that.

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Joylene journals about not journaling from her home in Edmonton where she is resting up after 6 weeks of looking after grandchildren. 
Find more of her writing at Scraps of Joy.