Journals I've Kept
Plournalling? SMHH.
Adventures in Journaling
I recently read "The Journals I've Kept" by Cait Flanders, the author of Hi Friend (here on Substack) and her books, THE YEAR OF LESS and ADVENTURES IN OPTING OUT.
In "The Journals I've Kept," Cait talks about, well..., the journals she's kept: blogs, physical journals, podcasts, voice memos, creativity journals, and a notes app.
It's an adventurous list, maybe too much so for this scaredy-cat. 😺 I tried blogging, but I felt too exposed at the time. Podcasting appeals to me, but again, the exposure doesn't.
Voice memo journaling appeals to me, also. In a way, it's very Star-Trek-Captain's-log-Star-Date-whatever. My problem—because, of course, there is one—is that I review my journals regularly, and reviewing voice memos would require a great deal more work and time.
While journaling with tech has its place in my life, I prefer journaling on paper. The slowness of writing—the thoughtful pauses between connecting pen to paper—appeals to me more than other forms of journaling.
Connecting the Dots
Cait mentions 'tracking/collecting things to pay attention to,' including, money, fitness, quotes, examples of love, etc. Ah, the stuff of life! I love that each journal entry is a snapshot of a moment in time of the journaler's life; each moment, a dot; and when the dots are connected, the picture appears.
To connect those dots, I've always indexed my journal entries in the back pages of each journal. In fact, in designing the Fractal Planner, I purposely added index pages as a way to connect those snapshots into a bigger, more meaningful picture to uncover lie's hidden patterns and gems.
From Inception to the Present Moment
Thinking back, my very first journal was a wire bound, college ruled notebook, with a sea foam green, textured cover. I'd run my hand and fingers over it for the sensory experience. The cover featured a drawing of a generic Formula One car. How cool is that. Probably not the coolest thing for a 7th grader, but it's what I had.
My junior high school homeroom teacher insisted we journal for a little bit every morning. At first, I had no idea what to write. Journaling was the most stupid activity ever--*gag me with a spoon* (it was the 80's). My entries were brief. My entries were trite. But it was required, so everyday I wrote a few sentences.
The memories get fuzzy after 7th grade and stay blurry until the 10th grade when my single-parent mother moved us in with relatives.
Living with relatives wasn't pleasant, so we moved in with friends. Living with friends was an adventure, except for when it was awkward and uncomfortable—regularly.
It was a tumultuous year, and I journaled the whole time, using college-ruled paper and a 3-ring binder. I named the journal "Quiet Thoughts," or just Q.T. or "Cutie" for short.
Cutie went with me everywhere, stuffed in my Jansen backpack. I wrote in Cutie throughout my remaining high school years and throughout college until one day…
What was this beautiful notebook calling out to me from the shelf? Moleskine. Poor Cutie, so quickly abandoned.
I like Moleskine’s soft covers and back, inside pockets, but recently, Zen Art Supplies' Modernista Series has been a favorite. I love their color options.
And naturally, the Fractal Planner has supplanted all other forms. As a result, many of my planner pages feel a little more like journal pages and vice versa. I'd call it "Plournaling" if it didn't sound so ridiculous.
So when it comes down to it, I've kept two kinds of journals: primarily, the paper kind, but also the digital kind, from time to time, sometimes using Evernote, and now, more recently, Obsidian.
Thanks, Cait, for catalyzing this thoughtful journey. Cheers.
R. Maurice Ledesma
Next Issue…
Using the Priority Target Forecast page
Available from Studio Gootank
The Storyboarding Notebook for Children's Picture Books serves a dedicated purpose: capturing and working on picture book ideas. It's easily identifiable—it's large, brightly colored hardcover notebook. So, no more hunting for that lost picture book idea stored somewhere in one of my many completed or in-progress notebooks, journals, or planners.
TIP: Given the paper available via Amazon's KDP, I've found that pencils and 0.3 HI-TEC-C pens avoid bleed-through. It's currently available only at Amazon.