Get On With It Already :: Keeping a Journal...
image c/o che moleman's Flickr site.
From the age of 11 'til I was probably 22 or so, I was a devoted journal-keeper. I have boxes of ratty, old notebooks filled with my ridiculously neat handwriting (not so much any more ;) and it makes me reminiscent of the days when I had enough discipline to write a little something every day.
Sierra Sophie Sketch Notebook, by International Arrivals - B got this for me for my 30th birthday... she bought it at Sprout Home in Chicago!
In the last few months, I've acquired several really great books & journals - all of which I could be filling with sketches and writings, but, weirdly, all of them are still completely blank.
Do any of you have any suggestions for how I can really get on track with writing/drawing at least a little bit every single day?
All-Weather Journal, by Rite in the Rain - I got this for myself at the The Boring Store, which is an AWESOME shop on Milwaukee Ave...
I think part of my problem is that I get really self-conscious when I write and when I draw... I can't seem to get over my OCD/perfectionist sh*t and not worry about how messy my handwriting is, etc. At the same time, I think forcing myself to write/draw every day might actually help to curb some of those anxieties.
Still of the Night Dreambook, by Poketo - I love this journal - A LOT. I bought it nearly a year ago at Willow (an amazing boutique on North Damen).
If any of you have some advice for me, I'd really appreciate it. I desperately want to be one of those people who has shelves of maxed-out journals and sketchbooks... I want the pages of all of my blank books to be filled with ink and watercolors; thoughts and memories; worries about the present and dreams of the future... is that so much to ask?!
Maybe someday my journals will look like these excerpts from the sketchbooks of David Fullarton, via pica + pixel... someday.
Comments
I love those David Fullarton images. I'd love my journals to look like that!
Thanks to everyone who's commented so far!
These suggestions (and fellow journalers' experiences, frustrations & solutions) are really helpful!
I really just need to have at it... and take my own advice and get on with it already!
I'll be sure to keep you all posted on my progress!
Thanks again & keep the advice/suggestions coming!
P.S. If anyone is up for it, I'd love to see some of your journals/sketchbooks: covers, contents, etc... I think everyone enjoys a little voyeurism now & then - seeing other people's "methods" can be very inspiring!
It sounds like many of us can relate to this problem. Its easier to buy a gorgeous new journal than it is to be the sort of person who writes in one. Lately I've been carrying around a pocket sized one in my handbag so that I can pull it out the moment I think of something. This seems to help, because now I'm writing small little notes to myself through out the day. I feel like this is a great asset for blogging as well, because I can write down ideas, artists, thoughts that I will later develop into a larger post. Looks like you hit a nerve here Emily!
Emily- This is what I do ... my sketchbook/journal is an "EVERYTHING" notebook. Meaning that I use it for everything except phone messages (which I keep in a separate, smaller notebook next to the phone, so other people in the studio can refer to it).
In my "everything" notebook I sketch, write lists, make notes, write little journal entries. This eliminates scraps of paper and random little notebooks all over the place.
To me it's less intimidating to draw a sketch of a client logo design next to an office supply shopping list than it is to draw on a blank page. I use the same notebook to write story ideas, write journal entries, paste magazine clippings, draw new letterpress card ideas, work through client projects, and write shopping lists ...
I go through about one notebook every six weeks. Sometimes they are filled with pages and pages of business plans, and not many sketches, but sometimes they're filled with great new product ideas. I always buy and...
Hi, I think i have the same problem and I always say that I need to write more. I started with writing quotes that my friends and family say - This leaves no pressure at all to think of something inspiring to write. I have a notebook in front of my computer that I write things down in when files are downloading. Now I have notebooks full of quotes that people say that are hilarious that I never would have remembered. Eventually the quotes turn into good stories and thoughts of my own. My friends have found out that I do this want all of the quotes, so I started making birthday presents that involve pictures and quotes.. they love it.
I also took a bookbinding class recently and we had a day of collage.. I'm a graphic designer and do everything on the computer so I didn't think I'd like it as much, and you can't click undo when you collage, but it was so freeing to accept cutting a picture up and gluing it permanently to a page. Later I scanned in the collage and...
thank you so much for posting the david fullarton pieces. they are so inspiring!
I find that writing first thing upon waking up, before my self-editor turns on, is very helpful. I tend to get pure ideas and images onto the page that way, unworried by grammatical errors and how it might sound to posterity.
I think the key to making anything happen everyday is to incorporate it into your routine until it becomes a habit. Say for example, every night after you brush your teeth you write in your journal, maybe put a note on the mirror too. Just a thought. p.s. love the boring store!
I keep a journal and try to make an entry at least once a day -- on good days, I'll top out at three or four. Most of the time, writing comes easily and I can just spit it out. But some days I can sit for hours STARING at a blank page! So, I listen to some calming piano music or classic 70s rock, and pick something from the song to write about-- a line, a strange pitch, a lingering note. It really helps! And once I've begun, I inevitably end up rambling on about my day. Good luck with the block-- we've all been there!
Try doing it at the same time you do something else, like write in your blog!!! The two could correspond to one another... I had a similar problem with my stamping.. I needed a push to get in there and create something. So I set upa blog, and Ihad to do a project to post on my stamping blog each day. Hope you can find something that works for you.
Emily, I'm the same way. I collected notebooks that I then deem are too too pretty actually use. How twisted is that? I have a box of old diaries too -- my first one from back when I was in elementary school. They are filled with entries like, Why doesn't Joe like? And, So and So are being huge bitches today. Basically all of my journals were used as a way for me to vent -- which seems a little juvenile now. I feel like if I keep a diary/journal, I should be filling it with deeper things. I've put too much pressure on myself to write better entries, that I've stopped writing all together!
Plus, I can't decided HOW I want to do certain things: like pages from magazines I tear out for inspiratin. Do I paste them into a notebook? Put them in clear binder sheets and organize the binders by categories?
Yeah, I overthink everything!
As a book lover and journal lover, I love this post!
I became better at keeping journals when I wouldn't let myself buy any more unless I started filling them. Of course, then I started making them, so the cycle continues.
Just know that journals aren't supposed to be perfect. Maybe they'll inspire a project that will one day be a finished piece, but journals should be the place where you don't have to be perfect.
This summer I read two wildly inspiring books on journal keeping. I made a list of little "exercises" that sounded interesting. Now, when I'm stuck, I pull out my little list and pick something. "oh, draw a map of my outdoor space. that's easy." At least it gets the juices flowing. I highly recommend both of these books.
A Trail Through Leaves, by Hannah Hinchman Seriously, her little charts and gorgeous hand lettering make me swoon. More about nature journaling, but still, it has some great ideas to get you started....
I totally understand! As a fellow recovering perfectionist, I have to say that all my best writing and sketching happens in my most ordinary and ugly notebooks. It somehow takes the pressure off and I can actually think and dream on paper. My most full one is a spiral bound notebook I bought at my college bookstore...8 (ouch!) years ago? Anyway, I don't know if that's helpful, but maybe start in a less beautiful one to get things going. Then you can always tear out the pages and glue them into the pretty journal later with magazine clippings, etc, making it look oh-so-intentional. :) I also bring it with me to random places...the car...yesterday the gym. Best of luck!
i have always had this same problem. one thing i noticed that i did was buy all these crazy nice journals and i think subconsciously it put so much pressure on me to write or draw something amazing, that i never would go near them. i've found the most journaling success when i start small: as in, sketching or journaling in small Moleskine cahiers (the ones with the brown covers) or in cheap-o notebooks. and that, for me, has helped me evolve into sketchbooks that i like, with all sorts of things written, drawn, and pasted in. it also helped me for awhile to use a planner and just keep a diary of things every day: what happened, what I did. that got me into the habit of writing each day...good luck! i love the examples you showed above!
Having just looked through a stack of letters that my friend Jeff wrote to me during a period of heavy correspondence, I'm definitely in a journal-minded mode as well. My suggestions:
1. Don't take a camera. I do the most sketching when I don't have the option of snapping a quick digital pic.
2. It has to be freeform. You can't plan out what you're going to write and draw, and it's never going to be perfect. Treat every page as a rough draft for a future project that you can make perfect.
3. Don't journal as knee-jerk. Nothing is more embarrassing than reading a journal entry when you were an especially mad teen, ranting over something trivial. You see this on blogs as well... people that are angry or sad all the time in their blog posts... they must feel silly about it later. I like to decide what a notebook is...