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Do You Keep a Journal?

spicyapple

spicyapple

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 20, 2006
1,724
1
As someone said, "if your life is worth living, it is worth remembering".

What do you keep a journal about?

I want to take up journal writing again, because I find myself forgetting little details about people and events. Perhaps, I should set aside 10 minutes each day to write down my thoughts, frustrations and goals.

My dilemma:

I like the tactile feel of the old-fashioned pen writing, and there is something intimate and ageless about reading words written with broad strokes and cursive flourishes in the style of the writer. Then there's the longevity of such writings, as when I die, my grandchildren can read about my experiences from my actual handwriting, perhaps lifting some emotion and insight.

But I also see the benefits of typing into a word processor; faster, no cramping, a spell checker and easier storage and security.

With that in mind, I'm unsure now as to whether I should jot down my thoughts on pen and paper or keep them on the computer.
 
I keep mine in a word document. i don't have a particular attachment to pen and paper, though.

while it is harder to doodle something, it's actually legible, a big plus!

I usually write to get through things. If I can see the progression, it helps me work it out.
 
spicyapple said:
With that in mind, I'm unsure now as to whether I should jot down my thoughts on pen and paper or keep them on the computer.
Click to expand...
Why not use both?

I've tried keeping journals but I never seem to consistently write (in any of them). I still can't stop myself from buying the odd journal that I love the look of. :eek:
 
I don't really keep a journal, but I put down a lot of my thoughts in a Word documents, several actually. I just type away, sometimes it's good to just type and see what comes out. I used to do the pen and paper thing but that just got messy. Too much hassle.
 
I keep several different journals in the same journal, generally interspersed. I collect language -- stuff I read and hear and love I put into the journal and may use in a poem later. I keep rough drafts of poems in the journal, as well as thoughts and general brain dump rants. It all ends up summing to a life, though I rarely go back to it other than to pull the language I've stolen. I have a stack of old journals in my closet.

One good thing about pen and paper is the lack of clarity -- you can look at something you wrote and see how it's morphing into something else, usually something more interesting than what my original thought or line had been.

Evocation empowers aphorisms.
 
I go through stages of going 'ohhh, that could be fun' then it gets boring. I remember when we visited Australia for the first time my dad sat me down and made me keep a one, said that it was the trip of a lifetime and I really needed to remember it. That was the wrong way for him to go about that I feel, makes me cringe now just thinking about it.

That could be some nice software for OS X that (Does anyone know of it?) a really good piece of Journal software, specifically for the job. I mean, I know you could use word... but software would be cool... and I don't want a blog, they are sooooo 2005.
 
Hey Spicy,

Nothing beats the old-fashioned feel and experience of writing in a book. I personally have a silver-gilded edge journal, with scripture verses at the bottom, and I use a fountain-like pen. I know that I could never get the same experience of journalling by typing into a word processor.

Let us know what you work out.

Ciao,

Michael
 
I'm a sporadic journal-keeper. I sometimes type it into my journal document, but I also write in a book.

As for what I write about - anything. People. Stuff. Events. Travel. Squirrels I see eating quinces - things like that.;)
 
i keep a journal in an old fashioned one. since its poetry i also end up typing it all up too eventually. thats the hard part. i prefer writing by hand, but then i feel the need to type it all up too, but i guess the best part about that is a day or two or however long later i go to type it up it gives me a chance to reflect and consider what i've written.
 
I've never kept a journal (or diary), but I plan to write a "travel journal" next year!

So excited...can't wait! :D
 
Yeah. It's mostly technical experimentation (and I've been unsteady at best recently, due to finals and such). Any old blog'll do. I find I concentrate too much on neatness to make a paper journal bearable, and I type 70-80WPM, so why use paper?
 
You could try writing on paper, then scanning it into your computer for longevity.

I don't keep a journal, although studies have shown that those who do have more intimate, happy relationships with their partners, so I plan on starting soon. I view journaling as an as-needed activity. The daily "dear diary" stuff I find frustrating, so I just write when something is bugging me. Seeing my thoughts on paper simplifies them.
 
I'm not terribly consistent, but I've got two journal projects going-- one is audio using a Belkin TuneTalk into my iPod and the other is a web page for public/political thoughts.

The audio journal is for posterity. I realize I don't know much about my parents when they were kids-- I get glimmers that they were different people, but all of their memories are filtered by their current selves and by being parents (so I'm sure there's some censorship). I want to leave something that my kids can listen to when they get old enough that I don't care about censoring it and hear how I thought before they were around.

Of course, I'm getting older and they're getting closer to being around, and I'm not as prolific as I'd like so I'm not sure the project is going to turn out how I hoped-- but that's the idea.

The web page is my way of publicly expressing my views, even if no one's actually reading them. Gotta do something to exercise that 1st amendment and keep it in shape...


Now-- if you're choosing between pen and machine, I say pen for two reasons: you won't lose it when your drive crashes, and you can't easily go back and edit history. I don't write much because I can't read what I write, so I've got a different angle on the question. I do like handwritten texts because I think there's more romance in the human distinctiveness, but my own handwriting is a sure way of discouraging me from writing more...
 
When I was younger I kept a journal which was just a series of Simpletext files of my dreams that night on my old powermac. I had them backed up on a 3.5" floppy but that's long gone now.

So I stopped for a few years, then bought a journal book to write in, just to capture some random thoughts and musings. I kept that up a few months then got tired of using my hand to write all the time.

Then I started using myspace and just blog my thoughts there. Has been easy and consistent for me, though I feel like I won't be able to back it up when the time comes.
 
Journals are for amateurs, memoirs are for pros

Like the old Marines commercial said - "if your life was a book, would anyone want to read it?" Seems a lot more important to do some real living than to waste time on computers, video games, and online forums. At least computers do something for you MAYBE, and forums, well they save money, but time is more valuable than money, unless you're that moron on Deal or No Deal who refused 147k to hang onto a $10 suitcase. In that situation, money is more important than time. All I'm learning on these forums is that my beloved mac brand is going to pot in quality-control. Discussing news issues on a computer forum is kind of gay, really. Anyway, looks and youth make some people real fearful and oblivious to reality - ala Paris Hilton, although she does as much fearless living as an idiot can pull off, gotta give her that. She's merely oblivious.
 
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