Introduction to my Journals and Notebooks
Posted on August 7, 2024 by Aywren
As I’ve mentioned a few times during this Blaugust, I’ve taken up the habit of hand-writing in a journal this year. I didn’t plan for this to happen, it just sorta did, and I’m embracing it.
I’ve been watching a number of videos on YouTube about journaling, and at first, marveled at folks who have not just one journal, but many – often for different purposes. Here I was trying just to keep one journal at the time.
But in the spirit of journaling, I ended up shopping for some journal deals at the local bookshop and on Amazon. Journals are easy to stock up on quickly when you’re finding deals. Very soon, I also found myself using different journals for different purposes.
Semi-daily Journal
My original journal was a book I found sitting on the back of my shelf, unused for almost 20 years. No joke. I don’t remember where I bought it, but I’d only used a few pages initially, and decided to pick it up and start my semi-daily personal journaling in it again – back in January.
I was happy to have completely filled it as of July!
I’m moving into the next journal now, a pretty peacock colored hard-back that I got on good deal from Amazon.
It’s a little smaller and thinner than the previous journal, but it supports my fountain pen just fine, and I’m enjoying a new colorful book that should carry me through the rest of the year.
This is the journal where I write my daily stuff, or just put emotional rants and things I want to work through or remember.
Daily Planner
Last December, I bought a personal panner with the idea that I wouldn’t be getting a wall calendar to keep up with things like paying bills and important dates. I’ve tried to keep a bullet journal in the past, but I honestly struggle with spending time making calendars and spreads. Even if I’m a creative person, I’ve learned I don’t have the patience to spend decorating monthly/weekly/daily spreads.
So, I bought a planner that offered all these things pre-created where you just write in the date for yourself.
It has a full month calendar, which I like to use for at-a-glance things.
Following each calendar month, there are several pages that allow you to set up each week. And within the week, there are sections for days, a habit tracker, setting goals, and notes. There’s also a spot to talk about what went well and what you can do better next week.
I actually love this planner quite a bit, even if it’s not a fancy as a pretty bullet journal. However, next year, I’ve decided I’m going to consolidate into something similar within my travelers notebook.
Travelers Notebook
The travelers notebook is the newest addition to my journal/notebook collection, one that I picked up after watching videos about it and thinking that it just looks super cool.
I use this for a variety of things since it contains three separate refillable inserts. The first insert is my catch-all thoughts/goals/etc. notebook. Where I jot ideas or things I want to remember. Sometimes I use it to create lists of things I want to get done, take notes on videos I watched, or write things down that I might want to create a blog post about later.
Here, for example, is a list of all my fountain pens and inks.
On the right side, though it’s harder to see, is a list of the things I wanted to remember to do for each character when the Dawntrail expansion pack dropped in FFXIV.
The second insert I dedicated to being my project notebook. This is where I keep track and make lists about my blogs, websites, and creative projects. I noticed that I don’t utilize this as much as I hoped I would, so next year when I add a calendar insert to this notebook, I plan on using the second insert partially as my habit tracker – since it has the gridded paper.
The final insert is what I’m using to track my FFXIV goals for Dawntrail. I wrote a bit about that in this post here.
Blogging Notebook
I got this adorable Pusheen journal as part of the spring Pusheen subscription box. It’s got a hardbound cover but has a soft cotton lining over top with Pusheen pictured.
At first, I was going to use it as a normal journal, once I finished up the peacock journal I wrote about above. But then, I decided to use it as a notebook where I toss all of my blogging prompts and ideas, so I can keep them together and have one specific book.
While I used this even before Blaugust, I have made use of it to organize my Blaugust post topics, set up the order I want to write things in, and keep track of what I’ve written about. Sorry - I've blurred out the topics so that I don't spoil any Blaugust idea surprises! XD
Commonplace Book
And finally, here is my commonplace book in its little book box.
I mentioned this commonplace book back in February when I first started keeping it by hand. I also have a digital commonplace book here on my blog, but most folks encourage you to keep it analogue, so I do.
In this notebook, I capture mostly quotes from other sources, such as books, movies or lyrics.
Then underneath them, I write my own thoughts and summaries about the quotes. You don’t technically have to add your own thoughts to it, but I feel like that makes it more interactive and meaningful to reflect on the quote and why you captured it.
While I’m still not the best at things like fancy spreads and such, I did buy some stickers and scrapbooking materials that I use to decorate the pages and make them a bit more appealing. Because this commonplace book has a tree on the cover, I’ve gone for more nature-themed or retro-themed stickers. I have a second blank notebook that’s the same size and make, but that one has a stars and night sky theme, so I bought some pretty starry-themed stickers for that when I start it.
I’m not anywhere near finishing up this commonplace book, though! I’d like to put more time and focus into writing it and capturing content, but, as you can see, I have a LOT of notebooks to keep up with already!
Do you have a notebook or journal that you keep by hand? Do you maybe have more than one for different functions? Let me know!