journalsandplanners | Open Discussion Thread

How goes it?

Comment to tell us about what you've been up to with your journal, planner, or other stationery related items. Tell us about a new pen or a coveted notebook. Consult the hive mind with a problem you've been having. Post a picture! Whatever goes as long as it falls in the realm of journals and planners. Remember, you can always make your own top-level post, too!

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From:

annofowlshire

This week I'm trying something a little different. The Hero's Planner Kickstarter encouraged me too look back at the PDF I have of the Hero's Journal and re-evaluate it. I'm using inspiration from the Hero's Journal, but modifying it specifically to my needs/desires.

Firstly: the theme. I kind of love and hate it. As a storyteller, and particularly one aimed at fiction for a female-identifying audience, I'm a bit bored of the Hero's Journey. I'm not looking to conquer, I'm looking to connect. So I've rebranded mine as the Witch's Journal for now. This mostly means reframing several of the terms. Instead of My Quest, it's My Calling. Instead of Allies and Threats, it's Potions and Poisons. Etc.

Second, I quickly realized that I didn't need a two-page spread for a single day. The original Hero's Journal has a lot of illustrations to fill the space, but even with my washi and stickers, it felt excessive. So I condensed it into one page.

And then just as quickly, I came to realize that I'm going to get bored of repeating the same header over and over. I understand the power of rewriting my "calling/quest" each day, but I don't actually need to do that. I just need to be able to see it. I don't want to be ungrateful, but I find daily gratitude starts to become rote and loses meaning. So I think next week I'm going to try a two day, two page spread with a shared main header.

Finally (for now), the reason I wanted to DIY into a blank journal was because the main block I had with the Hero's Journal is that it's very single goal-focused. I'm... not a single goal-focused person. I have a career*. I have a family to look after. I have a hobby farm. I have other hobbies, too! These all tend to bleed together in my day to day life, and for better or worse that's how it needs to be right now. A journal aimed at a single goal is super powerful. But it's not what I need, I need something that let's me see and optimize how it all interacts. So my layout gives me a bit more flexibility to blend the spheres of my life, but also at the end of the week I have endless blank pages in which to write notes and whatever, and then I start the next week's spread wherever that's left off.

Is it a winner? I guess we'll see....

*I do actually have a work journal as well, but it's more for meeting notes and sketching out ideas and other such things and lives on my office desk and is less for day to day planning.

From:

ravengown

I don't think I have posted anything here since the start of the year!

I mostly journal instead of plan - I have one book that contains my to do lists and experiments in how to plan weekly (a Hobonichi Weeks), and a Hobonichi A6 for journaling and decoration. I actually kind of want to size up again for next year:.. but an A5 is too big. I could swap to a B6 maybe, but then I would have to lose all of my pretty Hobonichi covers... so really, I should just cut down on decoration and keep using my A6, probably.

I am still trying to hold back my magpie tendencies to buy more stickers and washi tape. I do use them, but not as fast as I accrue them. The eternal struggle.

From:

oldtoadwoman

I've been letting things slide for so long, I forgot where I had put my planner notebook and had to hunt it down. I've now largely separated things out into a notebook where I'm trying to keep track of major things that I don't want to forget, habit trackers, to-dos, and such, versus the freewriting notebook where I spew out random thoughts in my head that I don't want to save. (I just skim things over the next day to see if anything important came up to be logged more permanently and then the freewriting pages get destroyed. There's something weirdly satisfying about destroying old pages.) I'm not sure how efficient this is, but keeping it all in one place wasn't working very well for me.

From:

octahedrite

Looking for habit tracker recs, both analog and apps. :) I used to use Habitica and I'm too used to it/fed up with it for it to be useful to me any more.

From:

ravengown

Do streaks motivate you at all, or is this more like "how many times can I manage something in a week/month"? I don't use a digital tracker but I've experimented with how to format an analog one some!

From:

octahedrite

Streaks demotivate me lol. Would love to hear your thoughts on analog habit tracking! I haven't come up with anything better than checking off a box on a calendar/list.

From:

yhlee

I'm still dying for want of a thin, softcover journal in the A5 or Moleskine cahier 8"x5.25" range that has fountain-pen-friendly paper (I'm spoiled, I like Tomoe River, but it doesn't have to be that literally) and is unlined. Show-through is okay (...Tomoe River) but the last journal I tried has horrible bleedthrough. I'm literaly at "do I take my stash of A4 Tomoe River, suck it up, just bind my own??" but if someone has recs I am all ears. The Moleskine cahiers would be perfect if the paper were better for fountain pens and I could for love or money get the unlined ones without having to order them online. But I'm thinking, if I'm ordering online anyway, maybe there's a better option???

From:

ravengown

Sure! I actually do mostly create a little table by week, where I can make a list of habits I want to work on that week, and then cross over days over a week.

A lot of people get creative/arty with making them, mostly so that they can color code. I made a "year in pixels" one year to track my writing habit and approximate word count, so I could get some colors in, too.

I mostly stick to tracking stuff one week at a time, which can help with that burnt out feeling. And it's nice to see your progress in any kind of journal over time. So it's nothing too fancy, haha.

From:

olivermoss

Another week, bought more stuff from local artists. I already used a few stickers for an upcoming layout and also cut up the sticker sheet so it would fit in the little folder in the back of my journal:

The event was my local comic shop putting on a mini comic con. I have a post about it here.

And next weekend is Pride PDX so, probably more stickers there. I am not doing a layout for this week yet because I am assuming I'll want to use stuff from the upcoming weekend.

From:

octahedrite

Thanks!! Sounds like I could make a table like that on a post-it for each week 🤔

From:

ravengown

Yeah! If you don't use a separate journal/planner, I used to find that sticking something like that to my monitor or somewhere visible on my desk, could also help.

(I also tried to describe a table as a two dimensional list, oy.)

From:

olivermoss

I use a Rhodia notebook for mine. Stuff for me kinda has to be very custom to use useful, which is why I draw layouts. It works for me, but during unproductive or bad weeks it can feel like the set up effort is a lot. Like 'didn't I just do this? what happened to the week?'

From:

ravengown

From the description, these look like they're blank? I really, really love Galen for their leather products, though, but these look more than passable...

From:

octahedrite

It is a 2D list though haha. A 2D array!

From:

octahedrite

Yeah I think doing a custom layout every week is not sustainable for me. But thank you! Do you organize your habit tracker like a table?

From:

olivermoss

Yeah, I do a table one one side, the other is random things I'd like to do that week if possible.

I do want to witch to this tracker system at some point.

From:

octahedrite

Cool! Partial credit is a fantastic idea tbh.

From:

olivermoss

Yeah, how I do my stuff is sort of a knock off of his system. I really like having low bars for partial credit to keep stuff ticking over.

From:

annofowlshire

I'm not currently Habit Tracking, but when I do, I do something like this (although usually with less goals). It can be streak oriented, but I also like use it as a temperature check. I don't need to, say, do crafting every day--but have I done it this week?

This example (and idea) is not mine, it's from author VE Schawb.

From:

lunabee34

I love these changes, especially the reframing of connections vs conquering. I think about words for a living, and I know that's such a small change, but you look at that every day, and I think it's a meaningful one.

From:

lunabee34

Hi hi! It's good to see you.

I mostly journal instead of planning as well.

I hear you re the hoard. For me it's notebooks. I have so many and yet I always want more. LOL

From:

lunabee34

I love destroying old pages. It's why I have finally realized that to-do lists are much more my speed that using a traditional planner. I love throwing away a completed list.

From:

lunabee34

What about something like this?

https://www.jetpens.com/Midori-Habit-Tracker-Diary-Blue-Green/pd/29215

From:

lunabee34

Does the soft cover need to be soft because you're wanting to fold the front cover to the back cover when you're using it? Or do you just want Not Hardcover and it doesn't need to be that flexible?

How thin is thin? What kind of page count are you looking for?

Do you want thread and glue bound or is staple bound okay?