Figured it might be a good discussion question. Crossposted to !pkms@lemmy.blahaj.zone.

Especially as someone who wants to help grow !journaling@sh.itjust.works, and to participate to help it grow, but in the end I come from !pkms@lemmy.blahaj.zone and I think of what I have far more as a Personal Knowledge Management System than a journal. I spend far less time on personal feelings and thoughts and "what did I do today?" and a lot more on making it a knowledge repository for Future Me. And if what I do is actually pretty separate from journaling it would be cool to know so I don't invade threads I shouldn't be talking in.

A fountain pen, plus a notebook, plus some ink can make for a very much appreciated gift.

The issue is that it can cost a fortune—what about a 465$ notebook and this estimated 1 million dollars diamond incrusted fountain pen?

The good news is that it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to get a great starter (and more) journaling kit.

The following prices are indicative and based on the prices in my region (Paris, France) and on the prices of the EU online shops I generally use. No idea how much those cost in your region of the world but, in any case, don’t be afraid to compare from one shop to the next, as prices can vary widely.

• Approx 9€, for the Art Creation sketchbook, from Royal Talens. 
The model in the photo is A5 but they’re available in A6, A4, and square formats too. It has a rigid cover available in a few flashy colors (or in black). It’s sturdy but it will lay flat when opened. It comes with a smooth ivory-colored 140gsm paper that’s great with a fountain pen and can also be used for light watercolors wash. Note that it’s a sketchbook, not your standard notebook, which means it’s plain paper and there is no lines, no dots, no nothing to guide your handwriting (it’s a matter of a few hours to get used to it).
• Approx 5€, the Platinum Preppy fountain pen with an Extra Fine nib (also available in Fine, Medium). 
It’s the cheapest quality fountain pen I know while still being a really good writer! It’s that good that despite owning much more expensive models the Preppy is one of my three daily drivers.
• Ink option 1: approx 5-6€ for a pack of official Platinum cartridges. Cartridges are easy to use but offer a limited selection of colors. Note that each new fountain pens already come with one ink cartridge.
• Ink Option 2: the official ink converter from Platinum, 5-10€ (the 'Silver' and 'Gold' model will both work, here again price can vary depending where you buy). A converter allows to use bottled ink instead of the standard cartridges and it’s a single time purchase since you can easily refill it with your ink of choice.
• Add to that a bottle of fountain pen ink (never put non-fountain pen ink in a fountain pen). The Waterman Serenity blue I suggest is a classic but there is an almost endless number of inks available. It’s also among the cheapest at 5,50€ for a 50 ml bottle on Amazon Fr. For comparison, a cartridge will contain between 0.6 to 1.2ml. So, 50 ml will go a long way.

If the gift is for a child, cartridges are the best choice since they’re much simpler and quicker to use, and because it’s way too easy to accidentally spill your brand new (aka full) bottle of ink on your dining table and watch it drip on your carpet—don’t ask me ;)

Any downside to this combo? Two minor ones, both related to the fountain pen itself:

1. The plastic the Preppy is made of seems more fragile. The cap can easily be damaged. Which is real sad because it also must be the best cap I have ever encountered, no matter the pen price (capping is essential with any fountain pen, otherwise they will dry real quick and you really do not want that to happen).
2. The Preppy looks a lot more like your standard and cheap gel pen than like a nice fountain pen. I don’t care about that for my own use, but as a gift it may be worth considering.

If that bothers you, check the next bundle which includes the same sketchbook and the same bottle of blue ink, plus:

!Illustration: A Lamy fountain pen with its accessories and a bottle of ink

• Approx 25€, for a Lamy Safari fountain pen. The Lamy Safari is the full plastic model, not to be mistaken with the similar looking but aluminum Lamy AL-Star. Like with the Preppy, you can chose a nib, this time ranging from Extra Fine to Broad.
• Approx 5€ for the official Lamy converter (either the Lamy Z26 or the Lamy Z28 will work) + you choice of ink in bottle.
• Or the official Lamy cartridges. I don’t give a price here because it will vary a lot, so do some comparison. Each pen comes with one blue cartridge.

The Lamy Safari is now considered a classic but it is still unique, with its simple blocky design and its bright colors. What’s great with that fountain pen is that it was designed for kids. Why does it matter?

First, the pen is sturdy (ABS plastic is solid) and, like most beginner fountain pens, its nib is steel which makes it… reliable and able to endure even the clumsier hands. That said, like all nibs, they don’t like at all being dropped on a hard surface.

Then , it’s not just fancy design. It was developed to help kids learn proper fountain pen handling. Hence the triangular-ish shape of its grip which makes sure one can only grip it right and put the nib at the correct angle to the paper. For beginners, it's a real advantage that can remove a lot of frustration when the fountain pen is not hold correctly.

Free bonus: picking the right nib size

There si a lot to be said about picking a nib, from its size and its width, to the alloy it is made of, it's flexibility and smoothness, and so on. But a beginner should only worry about its width, aka the fatness of the line it will write.

It goes from Extra Fine, to fine, to Medium, to to Broad. There are others, those are the most common.

One issue is that there is no standard agreed upon. Which means a Fine from brand A may be a Medium with brand B. Funny, right? What's even funnier is that some brands will even not use a single standard for all their products.

To hep you chose, you can keep those two simple rules of thumb in mind:

• The smaller the handwriting, the thinner you will want you nib to be. Note that the thinner the nib the less smooth it will often also feel. So, it's always a matter of finding the right equilibrium between various factors.
• It's admitted Japanese nibs are thinner than their German counterparts. Meaning a Fine from Germany will be larger than a Fine from Japan. Why does it matter? Well, most nibs will either be Japanese or German-made. How can you tell where it comes from? You need to do some reasearch but in our case: Preppy is Japanese brand and Lamy is German brand (Pilot is Japanese too, while Twsbi although being Asian uses German-made nibs). So a Fine from Lamy or Twsbi will be a tad larger than a fine from Preppy or Pilot.

If it is for a child, I would go with a Medium nib for the Preppy and the Lamy (maybe a Fine for Lamy if the child write real small). Why? A Medium nib will be the smoothest to use and probably the more able to withstand poor handling.

For an adult, I would pick depending their handwriting. In doubt, I would still go with a Medium but, really, having an idea of the handwriting can help a lot.

To give you an idea, I happily use an Extra Fine from Lamy and it's OK-ish to use their Fine (it's already a bit large for my tiny handwriting) where I can use Extra-Fine and Fine from Preppy without any issue, and I can even use their Medium when I don't have a choice.

Other recommandations?

The two fountain pens I mentioned are part of my daily drivers (and that is despite owning much, much more expensive fountain pens). And since I started using the Art Creation sketchbooks, I quit using all other notebooks... Here again, that is despite having access to much more expensive brands and even having learned, a few decades ago, how to bind my own notebooks using my paper of choice.

They are what I consider an excellent compromise between price and quality and ease of use (nothing beats binding your own notebook with the paper you love the most, you just won't be doing it as quickly (or as cheaply) as you can enter a shop, or click Buy).

There are many others to pick from.

• Be it for notebooks. Brands like Leuchtturm 1917, Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Tomoe River,...
• For fountain pens: Twsbi (edit: check their Twsbi Eco, this one doesn't even use cartridge and oes not need a convert: it uses its internal piston filling mechanism), Pilot (check 'Pilot Metropiltain*, even if I do not use thine one (I'm a fan of other Pilot fountain pens) a lot people like it for good reasons),...
• Inks: Pilot (my favorites inks are from Pilot), Pelikan, Parker, Herbin,... And that is not even considering special inks, like fountain pen water-resistant inks:

!3 bottles of waterproof fountain pen ink De Atramentis Document ink, Roher & Klinger Sketch Ink, and (in black only) Platinum Carbon Black are three brands selling waterproof inks I use (mostly Platinum and DeAtramentis Document, but I have no issue with R&K either). One can also find a few from Noodler's, USA but I have not been their customer for almost 2 decades so I have no idea what's available anymore.

My questions, to you

Do you have any favorite fountain pen or other writing device, notebook or ink you would recommend or would use as a gift? Feel free to tell us what they are, and why you like them!

Also, let me know if this the kind of content you're interested to read more often, or if you think it doesn't belong here.

edit: typos. Re-edit: added a few references I forgot to mention for alternative fountain pens.

Edit 18/12: I updated the proposition, based on u/SomeAmateur remarks.

What do you think? Feel free to comment, even if it is to point out the things you don't like, or that you don't like this proposition at all and prefer the old one. I'm no logo designer, I can promise you won't hurt my feelings ;)

Original post:

Since 2025 is getting closer I thought it might be a good opportunity to change the banner and the icon.

Here is a quick mock-up to promote something a tad less... serious.

!

There are two versions of the banner, one with and one without our dear Lemmy. And two versions of the community icon too, one with and one without the name in their default square shape and as a circular icon too, so you can get a better idea what they would look like.

What do you think? Is there one you prefer? Do they both suck, and the banners too?

I have not. Not a single line written since the 6, and I write this on the 16.

All I have is a shaky pencil note saying 'Jeudi 12. Malade.' as for the last four days, I was simply too sick to be able to sit at my desk, and I was exhausted from the lack of sleep.

But even if I could not find any good excuse, that would still be fine with me to not be constantly writing in my journal. I have been keeping a journal of some sort for almost 50 years and during that time I have made many pauses. Some of which lasted a year, or two. That's part of the process as far as I'm concerned.

What I have recently started doing when such a break happens is to write down a quick summary for the concerned days (it has been a while since I have had a break lasting more than a week or two), writing down the few the things I consider noteworthy, or the ones I can remember. Like how I almost suffocated to death yesterday laughing so hard and coughing and trying to catch my breast at the same time, because of that silly joke my spouse was telling me ;)

Are you OK with breaks/interruptions in your journals, or are you trying your best to be consistant?

Just curious.

How to hold a pen (or pencil) properly and write without pain [8:41]

Summary: No right or wrong way to hold a pen/pencil, choose what's most comfortable to you. However, if uncomfortable, try changing to a tripod grip, with pen resting on middle finger and lightly held between index finger and thumb. If you use this grip already and experience pain, be mindful of your grip, stop as your hand tenses up, start again and practice maintaining a relaxed grip.

I'd also recommend other videos from this channel as they go into a lot of detail on another handwriting method that can help reduce fatigue. See their playlist, Fundamentals of Arm Writing.

For another perspective on the same topic, you can also check out the video, Practical Penmanship: Fundamentals | Grip, Posture, Muscular Movement.

A lot of the posture advice is roughly the same as with standard typing posture advice (feet flat on ground, no slouching in seat), so if familiar you can skip around those to the details on grip and muscular/arm movement.

Lastly, and somewhat curiously, neither of the individual videos above mention this as much (that I recall in the case of the first), but some simple, basic advice is: take a few second breaks when writing at length and stretch your hands or arms.

Also if you're having trouble relaxing your grip, don't be too proud to get or make grips to put on your pens, if they don't have them already, or pencils. This video mentions these tips, including making writing grips with some tape or rubberbands to help.

---

Amusingly, I found my way to the first person's videos in part when trying to find advice on drawing without discomfort, but it turns out it's just as applicable, given handwriting is itself a sort of drawing.

Hope these guides and tips help anyone that's been going back and forth on getting into analog journaling but staying away due to finding writing by hand uncomfortable. Maybe this could be your motivation to get into it, to retrain your method of handwriting!

I added a limited selection of links to (what I consider) interesting Lemmy communities, in the sidebar.

• As a fountain pen user myself, the !fountainpens@lemmy.world seemed quite obvious. Note that I would love to add a link to a Bic/ballpoint pen, pencil, and to other writing implements communities, if you know any or feel like creating a new one :)
• The !pkms@lemmy.blahaj.zone is all about Personal Knowledge Management which, in its own unique way, a journal can also be. If you’re wondering, next to my journal I also write a lot in my Zetellkasten and yep, like my journal it is an analog one: after many years and many attempt trying and trying again to be full digital I decided it was time to fully commit to analog.
• !artshare@lemmy.world and !watercolor@lemmy.ml are all about posting art. I don’t know about you, but I like art books a lot and I also like to look at art online. I also sketch in my journal and even though I'm no artist, I like that a lot. I find it inspiring to look at the work of others.

Are there other communities that you would like to suggest? It goes without saying but better be clear: no politics, no hate, no porn. Only stuff that you think relates to journaling in some way. Do you know a community around office supply or notebooks or a community dedicated to sketching, maybe?

What do you think about having those links? Is it a ‘Yeah!’ or is it a ‘Nay’?

Keep in mind this is only a proposition, let your voice be heard :)

Edit: in case you did not noticed it, I also slightly updated the rules/description.

It is a recurring topic on the reddit Journaling sub, Mom accidentally read my Journal, or My cousin read my diary, and so on. Bet it a cousin, a dad, a mom (my mom read my journal when I was a kid and my life changed, not for the best), siblings, SO, colleagues,... People may rightfully feel devastated after someone read their journal without their permission.

It goes without saying that no one should read a journal without being invited to. And that there is no such thing as an 'accidental reading' of a journal.

Anyone accidentally reading more than a few words of the first page in a journal is doing it on purpose. They decided to read (a little, or a lot more of) the intimate thoughts and words of another other person because they wanted to read it.

Do you protect the privacy of your journal? And if so, how?

I used to, as a kid (after the 'mom even' I mentioned). I learned to replace names with fictitious ones, and to hide my journal in odd places. I also very quickly learned to write in English, because she could not read English and because, back in those days, there was no such thing as the Internet with instant-translation. Also, I knew very well she would never dare ask anyone to translate it for her, she was way too afraid of people reaction and judgment. She did try to coerce me into translating it, though... with little luck. Later, I learned to... destroy all my old journals, in order to preserve my privacy.

As a young adult, I kept it hidden in a box or in a drawer with a lock.

And as a less young adult, I quit hiding it. I did kept regularly destroying it, alas. A sad habit I only quit recently.

Nowadays, my journal sits on my desk (and the few remaining old ones are in plain sight on a bookshelf). My spouse could easily take it and read it the moment I turn away. But I know she would never do that, not without me telling her to read it. Like she knows I would never go through her paper without her permission. In the 25 years we’ve been together, we’ve learned to trust each other and to be OK with not sharing everything together, We both have our little if not secret at least they're private gardens. But I also realize I’m very lucky to live with someone like her.

Have you ever experimented such an intrusion in your privacy? Or would that be ok for you?

If privacy matters to you, how do you manage to protect it? Do you ask to your SO other, or kids or whomever to simply respect your privacy, do you store it in some place? Do you use a password protected digital journal? Or?

Digital is safer?

As much as I prefer a paper and pen journal, I must admit that a digital journal is probably the best option for anyone concerned with privacy.

Be it in most word processors, like LibreOffice Writer (which is free), MS Word, or even Apple Pages, it’s very easy to password protect a document so no one can open it without knowing that password. And if you’re using a dedicated journaling app (like DayOne that I have used for many, many years next to my paper journal), there is an option to password protect it. And I'm pretty sure it's the case with most if not all apps.

Feel free to share your own experience!

One of the reasons I see people advance when explaining why they gave up on regularly keeping a journal—a pen and paper journal, I mean—is that writing longhand can be exhausting.

Sadly, they’re right.

One can quickly get cramped fingers or a tired hand and wrist, which won’t do much to encourage anyone to pick up their pen and write a little more in their journal.

But what’s even sadder is that there is an easy fix: use the right pen.

OK, to be exact there are three things one should consider:

• the paper used,
• the position we're sitting in and the ergonomics in general,
• the pen used.

In conjunction, they can as easily drain all our energy or help preserve it tremendously. And writing is all about managing one's energy.

Imho, of those three things the simplest thing to change is the pen. To find one that will work great for you. One that you will enjoy writing with, instead of dreading it.

Take the ballpoint pen for example.

I'm willing to bet it's the most widely used writing device anywhere on the planet. From the cheap Bic crystal to the expensive Montblanc Meisterstück, even the classic Jotter from Parker, all ballpoint pens work exactly the same. They use a tiny ball to dispense an oil-based (aka thick) ink when they're pressed hard enough on the sheet of paper. They're incredibly reliable and practical. They can be used in almost any position and anywhere—even in space.

Alas, it's also the one requiring the most force to write with (even the space pen requires force, just a different one). As one does need to press them hard enough on the paper otherwise it will not leave a mark and because one needs force, one also needs to grip it tight.

A ballpoint pen is a great tool but if you have any excessive fatigue writing with one, or with any other tool for that matter, imho it’s worth trying something different.

Ballpoint pen, gel pen, rollerball, pencils, markers, fountain pen, maybe a dip pen and why not the quill, and I certainly forgot to name quite a few others.

What's you favorite? And do you have one dedicated to journaling?

My favorite depends on what I’m writing. For short notes on the go, I’m an official fan of the cheap Bic and the Uniball Eye (this one is a rollerball pen). For years, I also used one of those Bullet Space Pen (it was incredibly reliable). For anything longer than a short note? I’m a fountain pen guy.

Alas, unlike with a ballpoint pen, there are many wrong ways to use a fountain pen which can make the experience less than... effortless.

Back in my days, it was part of the lessons but since kids aren't been taught to use a fountain pen anymore there is a high risk that even the more adventurous may not fully enjoy using a fountain pen if they try one. Simply because they aren't taught how to properly use it.

In case you would like to know more about that, here is a great introductory video on the subject: How to Write with a Fountain Pen. It’s made by the Goulet Pens Company, a fountain pen seller in the USA. I’m not affiliated with them, I'm not even one of their customers. It's just an overall excellent series of advice. You may also watch their other beginner videos. And here is a written article which is excellent too, this one was made by JetPens, another US seller I’m not affiliated with: How to Write with a Fountain Pen.

Before I leave you, I have a request

Let me know if you think this kind of topic is interesting or if you think it does not belong here. Obviously, I find it interesting but I’m also experimenting stuff, trying to find ways to encourage people to post and to comment. So, any feedback will be appreciated :)

It's a question I just read on our Reddit cousin sub Journaling that’s worth sharing, imho.

The op seems to be concerned by the fear of the blank page and also seems to have a hard time expressing their emotions in written form.

Is it something that intimidates you too?

To avoid being intimidated by any new notebook, I have made it a habit to ruin its first page. Either by making some stupid drawing on it, or by staining it with ink. Like, literally staining the page.

!Illustration

Here is the first page of my current journal (left) and previous one (right). One is mere stains and scratchy nibs. The other is written in French and it reads 'Tuesday, 28th May 2024' (I only write the full date on the very first entry of a journal) 'To finish—therefore to start a journal' and next to this very deep thought I did a sketch of the XLR plug of my microphone that was lying on my desk.

Now, why should I care about ‘damaging’ my pretty journal? It's already a mess. And I find that incredibly liberating.

Have you ever done that? Or what else do you do to avoid the 'fear of the blank page/new notebook'? Or you simply don't care and start writing?

As for actually writing stuff in the journal, like I mentioned previously), the simplest thing I can think of is to write down the day and the date, plus some tidbits of info I value keeping. I may or may not write more below those snippets, and I may or may not do it every single day either. It doesn’t matter.

I have no set rule if I shall write in the morning to recap the previous day, or summarize the day right before I go to bed. Or write at any specific time in between.

What about you? Do you have any rules?

Lastly, what about writing down emotions? That’s very personal, obviously.

The key point to keep in mind regarding the way I journal is that I don’t care much about writing well in my journal. It’s not a novel or some paper I want anyone else to read. It's merely a collection of short and random notes about what happens around me, or in my head, I want to remember or reflect upon. So, I try to write them as they pop in my head. Well, it’s a tad more nuanced than that but it would take much longer to explain and maybe it’s worth discussing in its own thread? What do you say?

... and how do you journal about your emotions, if at all?

Just in case you're wondering why I have a shiny moderator badge next to my name, I've been promoted.

Why is that?

It's not because I have posted a few messages here. I would even say that imho it's not a promotion at all. But it still is a needed thing.

As the creator of the community seems to have vanished for quite a while now, I explained to the guys at sh.itjust.works (where the community was created) what my plan was and asked them what we could do if a troll was to decide to make their nest around here, since we had no one to moderate the place. They agreed someone should be able to gently ask said troll to go lay their eggs elsewhere. Hence the promotion.

If you think I'm not cut for the job, I would not object but I will still try to do my best until someone better qualified shows up and asks for the badge—to which I would not be mad, nor angry. Seriously, make your voice heard.

Super-Mini FAQ

• Do I accept bribes? Absolutely. In the form of new posts, comments, and participations in the community only.
• What are my qualifications? I post journaling-related content and I know one should never feed a troll. Which undoubtedly demonstrates how qualified I am.
• Did I get a pay raise? It goes without saying. I'm not the kind that will work for free, you know.
• Did I get a six shooter with my sheriff badge? Oddly enough, the guys refused to give me one for some reasons I did not fully understood, I'm not a native speaker you know, it was something about someone obvious lack of maturity and someone being a bit too trigger-happy. Obviously, I have no idea who they were referring to. I got a pretty whistle, though.

I don't know about you but I like to sketch in my journal.

I will simply sketch anything that grabs my attention or that I want to remember, no matter how insignificant it can be. To keep a visual record.

I sketched that electronic thermometer the day after I had an infection and my temp reached some worrying level, while I was still recovering at home (the temperature reached 39.7 C, approx 103F, and when I called her the following day to inform her of what happened, my doctor was very unhappy I did not call her immediately 0:p)

!Pen and ink sketch of an electronic thermometer

I have no particular skills and zero illusion to ever become a professional artist, mind you. And that's fine with me. I have fun sketching (and painting) and, later, while I browse the pages of my journal I will often have fun looking at those silly sketches. Often, not always ;)

!Watercolors of a greyish cup of coffee with large white dots

Someday I will sketch plenty unrelated stuff. While other days I won't sketch anything. And that's probably the one thing I would love to be more consistant at—sketching at least once a day.

!A spread containing various sketches: an old polaroid, a stack of batteries, some magnifying glasses and a bright orange mushroom with whit cruft-thingies all over the top

What about you?

Do you sketch in your journal too? Or do you do any other kind of visual stuff, just for the fun/joy of doing them, or for some other reason? Decorate your journal maybe?

Are there stuff you would like to improve?

For example, I would love to get better at doing nice page layout in my journal. We can see so many gorgeous examples online, whereas mine are, well, blocky at best.

As an example of great visual journals, if you don't know him already, you might want to check Danny Gregory's YT channels, and probably read one (any) of his books: https://www.youtube.com/@SketchBookSkool and https://www.youtube.com/@DannyGregory

As for his books, the first one I would suggest must be 'The Creative License', closely followed by 'Everyday Matters'.

I have been journaling for almost 50 years and...

Wait a minute. What absolute non-sense did I just wrote there? I have been journaling for how long? Almost fifty years? Fifty effing years? LOL. No way. I'm not that old. No, I am… That’s a lie! I am…

(Here, we should listen to some relaxing music while we let my poor brain process the fact that, indeed, I started journaling as a little 7-year old boy and that was almost 50 years ago. That may take a while, feel free to check your inbox or your TikTok while waiting.)

So, what was I saying? Oh, yes that I have been journaling for a certain time which makes it quite realistic to say that I have used many of the journaling medium one can think of.

Ranging from the good old pen and paper to whatever digital tool one can think of (from the desktop, to the smartphone, including various PDA, laptops, tablets). I have also typed my journal in various word processors and text editors, in various journaling apps, even in… spreadsheets or in a real database. I have also used a blog . Cassette and digital recorders. I even used my grand-father’s typewriter, the wonderful Olympia SG1. Heck, back in my thirties, I learned bookbinding (and to use a traditional press) so I could make my own journals with my choice of paper.

Despite that, I don’t think there is such a thing as 'the right way' to keep a journal or a better way to do it. There are ways that work better, for each one of us. Obviously, I have my preferences but they're just that: preferences.

I like the freedom a paper journal gives me. I like how I can doodle in it, and have fun with page layout or lettering, taping, stapling or gluing stuff on the page too. I like how I can change ink in my fountain pen and expriment with different types of papers. I also like that I am not tied to any app or devise. I like how cheap it can be too. And I like that, privacy-wise, neither the maker of my fountain pen or of my notebook can read what I am writing — unlike what may happen with a digital journal.

But I also like the comfort and peace of mind digital is giving me. The ease of using my phone and its portability. I like being able to instantly find any content, and to have it backed up on some cloud.

That said, very recently, I decided to switch back to a full analog journal. Why? Mostly, because of privacy concern.

I used to use DayOne (and I loved it) but what follows can be said for most if not all apps/services.

For quite a few years already, I had started worrying about the lack of privacy. My journal contains my most intimate thoughts, no one but me should be able to read it. I mean, I would not care if my spouse was to read my journal (she would never, we trust each other like that, but if she was to ever do it I would not care). It's just that nobody else should be allowed to.

So, when I heard the devs at DayOne consider adding an AI-assistant in their app (it was around the same time Apple announced their own AI-powered journaling app), I realized the future of my journal could not be digital. If I can still vaguely trust human developers to be... reasonable, AI has been created to read through text and to process it. So, that day, after 15 or 16 years (?) using Day One I downloaded a PDF of my journal and deleted all my data from their servers and I switched back to pen and paper (I kept my DO account because it was grandfathered many, many years ago when they introduced their subscription model and I never had to pay that sub. So, even though I doubt it, if one day things change back I may want to use it again).

BTW, that’s similar doubts that pushed me to come back to using a paper agenda and the reason why I quit reading ebooks for printed books, as I explain on my blog: Am I Reading That Ebook or Am I Being Read by That Ebook? & Who Owns the Ebook I Purchase?

Since the, I sometimes miss some of the comfort of a digital journal, but I have so much fun sketching and having, well, fun in my paper journal that I simply don’t care.

I also devised working solutions as far as searching and backup are concerned, but that could be another discussion, if anyone is interested?

What about you? Are you analog or digital or, like I was up until very recently, are you ok with mixing both?

Do you think I’m a moron I’m being a bit excessive in giving up on digital in the name of privacy? (As a matter of fact, if my paper journal was to be stolen, that person would be able to read it and to share its content with anyone, right? Isn't that a worse situation?)

What do you think?

While we're waiting for reactions or comments regarding the future of the community, here is a nice prompt I just stumbled upon on the r/journaling.

If I had this power, I would wake up as… me.

A much younger me, though. Aged 11 or so, when I started making real life-changing decisions. I would wake as this young-me but with all I know and all I have experienced during the almost 50 years that have passed since that time.

I’m not talking about knowing in advance what to study and what job to get (and which ones to avoid) nor where to invest some money (even though that would not be a bad idea :p). Just the intimate knowledge of all I did wrong, and why I did it. What I did well, and how I could do it better. Simply put, I would try to help younger-me become a better person.

Making wrongs rights would be top-priority. Helping me hurt less people around me. Hurt myself a little less, too. I would also encourage myself to care a lot more about a few of those people. And to tell them much more loudly they’re important.

I would not advise myself against those few real bad persons I have met along the way. Most of them, even if unknowingly, helped me learn valuable lessons. Maybe except one, that did real long lasting harm. Maybe.

Lastly, I would tell myself to not waste as much time as I did. Life is short and I wasted so much of it. Not as much because I was being lazy (I was, at times) but because I always wanted to experiment as much as I could in life, I wanted to have lived something before deciding if that something was worth it. I would instead encourage young-me to focus much more on a selected few meaningful experiences, ignoring all the others.

Maybe I would fail at changing myself, stubborn as I was? No idea ;)

What about you? Who would you be? And why?

You may have read my previous post, announcing I would be trying to revive this community by posting regularly in it?

This morning I mentioned this project in another discussion on Lemmy and someone rightfully pointed to me I may want to be able to moderate said community and that probably I would need to create one from scratch.

I don't want to make a new community if there is no need too, Lemmy is already short on participants without creating even more separated and smaller communities. I also don't feel any personal urge to be an admin myself. But I also don't want to encourage people to participate in a community that no one would be able to keep civil.

Before doing anything, I would like to hear your opinion and suggestions if you have any. What do you think I should do or, much better, what should we do?

And if the admin is reading this: what do you say about all of that?

While I wait for your comments, I will also ping the admins on my very own instance. We're a French speaking one, so I want to ask them if that would be OK to host an English speaking community. Whatever happen next, I’ll let your know.

This is a question I just read on the reddit journaling sub. If I quit commenting on reddit a few months ago, I still regularly read those subs I consider interesting and enriching, and I think this is an interesting question.

!a view from my journal. For each day, there is a lettered and painted date + a few words regarding my mood, the weather and how well I slept

That for me, is the shortest entry possible.

As you can see, even if it’s blurred, I have written some more stuff below that. But it just happens to be the case there. Often, I won’t.

What is it all about? It’s written in French (I journal in French and in English), but that doesn’t change much:

• I put the date and the day of the week. Why bother with the day since I know perfectly well it was written on Monday (lundi) and on Tuesday (mardi)? In a few months, or even a few weeks I will not remember what the day was. I quickly realized I missed not having that information when I was browsing through my journal. So, now, I systematically write it down. And what about the lettering and coloring? I don’t always do that, but it’s also a lot of fun so I try to do it as often as I can — like adding small sketches using watercolors to illustrate whatever. It only takes a minute or two.
• I also write how I slept, which is another info I learned to value as I was getting older.
• The weather when I first went out that day. I will do long walks at least twice a day and this quick note about the weather maybe all what’s needed to trigger a lot of other memories for that day. Be it when I read it later on, or right when writing it down.
• My mood. I spend years trying to control my (bad) temper. So, for me it’s great to jot that down too.

Once again, I think it’s clear from what I said, those are just three things I value enough to write them down. Write your own stuff. It doesn’t matter what it is, well, it will matter to you obviously.

Imho, what should matter to all of us is to be fine with the fact that we won't do it every single day, that will not happen believe me, and that's fine. Like it is fine to try to note some info and then realize they're not that important, and try with others. These attempts can also be a legit part of your journal, like crossing stuff out instead of erasing them or tearing the page out.

So, that’s how I do short entries in my journal.

How do you do yours? And if you have not started yet, how would you like doing it?

I know from personal experience how great and how fun journaling can be. And also how helpful it can be.

I have been keeping a journal for almost 50 years. oh. my. fucking. god. Forget I just wrote that, because I can't be that old. No way. Not me. I can't be...

(Here, you should have heard the soft noise of my now unconscious body collapsing on the floor like some old wet rag, after my poor brain went off realizing I was really starting to get old)

What was I saying? Something about me having been keeping a journal for quite some time and how fn and helpful it had been.

And that is something that makes me sad when I see no activity going on in our little journaling community, here on Lemmy. Even more so, knowing that our cousin from reddit r/Journaling is doing quite well.

But I also know how daunting it can be to start writing in a journal — what am I supposed to write about? Nothing happens in my life! Why? How? And how can I prevent people to read my most intimate thoughts? How can I make it interesting? How can I not screw the page by making mistakes!? — and I know how it can be intimidating to post personal stuff online, and alone, too.

I started wondering if maybe all we needed was someone to start sharing stuff, talking about stuff and maybe start asking questions in order to get others to do the same?

To the best of my (limited) abilities, I want to ry that and maybe encourage people that may still hesitate to start journaling to do it, and also to encourage anyone to discuss about journaling. And to do it here, not on reddit.

So, even though I have no clear idea what I will post beside the next couple posts, I will try to regularly post stuff, hopefully encouraging others to do the same, or to comment, or to laugh, or whatever — as long as it’s done with a positive spirit, we should all get something out of it.

At the very least, the more we post here the more likely we are to encourage others to join and to participate.

BTW, if you don't speak French, the picture of my journal used as an illustration to this post is asking a very simple question right next to the tin can phone I sketched, which is: Allo?... With who (will I be discussing)?

It's almost the end of June and that means it's time for your mid-year review/reset. Regular reviews are important in planning, because it helps you keep track of what's still important and how you're getting on in approaching your goals.

There are a few steps to consider.

1. Flip through your past pages looking for tasks that are not yet done. For each task, ask yourself three questions. Is it vital? Does it matter? Are there any negative consequences of not doing it? If the answer to any of these three questions is "yes". migrate the task forward into July. If all three answers are "no", then this task probably isn;t important enough to bother with any more, so bin it.

2. Take a look at your goals. Are you making progress towards them? If not, why not? What needs to change so that you can? Do you have too many goals? You can also apply the same three questions to your goals too, and maybe shelve the ones that don't matter. On the other hand if you've made good progress and have cleared your goals with ease, you can consider some new ones to add in.

3. If you're tracking habits, take a look at those and see where your successes and failures are. If you find you're blasting through with ease, drinking 8 cups of water or doing your 30 minute daily workout without even needing to think about it, you can probably stop tracking those habits. You got them. For ones you're never achieving, consider again whether they really matter, and if they don't, consider dropping them.

4. If you have an end-of-year review from December 2022, take a look at it now and see if there are any insights there into what was important for you at that time, and whether anything has changed 6 months later.

5. If you're working in a bullet journal or customised planner, consider your spreads too. Are the ones you have working for you? Do you want to make any changes for July? Uncompleted spreads are a sign that they're not working for you so try to figure out what you dislike about the spread and why it's not useful, then decide whether to either dump the spread altogether, or re-design it. Also consider if something was missing, and whether you want to add anything new.

6. Finally (and this one applies equally to long-form journalling as well as planning and bullet-journalling) think about the past six months and how it's gone overall for you. What were your great successes so far this year? What have you learned? What memories do you particularly cherish? What didn't go so well and how could you have handled it better? If you're working in a planner or BuJo you can answer these questions in a mid-year review spread. If you're journalling long-form, you can write a page or two to answer them. Either way, don't forget to put the page number into your index, because you'll want to refer to it at your end-of-year review too.

A comment from u/foxtrots reminded me of Everbook, which is a simple system of journalling on loose-leaf pages. I haven't tried it myself but I might, when I've filled my current bullet journal).

I think you all know what's frustrating me 😆

And, just a reminder, it's not expected to respond in comments to these prompts; you're supposed to write your answers in your own journal 😊

If you did and only have "English" highlighted then any comment that didn't specify its language won't appear.

Lemmy's language implementation is weird right now.

Apparently, people are leaving comments to my posts but I can't see any of them, save for one that I replied to a couple of days ago. To everyone else, I can only apologise, if you are waiting for a reply I am unfortunately not able to give them.

If anyone knows how I may resolve this, please advise by creating a new post (if you reply to this one, I may never see it).

I had never heard of a commonplace book until I started to follow the journaling community on Youtube. When I discovered it, I realised that it's something I'd already been keeping for years.

A commonplace book is essentially a repository of information that you find, and want to keep or remember. Quotes, maxims, proverbs, shower-thoughts, notes on books you've read, even recipies, reference tables, letters, poems... it's like a scrapbook of words. Or a personal encyclopedia. I've heard it described as the writer's equivalent of an artist's sketchbook, and as I'm both an artist and a writer, I think this analogy is perfect.

It's not just for writers though. It's for anyone. Readers, researchers, students, anyone who has an interest in just about any topic. You're a keen cook? Keep a commonplace book of recipes you find. A gardener? Keep one for information about plants you're growing or interested in growing. Avid consumer of Netflix? Keep track of series you're watching and what you learn from them.

Commonplace books have a long history, going back to Roman philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius (Meditations), and they rose in popularity during the Rennaissance. With the advent of the printing press, many were published.

A commonplace book is a type of journal but it's not a diary (which is the most usual way a journal is structured). It differs from a diary in that its content is not chronological, but rather, categorised by topic. Thus, the most critical part of your commonplace book is the Index. I keep mine in loose-leaf binders which makes searching and categorising even easier.

For those looking for a digital solution, the rise of information management apps such as Notion, Obsidian and Logseq are absolutely perfect for this purpose. Commonplacing is exactly what these apps are created for, even if the creators of them weren't aware of it.

Bullet journaling is a complex topic and I can't explain it any better than the man who invented it, Ryder Carroll. In this video, he shows what it's all about and how to get started.

Anyone may post a prompt to inspire others on something to write. I'm aiming for there to be at least one prompt every day but feel free to add more.

Please add [Prompt] at the start of the title so people can find them more easily. Short questions can be in the title. Longer ones, or prompts with more than one question, can be in the body section.

Post your prompt as a new thread, not as a comment on someone else's prompt. It will be more visible that way.

There is no expectaton for anyone to post their response as a comment; many of these prompts will be deeply personal and you may not want to share what you write. They are springboards for writing in your own journal. So, if you post a prompt and it gets no comments; that's okay. Someone probably enjoyed it anyway.

But, if you really want to, and you're comfortable doing so, you can share your response, or an excerpt from it.

It's often said that paper journaling forces you to slow down and be more mindful, but on the other hand it's less portable; it can't fit in your jeans pocket like your phone can.

Digital options are easier to take with you, and in many cases it's easier to find information that you've put in there, but do they get overlooked amidst all the "noise" we're exposed to every day?

What's your preference, and why? Do you stick exclusively with one or the other? Or do you mix them up? If you combine them, how do you do that? Do you duplicate posts on paper and digitally? Or do you use them for different purposes?

I'm currently on paper only, but some of the digital options intrigue me. I used to use Evernote but I dropped it when many of the features I wanted and used went behind a paywall. lately I've been looking at both Logseq and Obsidian but the learning curve is steep and I'm not ready to launch into them as part of my regular journaling practise yet. I suspect it'll be my Commonplace book that goes in there first.

I've been journaling and diary-keeping for many years, but I really got seriously into it in around 1998 or so. I've used both paper and digital journaling (I was on Livejournal for around 10 years, until it jumped the shark) but now I mostly use paper.

I have three journals on the go at the moment. My most important one is a bullet journal, though I have diverged from the "official" format and work mostly in weekly spreads. I find that it helps my ADHD brain keep track of the structure of my week better. For this, I use an A5 dot-grid book. Weirdly, although I'm quite artistic, I keep my journals minimalistic and mostly un-decorated.

I have a daily long-form journal, though in practise I only write long entries a few times a week rather than every day. I'm into the Tarot too, so I also use this one for my daily card pulls and weekly/monthly spreads. For this I use an A5 lined book, because I fill them faster and lined notebooks tend to be cheaper than dot-grid ones.

My third is a Commonplace book; this is where I keep a record of things I've learned that I want to remember, books I'm reading (and my thoughts on them), quotes I want to keep, notes about research I'm doing, and stuff like that. I use loose-leaf binders for this, so I can more easily rearrange pages and keep entries on specific topics together.

How about you?

Welcome to the first ever English-language community about Journaling on the Lemmyverse.

What is journaling?

For the purpose of this community, journaling is the use of a paper or digital record of daily (or less frequent) tasks, activities, events, thoughts, goals, habits and other things that you wish to keep a record of in your personal or professional life.

Journaling serves many purposes; it can be a productivity tool, an aid to good mental health, a method of memory-keeping for those important events in your life, a repository of personal knowledge, or a creative outlet.

For productivity, you may wish to keep a bullet journal, a weekly/daily planner, a record of your goals and projects.

For self help and mindfulness you may wish to keep morning pages, stream-of-consciousness writing, a dream or mood diary, or a spiritual journal.

For a personal knowledge repository, you may have a Commonplace book, or use one of the many digital knowledge-management tools such as Notion, Obsidian or Logseq. (Just don’t expect any tech support for those tools here; if you need assistance with your software, you’ll be better off asking for it on a platform dedicated to your chosen software).

Journaling doesnt have to be all words and numbers though; if you’re creative, an art journal or junk journal may be just the outlet you need.

What journaling isn’t

A blog is not journaling, unless you’re using it for one or more of the purposes outlined above. If you’re writing a blog to network and grow your brand, promote articles and create content intended for others to read, that’s not a journal. On the other hand, many people do use public blogs for personal journaling (I had one on Livejournal for many years) and if you’re using a blogging tool for your personal journaling, that’s welcome here too.

What sort of posts are welcome here?

Just about anything related to journaling. You can chat about your techniques and practises, you can share pictures of your spreads, share journaling prompts, ask questions, ask for advice, even share great journaling products and resources that you use and love.

Feel free to browse older posts and comment on them as well as post something new of your own; if something inspires you to comment, there's no such thing as "too old".

THE RULES

There aren’t many rules here but they are important; they help to keep content relevant and interesting to community members. For this reason, all posts should have some relation to the topic of journaling.

No NSFW content - If the pages you want to share contain anything NSFW on them (including nudity, sex, violence, gore) please blur it out.

No spam - Sharing journaling products and resources that you personally use and love is great, but this isn’t a marketplace. As a general rule, if you are the person selling or profiting from the product or resource, then don’t post it. Also, we don’t need to see it more than once, no matter how much you love it.

Be nice - If someone asks for constructive criticism of their pages or spreads, then by all means offer suggestions for improving them, but don’t just tell someone it sucks. If someone journals in a way that differs from the way you do it, don’t tell them they’re doing it wrong. There is no right or wrong way to journal; only ways that are right or wrong for you.

Absolutely no racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. Posts that denigrate or are hateful towards any group or individual will not be tolerated. For this reason, I am also not allowing any form of religious evangelism (though posts about a spiritual type journal are fine) and absolutely no political content at all. I have enough experience of online forums to know that it’s not possible to have a discussion about religion or politics without offending someone. We’re not here for that. We’re here to talk about journaling.

If you have any concerns about any content in the community, send me a private message rather than engaging with the OP. That’s how flame-wars start.

If the community grows significantly, I’ll be looking for more moderators, who I shall choose from the pool of active contributors.

Finally, have fun, and happy journaling!