Here be dragons.
Are you brave and write what you really think? Do you wonder if someone will read it all, someday, maybe hoping someone will? Do you keep a diary like a personal scrapbook with drawings, mementos, and things cut from newspapers and magazines? A diary is your personal space. 
I think it is sad to see so many personal journals disappearing. What happens to old diaries when the writers are gone? If they were a celebrity of some kind they would be kept, valued. What about the rest of us?
I read about some groups and organizations keeping journals from ordinary (for lack of a better word) people.… Read the rest
One reason people don’t stick with keeping a diary/ journal is the habit of writing everyday, filling at least a page each day, and other rules. A diary is personal. So make it personal and set your own rules and guidelines, subject to change without notice. Make it your own and write it (or draw, scrapbook, etc.)… Read the rest
I keep private (unpublished) posts in my sites for making notes like this. I always know where they are and they are in the place I will (eventually) use them. At some point I found PressForward as a way to link to the source of my inspiration and make my own notes to go along with it.… Read the rest
… Read the restIn the end, we loaded our technology (computers, hard drives with all the historical pictures on them), my old Smith Corona typewriter (yes-crazy!) and we stood holding what we decided were the most precious things… our cottage journals.
We began our first journal on our first day as we moved in to this place. Our kids’ friends wrote enthusiastic missives about how beautiful everything was.
What does a journal look like? If you found the long, lost journal of long dead explorer, what would you expect it to look like? I see it as leather, beat up, dark cover and dirty, weather beaten held together with string or something else found along the way. What if it were the journal of a dentist?… Read the rest
I write a diary. You could also call it a journal but I prefer diary because that feels connected to history and all the women who have kept a diary through history. Since the early days of writing on paper women have documented their thoughts, their lives and their ideas.
Most people who keep a diary/ journal write with an audience in mind. They write to someone, even if they don’t ever plan to let anyone else read what they have written.
Try writing a diary entry about your day, or pick an average sort of day to write about. Choose who your audience is. As you write change your audience to someone else about midway through.… Read the rest
What to WriteAny time you are not sure what to write or just can’t seem to get started – read back your last post to the journal and comment on it. Did you meet any goals, achieve something or did the day you expected turn out completely different from what you had written?
Take a break from the computer, sit in a different chair and use a different table when you write your journal.
If you’ve been keeping a journal. or diary, for awhile it can become a little stale just talking to yourself, the same monologue. Here are some ways to perk your journal writing back up and make it something you can look forward to again.
Start with a diary you like. Shop for a pretty or interesting blank book or make a cover (and even pages) of your own.… Read the rest