Why is the idea of a daily diary more appealing than the actual keeping of that diary? Why do I only have Januarys and Julys on record and nothing in between?
Ahh …. a topic near and dear to my heart. Ever since I was at school I have been a diary/planner advocate. Misplacing it is tantamount to losing a limb! LOL! These days - and this coming year especially - I am particularly excited with my new layout using the NOTESHELF App - I still revel in putting pen (Apple pencil) to paper (iPad screen) with so many options to still by fluttering heart!
I will admit to falling off the wagon when real life gets in the way. However, this year I wish to be kind to myself and as my teacher self constantly proclaims to my students, “something is better than nothing”. This year I will record thoughts from my daily mediation (Calm), my reading log/reflections and general wellbeing. I think I finally have it streamlined.
I had to giggle at your bullet journal attempts Natasha - don’t they always look so flash online but sadly, my reality appears to have equaled yours. I am also an evening writer preferring to reflect as the sun goes down.
I love to walk and similar to you, it is my thinking time. Only last evening I heard a quote that spoke to me by John Muir, “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” … sigh … ❤️ However, the fact that you get complete sentences in your head is not only mind blowing but stuff of dreams. How wonderful and calls for a definite pursuit for more backstory. You are sure to venture down many rabbit holes in search of answers. That’s a job we could only all aspire to.
You have inspired me to search up Joan Didion - thank you. Any book of hers that would be a good starting place?
I’m a haphazard diarist and a messy note book keeper. I did morning pages for a while but as mornings are my premium time to write, I decided to concentrate on my current WIP. I have an ideas notebook but never have enough time to develop them all. Novels are my priority and with a full time job, I have to be selective with how I spend my writing time. I love the little gems of inspiration you recorded, Natasha, and can see how they could grow into intriguing stories. It’s amazing how a single image or idea can become an entire novel. I especially like going back through the pages of someone’s tragedy ti find the place where it all went wrong. I’m hooked!
My daughter gifted me my first gratitude journal several Christmases ago and has given me one every year since (began the 8th one yesterday). Every night before bed I write down a few positive things from my day - sometimes big news but more often simple things - a delicious pizza, finishing a great book, a solid workout, family movie time. On hard days there may be only one small thing... but it helps me exhale the day finding something positive in each one.
I have tried it all. Morning pages, gratitude journals, pretty paperblanks diaries, word docs, notes in iphone. And all I have accomplished to do is splay out all those mind strings to multiple mediums which like unpaired socks, accumulate in colourful masses just to be tossed out sometime in the way distant future.
But your ability to remember your running inspirations until you get home is an incredible skill! If I don’t note down immediately what springs to mind, it is completely forgotton minutes later, no matter how unforgetable it seems at its inception. So that is a skill I need to master in 2023!
I do love a good notebook. I have stacks of them. Mostly unused. The blank pages and the promise of what they could contain excites me. As a diarist or journal keeper, I fail miserably. I do have a few that contain thoughts, quotes, and my lists of what I have read, but the blank ones are most precious to me.
An appropriately-titled newsletter, Natasha, it really is a gem!
I kept diaries since i was a little girl in Sydney, but when i moved overseas that faded somewhat. Now i do Morning Pages every day ( and actually wrote about how 'The Artist's Way' helped me in my creative recovery in one of my newsletters). It's funny, i can't imagine my life without them.
This was a great topic. I keep a note paid with a pen everywhere in my house. A thought may come to me while sitting on my bed, eating a meal, in the bathroom, watching something on TV, doing laundry, cooking, reading, etc. I jot the thought, name, song, news item, anything that occurred at that time that my senses were receptive. Then I go back to what I was doing. It is fun to see what I wrote at different times. I am not a diary person, nor can I carry a note book around with me. If I am out and about, I would use my phone.
I have lost count of how many habit-style notebooks and journals I have started. In fact, I am sitting here staring at an overflowing basket of my lack of success (hmmm perhaps that's why I sit here and think I'm failing at this writing gig!) I suspect though, if I set aside time to go through them and rip out the 'to-do lists' and kept the actual writing, I could def mine a few gems.
I have to say the sentence "as if I’m an expert only in beginnings – someone who avoids middles and ends" could describe my entire life as a person with ADHD. It is something I am REALLY working on. Also I have no idea why I am being so brutally honest in here today.
Weirdly, I get my inspiration while at my clothes line. In fact I have it listed in the acknowledgements folder I keep if I ever get published. Along with you and my Doctor!
The only type of diary I use now is one to help me keep track of appointments, work related things, events, birthdays and holidays. Which makes a nice change from scribbled bit of paper!
Every year I pour over all the planners/journals, trying to figure out which one will be just perfect for me. I used Silk & Sonder for a little over a year, and it helped me establish my morning routine (which, yes, includes water, yoga, setting an intention and rough plan for the day) as well as some other good habits and insights. This year I’m trying The High Performance Planner. We’ll see how it goes. I find it’s great to take whatever’s useful to you, adapt as necessary, and jettison the rest. My journaling tends to be more listmaking and noting any joys or gratitude, just so I remember to take a moment and celebrate them. As you note, it’s more of a mindfulness moment than anything I ever plan to return to later, so I don’t care how boring it might be. I’ve got plenty of novels to read if I want plot!
My journaling is a bit slapdash sometimes and I often despair at the mundane stuff I write in it but I also do a bit of bullet journal type stuff in there to record my reading. Need to get better at recording the mind string…
Ahh …. a topic near and dear to my heart. Ever since I was at school I have been a diary/planner advocate. Misplacing it is tantamount to losing a limb! LOL! These days - and this coming year especially - I am particularly excited with my new layout using the NOTESHELF App - I still revel in putting pen (Apple pencil) to paper (iPad screen) with so many options to still by fluttering heart!
I will admit to falling off the wagon when real life gets in the way. However, this year I wish to be kind to myself and as my teacher self constantly proclaims to my students, “something is better than nothing”. This year I will record thoughts from my daily mediation (Calm), my reading log/reflections and general wellbeing. I think I finally have it streamlined.
I had to giggle at your bullet journal attempts Natasha - don’t they always look so flash online but sadly, my reality appears to have equaled yours. I am also an evening writer preferring to reflect as the sun goes down.
I love to walk and similar to you, it is my thinking time. Only last evening I heard a quote that spoke to me by John Muir, “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” … sigh … ❤️ However, the fact that you get complete sentences in your head is not only mind blowing but stuff of dreams. How wonderful and calls for a definite pursuit for more backstory. You are sure to venture down many rabbit holes in search of answers. That’s a job we could only all aspire to.
You have inspired me to search up Joan Didion - thank you. Any book of hers that would be a good starting place?
I’m a failed diarist: I’ve tried but the only diary I keep is work-related: spoke to x about y.
I did the morning pages too but they petered out into evening pages especially when i’m under stress.
But notebooks I have many : that’s where I usually start with my writings.
But sorry I don’t run, I walk and then get inspired.
I think much of writing is finding out how to get the best out of one’s creativity.
I’m a haphazard diarist and a messy note book keeper. I did morning pages for a while but as mornings are my premium time to write, I decided to concentrate on my current WIP. I have an ideas notebook but never have enough time to develop them all. Novels are my priority and with a full time job, I have to be selective with how I spend my writing time. I love the little gems of inspiration you recorded, Natasha, and can see how they could grow into intriguing stories. It’s amazing how a single image or idea can become an entire novel. I especially like going back through the pages of someone’s tragedy ti find the place where it all went wrong. I’m hooked!
My daughter gifted me my first gratitude journal several Christmases ago and has given me one every year since (began the 8th one yesterday). Every night before bed I write down a few positive things from my day - sometimes big news but more often simple things - a delicious pizza, finishing a great book, a solid workout, family movie time. On hard days there may be only one small thing... but it helps me exhale the day finding something positive in each one.
I have tried it all. Morning pages, gratitude journals, pretty paperblanks diaries, word docs, notes in iphone. And all I have accomplished to do is splay out all those mind strings to multiple mediums which like unpaired socks, accumulate in colourful masses just to be tossed out sometime in the way distant future.
But your ability to remember your running inspirations until you get home is an incredible skill! If I don’t note down immediately what springs to mind, it is completely forgotton minutes later, no matter how unforgetable it seems at its inception. So that is a skill I need to master in 2023!
I do love a good notebook. I have stacks of them. Mostly unused. The blank pages and the promise of what they could contain excites me. As a diarist or journal keeper, I fail miserably. I do have a few that contain thoughts, quotes, and my lists of what I have read, but the blank ones are most precious to me.
An appropriately-titled newsletter, Natasha, it really is a gem!
I kept diaries since i was a little girl in Sydney, but when i moved overseas that faded somewhat. Now i do Morning Pages every day ( and actually wrote about how 'The Artist's Way' helped me in my creative recovery in one of my newsletters). It's funny, i can't imagine my life without them.
Loved this post - thank you.
This was a great topic. I keep a note paid with a pen everywhere in my house. A thought may come to me while sitting on my bed, eating a meal, in the bathroom, watching something on TV, doing laundry, cooking, reading, etc. I jot the thought, name, song, news item, anything that occurred at that time that my senses were receptive. Then I go back to what I was doing. It is fun to see what I wrote at different times. I am not a diary person, nor can I carry a note book around with me. If I am out and about, I would use my phone.
I have lost count of how many habit-style notebooks and journals I have started. In fact, I am sitting here staring at an overflowing basket of my lack of success (hmmm perhaps that's why I sit here and think I'm failing at this writing gig!) I suspect though, if I set aside time to go through them and rip out the 'to-do lists' and kept the actual writing, I could def mine a few gems.
I have to say the sentence "as if I’m an expert only in beginnings – someone who avoids middles and ends" could describe my entire life as a person with ADHD. It is something I am REALLY working on. Also I have no idea why I am being so brutally honest in here today.
Weirdly, I get my inspiration while at my clothes line. In fact I have it listed in the acknowledgements folder I keep if I ever get published. Along with you and my Doctor!
The only type of diary I use now is one to help me keep track of appointments, work related things, events, birthdays and holidays. Which makes a nice change from scribbled bit of paper!
Every year I pour over all the planners/journals, trying to figure out which one will be just perfect for me. I used Silk & Sonder for a little over a year, and it helped me establish my morning routine (which, yes, includes water, yoga, setting an intention and rough plan for the day) as well as some other good habits and insights. This year I’m trying The High Performance Planner. We’ll see how it goes. I find it’s great to take whatever’s useful to you, adapt as necessary, and jettison the rest. My journaling tends to be more listmaking and noting any joys or gratitude, just so I remember to take a moment and celebrate them. As you note, it’s more of a mindfulness moment than anything I ever plan to return to later, so I don’t care how boring it might be. I’ve got plenty of novels to read if I want plot!
My journaling is a bit slapdash sometimes and I often despair at the mundane stuff I write in it but I also do a bit of bullet journal type stuff in there to record my reading. Need to get better at recording the mind string…