Journal Jam Fall 2022 Day 3

[annofowlshire]

Day 3 Question:

What prompted you to get into using a planner or journaling?

(If you answer elsewhere, drop us a link in the comments.)

Comments

[seleneheart]

I started using a planner in grad school. I think it was a Daytimer sort of thing, with lots of pockets, and business card holder, and sections. I kept using that until I started teaching. I talked about my bullet journal journey in my comment to Day 1, I think.

As many people have said above, digital calendars are convenient, but nothing beats the tactility of writing things down. And it helps my memory to handwrite also.

[lunabee34]

I'm glad it's working for you!

[lunabee34]

I love a list. Just the tactile crossing out and scratching off and then making a fresh one. Love it.

[lunabee34]

My area of interest in academia is 19th-century, so I spend a lot of time reading people's diaries and letters, and I find them so fascinating, especially those of people who aren't celebrities in any way. That look into the life of the regular person is so important from a historical context.

[lunabee34]

I have three, one each with fine, medium, and broad nibs. LOL

[lunabee34]

The ink capacities on those Ecos are massive. *admires*

I like to switch out ink colors really often, though.

I was just gifted a Lamy Safari, too, in yellow. It's very pretty!

[annofowlshire]

I often like to switch out ink colors frequently, I mostly get around that by having lots of pens inked up with different colors XD

[lunabee34]

I do that, too! So many currently inked pens. LOL

[lunabee34]

I have been looking at those, too, the ones from Mark's and the Midori ones. I really like the idea of just writing a few sentences every day for five years (or three; I've seen three year versions) and then comparing where I was over that course of time on any gien day.

[lunabee34]

Hard same. I'm the same with notetaking for work. I type my notes afterwards to make them usable and searchable, but I handwrite notes to start with to help with memory retention.

[ai]

https://mana.dreamwidth.org/4897765.html

My poor memory mostly, but it was fun to think of other reasons.

[mothereader]

Oooh, Mark's is really nice. The price tag though, oof.

I looked at journals in different price ranges. On the cheaper end, i chose something from Chronicle Books and Leuchtturm1917's Some Lines a Day. I already use Leuchtturm's notebooks and know that i really like how the paper feels and how they keep.

On the more expensive end, i picked Midori's 5-Years Gate (there's also an embroidered one that's really cute!) and Hobonichi 5-Year Techo. Hobonichi is hands down my favourite when it comes to the design of the interior. I also like that "5-year journal" isn't pasted all across the front in big letters—or i can't read it if it is. I'm a bit worried though, about the state of the paper after 5 years of daily use.

[lunabee34]

I like stickers as well. There's such a wonderful variety.

[lassarina]

I've always journaled in some fashion - I had a paper diary from about second grade through high school, and then got my LiveJournal account in college and have maintained it or my Dreamwidth since then, so 21 years of online/digital journaling.

I mentioned in a previous question the BuzzFeed post about bullet journaling for mental health and I thought it would be an interesting experiment, so I gave it a try and found I liked it. It's been several years of experimenting with layout and decoration (it can't be too plain but I don't want to spend three days setting up one month's worth) but I'm mostly at a point I'm happy with now.

[lunabee34]

I love your icon. LOL

It can be so hard to find that balance between minimal and decorated; I love my journal to be pretty, but like you, I don't want to just endlessly noodle with decorating it.

[lunabee34]

Have you used Tomoe River paper before? I absolutely love everything about the way the Hobos look and all the functionality of them, but Tomoe Rive paper is so fiddly. It's super thin, so you pretty much have to use some kind of pencil board so that you don't indent the next page too badly when you're writing. It picks up hand oils that keeps the ink from adhering to the paper, so you have to keep a piece of paper under your hand as you write. Ink dry times are also really long (which if you're just using gel or ballpoint might not matter so much), so you have to make sure you close the page on a piece of blotting paper. I was really happy I tested out a cheaper notebook with TR paper in it before I invested in a Hobo.

Those embroidered covers for the Midori ones are so pretty; I think they come out with different ones from time to time.

[mothereader]

I haven't but i have heard that it's fiddly. I had two things in the cons column for Hobonichi: one was the paper and the other was the memo page (what would i use it for??). I doubt i'd like to use a cotton glove every day for the next five years when i write in it, which would be the best protection against hand oils. I usually use Pigma Micron or Uni Pin pens when i write in my journals and planners, so i think i'd be fine on that front.

Actually, when all things are taken into account, i'm leaning towards Leuchtturm. I've been using their notebooks for the past 4 years and they're amazing. One of the notebooks has been banging around my backpack for the past year and a half; it still looks good and the binding hasn't loosened.

[lunabee34]

I love Leuchtturm, too. My penultimate journal was a hardcover one, and it was so so nice. I will definitely be keeping that brand in the rotation.

[annofowlshire]

Leuchtturm is my favorite when I'm not using my Traveler's Notebook. I flop back and forth depending on what's my planner/journal needs are at the time.

[lunabee34]

I love all the color covers, the bookmarks, the numbered pages, and that the paper holds up to fountain pens.

[lassarina]

Thank you! It's so frequently applicable I just leave it as my default, lol.

My art skills are also not up to the task of making my journal look Instagram-worthy, so it's partly a control on my own frustration. (I have fallen absolutely in love with stamps for decorating, though. omg so gorgeous.)

[lunabee34]

I have admired the stamps but not yet gotten into them yet. There seems to be so many cool options.

[lassarina]

My first several sets have been from Notebook Therapy, and I just got a whole new batch from Etsy with stars and stuff on them :3 I will be making a space-themed layout for September!

[badfalcon]

I stumbled across Kara Benz/Boho Berry quite a few years ago now on either Youtube or Instagram and fell in love with her planning style. I'd always had to-do lists for everything but hadn't kept them all together in a book and loved the idea. I have ADHD and am forever trying to organise myself. But I don't have pretty handwriting and I'm not artistic, so would get disheartened when mine didn't look like the ones I saw online. I kept trying though, reading all the articles, trying layout after layout, trying too much, overwhelming myself... stopping for months then picking it up again

[lunabee34]

That sounds so cool!

The stamps I have seen recently on Jetpens are these clear ones that you take on and off a clear block so you can see where you're stamping which I think is very clever.

What are the ones you use like?