Friend: Have you ever thought that it's a little strange?
Me: What?
Friend: Having that many journals. What is with that?
Me: Well I never thought it was strange until you mentioned it....
So, how strange is it?
I've always been a person that plans, makes lists and jots down my thoughts. As a child I kept diaries, wrote suspect poetry, short stories and secret wishes. I still do. Except for the poetry bit, anyway.
These days I like to keep different aspects of my life in different journals. So I have a journal for blogging ideas, then one for business, one for my book, then one for personal plans, creative pursuits etc.
I even include artwork and cuttings from magazines and newspapers. I guess I could keep a large journal and compartmentalise it but I prefer smaller and more compact journals. I even select the journal appropriate to the purpose. Classic black for business use, and bright for something creative etc.
I tie it all together with one overall To Do list that I update often.
Given I have a Type A personality I concede it was probably a big mistake when some years ago I did Time Management and Project Management courses in the same week. I may have created a monster.
And now that I am part of the bloggerazzi set, my need to journal has exacerbated. I make notes all the time (and rarely use any of them) all with a view to weaving the quotes, expressions, stories, jokes into a post at some point in time.
So, what about you.
Do you keep journals? How do you organise your blogging ideas or posts?
I don't keep a journal, and haven't for years. But I do like to make lists and write things down. I have a sticky note with my blog ideas on it, near my computer.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I start to right a post that has several ideas in it, I have to make a list of those too.
Just as guilty I have so many around here, I also am addicted to lil notebook journals, they come in all colors and designs :-) I still have all my journals from a kid too. I get scared sometimes when I read them..what was I thinking :-)
ReplyDeletedangit Lilly I am still not showing up on your blogfrog..LOL
ReplyDeleteI wish I could keep it as organized as you. Instead, mine is more of location. One notebook in my purse, one in my walking pack, one next to the bed, one next to the computer, and one in my attendance folder while I am at school.
ReplyDeleteOh thank goodness - sound slike us bloggers are the same...
ReplyDeleteAnd, as for Kristina, well I am impressed. You write the most extraordinary posts, full of creative ideas, humor and intrgue and you use post it notes. Got to be something in that!!
There was a time I kept it all in my head. Then, as I got older I started to write things down and then found I often couldn't recall what was where and why. Now? Well ... What was I saying? ... Damn!
ReplyDeleteI journal, scribble even, then put what i feel i want to throw out to blogland later - there's something i adore about still using a pen on paper...
ReplyDeletelove your thoughts here
My blogging is meticulously organized. It's embarrassing....
ReplyDeleteI am very scattershot. Some ideas live in my head, brain toys. Some ideas, actually a lot of them are in my word program,waiting for the next thought. But most are in marble notebooks. There is something so wonderful about putting pen to paper.
ReplyDeletePeace - Rene
I think about ideas during my one hour commute to work. Unfortunately, I usually forget them by the time I get to work.
ReplyDeleteI am a great list maker, problem is, I keep starting them and they all end up in my handbag and......
ReplyDeleteI have a type A personality, too. I am a neat freak and am always making lists, etc. When I worked my desk was totally organized and neat and it drove everyone else crazy but me. I could not do anything with a desk piled halfway to the ceiling like most of them.
ReplyDeleteMy daughters are the exact opposite. I drive them crazy especially when I go to their house and immediately start putting things away and straightening up the house.
LOL! You know what I was thinking reading this? Remember the episode of "Friends" where Monica was planing for her wedding and had all her wedding plans and ideas in a folder (speak journal), everything was compartmentalized and labeled. Makes me smile. :) I´m totally the oppisite. I write about whatever I feel like at that moment and usually am totally stressed out about how to say it, because I have not thought it through enough....
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking lately that I need a journal. I've tried three times in my life to start, but I always throw them away. Maybe I fear someone will find it and read my thoughts. I know, I have serious issues.
ReplyDeleteDear Lilly, I must confess to you and the blogworld that I never write anything down and when ideas or inspiration pop into my mind, I write about them.
ReplyDeleteI did journal during the last five years of my mother's life - the best thing I ever did. I can sit down, read the 'story' and think wonderful thoughts and relive great memories.
Wedding plans are progressing nicely ~ with only a few hysterical (not good) moments. The rehearsal dinner is the groom's family responsibility and I am busy planning that now. I have found an ancient barn not far from home that can be rented for events .... I spent over an hour there yesterday morning and fell head over heels in love with it. I could live there! Will find out this morning about availability and rates. Then it's on to find the perfect catering company. We will be hosting 35-40 friends and relatives that evening.
I keep journals and then forget them. I do have really good intentions, though! lol
ReplyDeleteLilly you are super organized! My blog is my journal at the moment. I like sticky notes and random pieces of paper to jot miscellaneous things down. My blog posts are pretty random based on whatever's happening of interest to me that day or maybe the day before. I've always had an agenda book, that seems to have grown in size over the years to keep track of appointments.
ReplyDeleteLet's put it this way... I have an entire bookcase (a BIG bookcase) full of my journals and calendar books from over the years! So my answer is YES, I have a "few" journals. Like you, I keep my journals by category but I have only one master calendar per year-- A book I've purchased every September, lovely and leather-bound, that tells me where to go and what I'm supposed to be doing.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest and ongoing journal is at least 25 years old, mainly with inspirational pick-me-ups, photos and ideas/thoughts to keep me focused on the positive. I carry a small blog journal with me that's loaded with idea notes-- that I actually use sometimes, and then a bunch of journals ranging from family and friends to my shopping list.
It sounds crazy, but I'd be lost without them!
xo
Anyone who has visited my blog will have soon realised I couldn't organisse a drink in a brewery...
ReplyDeleteI'm obviously a Type F personality. I finally started writing down blog ideas on a piece of notepad paper, (that had been wet then dried), in my purse. It doubles as a repository for phone numbers, grocery lists, etc.
ReplyDeleteYour children and grandchildren are going to LOVE these memories of you and the way you think and write. What a gift.
I do have journals, and quite a few. In an effort to pretend I have organizational skills, I tend to over organize and confuse myself.
ReplyDeleteSummer temperatures here range from 90 (rare) to 112 degrees Fahrenheit. 107 is about average from July through September. ACK!!!
LOL, not at all strange. I have never been one for "to do lists", but I have journaled for years. I don't do handwritten journals though, I have always do it on a computer. Now with the blogging, It's even easier. And as you know, I have many different blogs pertaining to different aspects of my life. And a few journals on my computer that have never been seen by another person.
ReplyDeleteYes, I keep a book I've titled 'ideas 4 the brain' and it's spilling over with clippings from newspapers and magazines, including works by artists that I like the look of, notes from books and articles I've scanned or read, reviews of books I want to read, plus my own jottings of random thoughts and ideas and some poetry. I have a few others packed away in boxes. They are the ones I like the best, when you pull them out about once every 1-2 years and go hmmm, ooh or what the?- the latter which gets binned immediately.
ReplyDeleteI keep my ideas in my head, and in Google documents. Truth is, my handwriting has gotten worse over the years, thanks to my addiction to the computer keyboard.
ReplyDeleteAnd I talk to myself. All the time. About blogging ideas, what to have for dinner, balancing my checkbook.
It's all in my head, which could explain a lot actually. Yes its strange to journal so often, lol.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see you back, Lilly....I love that you are so organized. I wish I were, especially where blogging and such are concerned. I never have kept a journal and now, I wish I had...Talk about ideas for Blogging...lol!
ReplyDeleteI truly think it is GREAT that you write about all the different parts of your life---and especially the creative ones, with pictures and drawings and poetry, etc....Don't let anyone tell you it is strange in any way! It is you and you are Unique, and that is perfect! Keep it that way, my dear....lol!
Oh my goodness! You're back - that's soo terrific!! :) I totally missed your return!
ReplyDeleteI used to keep a personal journal - very religious about it I was - but then I thought - you know I write all this stuff just to get it out and really I don't want other people reading it so I tore them all up. Those were diaries of course not day to day journals as such. As for journals - I keep notes on bits of paper and I have a store journal but that's about it I guess. You are so organized Lilly!
I don't make lists - just keep it all up in my head.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, write down ideas for blog posts and books as well as hoard interesting newspaper clippings.
@ Lady Fi - you are fantastic to keep what you do in your head. Clearly I have a lot of room there to store things but it goes in one ear and out the next. I have to write things down. And then I only use 10% of it all...
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing -
ReplyDeleteOK I'm not sexist but the diary/journal does seem to be a female trait. However, on a long stay in Ireland I decided to start one since the letters home didn't really have time to be replied and I had phone contact with the family anyway. Years later I picked up the journal and realized it's value in refreshing my memories. After that I started writing down thoughts about various personal events. Not very regular, maybe once a month.
Blogging ideas - first I use goggle's documents feature to write ideas. second I get some ideas from this radio news quiz show and jot that down in a PDA.
You should check out the quiz show. It's available on podcast. Look up my "Wait Wait" post.
thanks
OH OH one more thing -
ReplyDeletethe journals - what do you think about them being read after you're gone onto that big dirt nap/hereafter/heaven/whatever?
Not to suggest that either of us or your readers are going soon but you know it going to happen and so what about the journals?
I want them to be read by the family.
I don't keep a journal for blogging, but I do have a note/book or you can call it a journal for work.
ReplyDeleteMake notes all the time because I have to submit quarterly reports.
I regard it as a hazard, though it is so helpful when it is time to write the reports.
But blogging, for me, is anything but work cause I get to write what I like with. That is why I am not keeping a journal. I have been told that I should post more often, but it is not easy for me to just create a post out of the blue. I would get an idea, and it would evolve into something, I would see pictures forming. If the images are still growing by the third day, I would go Ahhh,.. that is worth transforming into a blog. And no, I am not strange.
Yes, you and I are kindred spirits.
ReplyDeleteI hate note pads everywhere in the house, ready for me to jot down anything and everything i have in mind.
I even have a doodle art journal.
@ Lisleman - oh definitely I do not mind people reading wha tI write after I move on form this life. It will explain a few things for them, lol!!!
ReplyDeleteHowever, on that point, my grandmother kept a diary/journal for 60 years of her life. Her husband had been a prisoner of war for five years and she had to raise five children and she had a nervous breakdown. She wrote about everything about this time which is tough reading. When she died there were two of her children that wanted the diary destroyed and didnt want anyone to read it as it may reflect poorly on her (WTF??). What a shame as her story was one worth reading and telling. Particulary how the partnerso f soldiers cope in wars. Thankfully my mother had the sense to copy the diary so it was not lost. My grandmother also had an Amercian penfriend (before there were blogs). They wrote letters to each other for fifty one years and NEVER met. Its just amazing how close they were. I think they spoke on the phone in the end though. My mother has all her letters too. I think its great because we can learn so much about history as well as people. I am glad you journal and I bet your Irish adventure is a great read too. Otherwise we do forget the details.
I am a great list maker. Crossing things off a list is psychologically empowering. I also seem to achiever more too.
ReplyDeleteMy journal was started on the cusp of my 17th birthday. I'm 51 now and I still look back and read the words of that long-ago Me. And, as I am a chronic attention-challenged person, lists are my very best friend!
ReplyDelete@ Lisa, Wow now that is impressive. A journal since you were 17. I would love to read what my 17 year old self was thinking. I do have a few poems but thats it.
ReplyDeleteI was about ready to freak out about your multiple journals...but then you re-humanized yourself when you admitted to rarely using the notes...for a minute there you scared me lol
ReplyDeleteNikkiu, Yes type A personality what can I say...
ReplyDelete@ Paul W Chambers - I am not sure you will come back to read my blog again and see this. I went to visit you blog and loved it so but I cannot leave a comment and there is no way of emailing you. I will keep visiting and reading but I woud like to leave a comment too. Lilly
ReplyDeleteThanks to my Mom who always encouraged me to read and write, I've kept journals most of my life. Sometimes I'd like to escape the truth of them.. but it is THERE in all its black or blue ink. It is much more of a plus though, even the very difficult to reread. The memory reworks our stories, you know, the journal does not.
ReplyDeleteI edit my blog very little, only for glaringly wrong words or much too awkward sentences. I am not a rewriter of blogging, I am free flow. ~Mary
Mary, I love the line of yours - the memory reworks our stories but the journal does not. Now that is the soul reason I am going to use when someone asks me why I keep a journal. Love it - thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post and comments!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the story of your grandmother and her fifty-one year penpal friendship - truly amazing. And Mary's quote is wonderful, too.
I'm impressed you keep multiple journals, though I understand the impulse. I adore paper and pen shops, and usually end up purchasing a little book or journal - just use them one by one, though, not multiples at once :)
Cheers.
Mmmm an addictive personality I am clearly Caroline...one is never enough.
ReplyDelete