This week’s prompt: Do you keep a diary or a journal?
Yes and no. I’ve always been a bit of an off and on journaler. I’ll go great guns for a while and then get bored of my whining (or come up with a great story idea) and stop. But, like many writers, there is little I love more than a new journal. Over the years, I’ve tried them all. Here are just a few of my favorites (Note: the links are Amazon Affiliate links which means if you click through and make a purchase, Amazon gives me a few pennies to keep my blog running).
- Morning pages. As prescribed in Julia Cameron’s seminal book, The Artist’s Way. It’s three pages of long-hand writing every morning (hence the name). I’ve done at least three iterations of the 12 week Artist’s Way prescription. As a mom of a school-aged child, I don’t get to wake gently and sit in my easy chair with my cup of steaming coffee as dawn breaks over the DelMarVa area while I scribble three pages. Mostly, I’m running around trying to get Fox fed and myself dressed enough to make it to the car line. So, I rarely write these in the morning and usually only manage about a once a week “brain dump” entry. I also did one series of 12 weeks as before bed writing. Another series I typed. I know, I’m such a rebel! 🙂 But seriously, if you haven’t read The Artist’s Way or tried Morning Pages, you’re missing out. Though you can use any notebook, these bluelines A9 are my favorite.
2. I love this five-year journal from Gretchen Rubin. It’s just long enough to record a few quick words about the day. She’s also got one especially for Moms. I may have fallen off the wagon for 2018 but I’ll be starting up again in 2019.
3. I enjoy list based journals too. They are quick and easy to fill out. These are my favorite of list journals.
4. I’m really enjoying This Time Next Year too. Lots of fun questions in that one.
5. As a big Mel Robbin’s fan, I really like her 5 Second Journal. It only lasts for about 60 days but it really helps to cement the ideas in her book The 5 Second Rule.
6. My friend gifted me with this one, My Life Story So Far, a few years ago. It takes a while to get all the entries written but I think it will be a nice memento for Fox when he’s older. (NB: Shockingly, Amazon doesn’t have this so this product links to Uncommon Goods).
7. I also love these ReMemory cards from Storymatic. I use them when I am blanking what to write in my morning pages journal.
8. This book of journal prompts is also great to use when I need a topic for my morning pages.
9. I also love this journal sparks book but it’s more of a creativity jumpstart. I think it’s actually marketed for teens but I love it anyway 🙂
10. There are also digital journal apps out there. I tried several, along with typing a journal entry in Evernote, but I didn’t find it as effective so I went back to paper. Pinterest also has tons and tons of journaling prompts to get you started. My favorite website for journaling prompts is Text My Journal. So many great creative ones there!
How about you? Do you journal? Any great products I’ve missed?
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