I had a look at my journals today to make an index. So this is what I found:
Journal 1 - 24 May 2000 to 25 September 2002
Journal 2 - 25 September 2002 to 21 November 2002
Journal 3 - 26 November 2002 to 11 June 2003
Journal 4 - 12 June 2003 to 01 December 2003
Journal 5 - 02 December 2003 to 07 June 2004
Journal 6 - 12 June 2004 to 12 September 2004 - 75 pages
Journal 7 - 12 September 2004 to 13 February 2005 - 299 pages
Journal 8 - 14 February 2005 - 27 April 2005 - 141 pages
Journal 9 - 28 April 2005 - 09 January 2006 - 195 pages
Journal 10 - 11 January 2006 - 24 May 2006 - 199 pages
Journal 11 - 24 May 2006 - 31 August 2008 - 381 pages (BIG HULK OF A4 JOURNAL)
Journal 12 - 01 September 2008 - 13 January 2009 - 165 pages
Journal 13 - 15 January 2009 - 15 February 2009 - 138 pages
Journal 14 - 15 February 2009 - 24 April 2009 - 138 pages
Journal 15 - 25 April 2009 - 10 October 2009 - 255 pages
Journal 16 - 11 October 2009 - 17 March 2010 - 239 pages
Journal 17 - 18 March 2010 - 25 April 2010 - 95 pages
Journal 18 - 25 April 2010 - Present
I discovered:
I didn't start numbering pages of my journals, and keeping indexes until Journal 6
The numbers of journal used increased dramatically in 2009. That is when I consciously realised how important journal writing was to me, and what difference it could make in my life. That was the year I completely fell in love with journaling as a life-time thing. 2010 is set to continue just as strongly.
Over the years I also learned the importance of quality journals. Most of mine are good, but there are a couple of cheap ones that are not standing the test of time well.
Looking at this index, I feel that I would like to start a new journal at the beginning of each year, but I also don't like to waste journal space, so from now on, I am going to try to make sure that I complete a journal by 31/12. Then a fresh new start on 1st of January.
I haven't written in a journal forever. I sort of miss it. I do get a lot of my feelings out through blogging and writing, though.
ReplyDeleteAgain I am back and forth with my journal. I was recently reading a book called Bang the Keys and it shared two types of notebooks one was a project and the other an inner book which they called cashiers :p I would have around about 50-60 journals if my mum hadn't made me throw them out.
ReplyDeleteBlair,
ReplyDeleteouch...can't imagine throwing away my journals. I would be devastated.
Nothing can replace my 10-cents-school-sales-notebooks for my Journal. The bound ones, I fizz out after a few pages. Maybe it's the left-handedness or the fact it's so pretty and I don't want to mess it up with my scribbling.
ReplyDeleteI don't worry about starting a Journal at the beginning of the year. I just write until I need the next notebook. It's the content that's important, not the book so much - to me, anyway.
I figure my scanned in pages will stand the test of time while my physical journals will fade, rip, burn, drown, be lost or accidentally thrown out. Any way I look at it, my Journal will be passed down and last digitally far more than physically.
What I wouldn't give to open a Journal of an hundred year old relative - but more likely in a hundred years a person won't crack open a hundred year old journal. Also, digital can be shared much easier than physical.
Nothing beats WRITING in a Journal, though! Or decorating it. Pasting stuff into it or on it...
Live Out Loud,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your views. Always interesting to get another perspective.
While content is important, I find that to preserve a journal, the book does matter. I have a few cheap ones, and they don't stand the test of time as well as the quality ones with acid free pages.
Digital journals hold no appeal for me. I don't intend to share my journal so I don't care how easy it is. I just want to preserve them for my lifetime, which is good enough for physical journals. Though, books are not as fragile as you say. There are copies of hundreds of years old books in many special libraries and museums. Of course they have to be well preserved, but it is possible.
I have never tried this New Year New Journal thing, but want to see how it goes in 2011. I can just imagine my journals filed by years :-)
Dolly:
ReplyDeleteYou might consider an auto-number stamp. I bought mine at OfficeMax but I see there is one for only $15 at Amazon right now. Anyway this little machine saved me big bucks. I used to buy the pre-numbered books for about $33. But with the number stamp I stamp all my journals, moles, art, work, personal, etc. Then I just keep an excel sheet at google docs that allows me to quickly go out and add the content of the pages at the end of the month.
...dave
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, though I can't imagine it would be quicker to stamp the pages than to just write the numbers. But it's a handy piece of stationary. Currently, I just number my pages as I go, and it doesn't take much time.