Dear Diary, How do I keep you?
February 18, 2012 7:57 PM Subscribe
What are your tips on maintaining a journal that is private, useful, detailed and organized?
I feel like time is moving faster and faster and the only way for me to slow it down -- to prevent the days from all blending into each other -- is to remember more of what happens to me on a day to day basis. So, to that end, I've decided to start keeping a paper journal where I will document what I do each day with a couple sentences.
I will likely be using a Field Notes memo-book with graph paper because that's what I happen to have on hand. I don't intend to be delving too much into my hopes and dreams, but more so what actually takes place during the day (people I spend time with, movies I see, special meals I eat, books I read, etc.)
In thinking about how to go about this I have a couple specific questions, but also I'm looking for any general advice anyone might have.
Here are my questions:
1. Does anyone remember an online article, I think I read it maybe 18 months ago, that showed pictures of a journal a guy had kept, maybe in a Moleskine? It was very neat and organized and he had little icons he'd draw (a film roll for when he saw movie, a book for when he finished a book). It was like a profile piece on how he used a blank notebook to journal (I think) and I liked what he was doing. But for the life of me, I can't locate the article again and don't know where I originally read it (although it may have been linked from a question here.)
2. I want to write down things that happen for my purposes, but at the same time I don't want anyone who happens across it to have a complete record of what I've done and with whom. Any ideas on simple codes or something like that to keep certain things private? Maybe it's just a matter of coming up with my own personal euphemisms and nicknames. But I'll take any advice on that.
3. Is there any simple way of organizing/cross-referencing and things like with a paper journal? I obviously know I won't achieve the searchability/tagability of doing this in an electronic format but any tips or hacks you know of to make it easy to refer back to things that have happened would be appreciated.
That's it, but as I said, any general advice would be great too.
Thanks.
I feel like time is moving faster and faster and the only way for me to slow it down -- to prevent the days from all blending into each other -- is to remember more of what happens to me on a day to day basis. So, to that end, I've decided to start keeping a paper journal where I will document what I do each day with a couple sentences.
I will likely be using a Field Notes memo-book with graph paper because that's what I happen to have on hand. I don't intend to be delving too much into my hopes and dreams, but more so what actually takes place during the day (people I spend time with, movies I see, special meals I eat, books I read, etc.)
In thinking about how to go about this I have a couple specific questions, but also I'm looking for any general advice anyone might have.
Here are my questions:
1. Does anyone remember an online article, I think I read it maybe 18 months ago, that showed pictures of a journal a guy had kept, maybe in a Moleskine? It was very neat and organized and he had little icons he'd draw (a film roll for when he saw movie, a book for when he finished a book). It was like a profile piece on how he used a blank notebook to journal (I think) and I liked what he was doing. But for the life of me, I can't locate the article again and don't know where I originally read it (although it may have been linked from a question here.)
2. I want to write down things that happen for my purposes, but at the same time I don't want anyone who happens across it to have a complete record of what I've done and with whom. Any ideas on simple codes or something like that to keep certain things private? Maybe it's just a matter of coming up with my own personal euphemisms and nicknames. But I'll take any advice on that.
3. Is there any simple way of organizing/cross-referencing and things like with a paper journal? I obviously know I won't achieve the searchability/tagability of doing this in an electronic format but any tips or hacks you know of to make it easy to refer back to things that have happened would be appreciated.
That's it, but as I said, any general advice would be great too.
Thanks.
1. Hmmm... are you maybe thinking of Chronodex? That's the only thing that comes to mind off the top of my head.
2. This is going to depend on how many things and what things you want to keep track of. For example, this year I'm trying to get a picture of how often I do things like exercise, play guitar, read, watch movies, etc. and I'll just write at the bottom of the page: r (3m), g, w: Twin Peaks w/C. Obviously you could crack this code, but since I know the general cast of characters and I know the main activities I'll be noting down, it's not hard to remember and it's slightly more private than full sentences.
I should say that I really recommend what you're trying to do. It's worked really well for me, and it's a lot easier than I thought. It's so fun and useful, actually, that my notebook is pretty much always on my person or nearby anyway, which reduces the risk of loss/theft.
3. I should mention that I'm using a moleskine that has a page for every day, and also a monthly calendar. I mostly use the daily pages, but I also go back to the main calendar view and jot things down there as well, so I can get a big picture of the month/year. Anything super important that happened that day gets an !.
posted by ke rose ne at 8:22 PM on February 18, 2012
2. This is going to depend on how many things and what things you want to keep track of. For example, this year I'm trying to get a picture of how often I do things like exercise, play guitar, read, watch movies, etc. and I'll just write at the bottom of the page: r (3m), g, w: Twin Peaks w/C. Obviously you could crack this code, but since I know the general cast of characters and I know the main activities I'll be noting down, it's not hard to remember and it's slightly more private than full sentences.
I should say that I really recommend what you're trying to do. It's worked really well for me, and it's a lot easier than I thought. It's so fun and useful, actually, that my notebook is pretty much always on my person or nearby anyway, which reduces the risk of loss/theft.
3. I should mention that I'm using a moleskine that has a page for every day, and also a monthly calendar. I mostly use the daily pages, but I also go back to the main calendar view and jot things down there as well, so I can get a big picture of the month/year. Anything super important that happened that day gets an !.
posted by ke rose ne at 8:22 PM on February 18, 2012
I've done a lot of research on Leonard Woolf (Virginia Woolf's husband) and he kept a diary like this in books that had a few lines for each day like a planner. He was meticulous, but sometimes he wrote only a few words for a day - including the mileage on his car. He had complex abbreviations for things he mentioned regularly. Virginia was Virg, V, or Asp for Aspasia, his pet name for her. He recorded her health every day with long strings of initials - v f w f g n meant "Virginia fairly well, fairly good night." When he needed to document something very personal he wrote in transliterated Sinhalese characters. This was how he wrote about Virginia's suicide attempts, for instance. Of course, even this code can be cracked.
So we have nicknames, abbreviations, and code. He also kept separate lists of his activities, like every gramophone record he listened to or what he spent money on. These were in the back of each book. It worked well for him; he kept a diary like this for decades.
posted by rabbitbookworm at 9:09 PM on February 18, 2012 [5 favorites]
So we have nicknames, abbreviations, and code. He also kept separate lists of his activities, like every gramophone record he listened to or what he spent money on. These were in the back of each book. It worked well for him; he kept a diary like this for decades.
posted by rabbitbookworm at 9:09 PM on February 18, 2012 [5 favorites]
Note To Self is a really fantastic book on keeping a journal and how to organize it.
posted by spunweb at 9:15 PM on February 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by spunweb at 9:15 PM on February 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
I don't know if this is stupid, or obvious, or whatever, but write the year and month you started the journal on the cover of the journal. That way, when you finish writing in that journal and you start stacking journals on top of journals on top of journals, you can easily sort through chapters of your life so to speak.
posted by oceanjesse at 9:19 PM on February 18, 2012
posted by oceanjesse at 9:19 PM on February 18, 2012
Best answer: I feel so happy to see a question that I may genuinely have some good answers too. I journal when I travel, which is almost 6 of the past 7 years.
Here are some links from my recent journals:
29 month trip,
some of current journal part 1, part 2.
Some of these items will not make sense for you, but here is a partial list of some of my lists and handmade charts: time zones; how much written per day with monthly stats; city-by-city travel list; books read; calendar including city, activities, and place slept; chart of homestay details; new contacts chart; post chart- letters and packages; phone usage chart; lists of things that are recommended or that I come across: web, books, words, films, tv/video, and music; weather chart; long distance travel list; favorite jokes; ideas for upcoming destinations; countries i have been to; favorite quotations page; accommodation chart; ATM withdrawals chart; expenses chart; how many expenses per day chart with monthly stats; addresses; ETC.
posted by maya at 9:47 PM on February 18, 2012 [38 favorites]
Here are some links from my recent journals:
29 month trip,
some of current journal part 1, part 2.
Some of these items will not make sense for you, but here is a partial list of some of my lists and handmade charts: time zones; how much written per day with monthly stats; city-by-city travel list; books read; calendar including city, activities, and place slept; chart of homestay details; new contacts chart; post chart- letters and packages; phone usage chart; lists of things that are recommended or that I come across: web, books, words, films, tv/video, and music; weather chart; long distance travel list; favorite jokes; ideas for upcoming destinations; countries i have been to; favorite quotations page; accommodation chart; ATM withdrawals chart; expenses chart; how many expenses per day chart with monthly stats; addresses; ETC.
posted by maya at 9:47 PM on February 18, 2012 [38 favorites]
Here are some practical tips-
For a week or a month, keep loose notes about the things you do. At the end of this time go through your activities and imagine the things you would like to make lists/charts for. Library books? Dog walks? New wines?
There are now a lot of semi-blank guided journals you can get- peruse them at a bookstore: friends/beer/movies/etc. I'd take a blank book and leave a few pages in the front for lists that will make sense there. In the back you can put the kinds of lists and charts that make sense to you. I do this because the pages of my journals are filled left to right and the space needed in the back can keep expanding. After many years of doing this, I have found what I like to keep track of and what works for me (see previous comment list). There are other single-topic journals in my usage, but the ones I have shared are what I use on a day-to-day basis.
Gridded journals are nice to help with lines, but not the most important thing. Moleskine journals are now made in China and the lines are darker then they were just a few years ago. For this reason I use knock-offs found at Target or office supply stores. As you can see, I get intimate with the paper, and have not noticed or felt that Moleskine paper was superior. All of this paper varies in porosity centimeter by centimeter and inks react differently in different parts. That said, go for acid-free pens and paper when you can, as this will prevent discoloration.
Since the charts will be for your use, I am not sure an index is needed. I never need one, and know where everything is because I use many charts on a daily basis and wouldn't keep any of them that are not updated fairly often. It is kind of like a closet, if you haven't used it in 6 months, there is no purpose.
I'm not sure why I write so small. The journal to me is functional and not art, but people seem to think that the size of the text is made to detract readers. It does, but only because people don't think it is readable or are confused. I have thousands (8000?) pages of journals (not all like the ones above!), and spill it all out there. This is fun for me and a part of my life. Sometimes I worry because all of those nasty thoughts are laid bare... However, the truth is that everyone has thoughts about their friends and Menudo and sex and anger that they would rather not be revealed. This isn't what you're asking about, but as people have said above, nothing on paper can be truly private forever. Consider that, but also consider the freedom and beauty in full expression.
Get writing every day. No matter what. Up until 2am drinking with friends? Write before you go to bed- it still counts! I haven't missed a day since last March and my record is 895 days. It may be difficult at first, but it is incredibly rewarding for some people.
posted by maya at 11:17 PM on February 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
For a week or a month, keep loose notes about the things you do. At the end of this time go through your activities and imagine the things you would like to make lists/charts for. Library books? Dog walks? New wines?
There are now a lot of semi-blank guided journals you can get- peruse them at a bookstore: friends/beer/movies/etc. I'd take a blank book and leave a few pages in the front for lists that will make sense there. In the back you can put the kinds of lists and charts that make sense to you. I do this because the pages of my journals are filled left to right and the space needed in the back can keep expanding. After many years of doing this, I have found what I like to keep track of and what works for me (see previous comment list). There are other single-topic journals in my usage, but the ones I have shared are what I use on a day-to-day basis.
Gridded journals are nice to help with lines, but not the most important thing. Moleskine journals are now made in China and the lines are darker then they were just a few years ago. For this reason I use knock-offs found at Target or office supply stores. As you can see, I get intimate with the paper, and have not noticed or felt that Moleskine paper was superior. All of this paper varies in porosity centimeter by centimeter and inks react differently in different parts. That said, go for acid-free pens and paper when you can, as this will prevent discoloration.
Since the charts will be for your use, I am not sure an index is needed. I never need one, and know where everything is because I use many charts on a daily basis and wouldn't keep any of them that are not updated fairly often. It is kind of like a closet, if you haven't used it in 6 months, there is no purpose.
I'm not sure why I write so small. The journal to me is functional and not art, but people seem to think that the size of the text is made to detract readers. It does, but only because people don't think it is readable or are confused. I have thousands (8000?) pages of journals (not all like the ones above!), and spill it all out there. This is fun for me and a part of my life. Sometimes I worry because all of those nasty thoughts are laid bare... However, the truth is that everyone has thoughts about their friends and Menudo and sex and anger that they would rather not be revealed. This isn't what you're asking about, but as people have said above, nothing on paper can be truly private forever. Consider that, but also consider the freedom and beauty in full expression.
Get writing every day. No matter what. Up until 2am drinking with friends? Write before you go to bed- it still counts! I haven't missed a day since last March and my record is 895 days. It may be difficult at first, but it is incredibly rewarding for some people.
posted by maya at 11:17 PM on February 18, 2012 [3 favorites]
For (2), one thing to consider is if you have ever learned a foreign language, even minimally at school, you could keep some parts of the journal in that language. That would be enough to deter random snoopers from your everyday life, probably. I kept all my high school journals in French, and it was probably BAD French, because I'd only had a couple of years of high school level instruction, but it was a successful layer of protection against my mother.
In fact, the less accurate your use of the language is, the better, because it might be that even native French speakers would have had a hard time with my journal(!)
posted by lollusc at 12:31 AM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
In fact, the less accurate your use of the language is, the better, because it might be that even native French speakers would have had a hard time with my journal(!)
posted by lollusc at 12:31 AM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
maya, holy shit, you're my hero.
posted by saul wright at 12:35 AM on February 19, 2012
posted by saul wright at 12:35 AM on February 19, 2012
I also saw that article about the guy who had pictures (icons) in his daily journal. I think the deal was he was aiming for brevity and so he limited each day's journal to just one page. I think I have it bookmarked on my other computer, if I find it I'll come back here and post the link. The more I think about it, I think he's an artist and has published a couple books. That is, if this is the same article you're thinking of.
posted by daikon at 5:09 PM on February 19, 2012
posted by daikon at 5:09 PM on February 19, 2012
Best answer: This is the article I remembered.
posted by daikon at 5:19 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by daikon at 5:19 PM on February 19, 2012 [2 favorites]
The Lazy Guide to Indexing Your Journal
Number all the pages in your journal (or, if you are lazy like me, number only the odd numbered pages). Using the last few pages of the journal, draw blocks for each letter of the alphabet. 6 blocks on a page can fit the whole alphabet in 4 pages (doubling up on xyz). I make 6 squares on each blank page. Then, when you have something you want to index, just write the subject in the appropriate letter and the page number. Don't worry about trying to alphabetize within each letter; you probably aren't going to have *that* many different subjects to index. I index immediately after writing. I am way too lazy to go back and do it otherwise. And, it takes no time to do it immediately.
posted by daneflute at 5:57 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
Number all the pages in your journal (or, if you are lazy like me, number only the odd numbered pages). Using the last few pages of the journal, draw blocks for each letter of the alphabet. 6 blocks on a page can fit the whole alphabet in 4 pages (doubling up on xyz). I make 6 squares on each blank page. Then, when you have something you want to index, just write the subject in the appropriate letter and the page number. Don't worry about trying to alphabetize within each letter; you probably aren't going to have *that* many different subjects to index. I index immediately after writing. I am way too lazy to go back and do it otherwise. And, it takes no time to do it immediately.
posted by daneflute at 5:57 PM on February 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Daikon!
You found the post I was thinking about. Thank you so much.
Really appreciating everyone's input here.
posted by twinight at 6:22 PM on February 19, 2012
You found the post I was thinking about. Thank you so much.
Really appreciating everyone's input here.
posted by twinight at 6:22 PM on February 19, 2012
I adore Maya's journals, but I just don't have time to do that. What you may find useful though is idonethis.
It's a very simple tool. It emails you every day to update "What did you do today?". If you miss a day you can do it a little later. It represents this as a clickable calendar.
It takes just a minute to do each day and since I started doing this around this time last year, and now have an incredible record of exactly what I did, and thought, every day for the last year - a little like the logging approach in the article you mentioned, though admittedly a little less personal.
Being able to look back at the drop of a hat is fantastic, plus it's searchable so I can easily find when I did something if I need to.
posted by inbetweener at 2:06 AM on February 24, 2012 [5 favorites]
It's a very simple tool. It emails you every day to update "What did you do today?". If you miss a day you can do it a little later. It represents this as a clickable calendar.
It takes just a minute to do each day and since I started doing this around this time last year, and now have an incredible record of exactly what I did, and thought, every day for the last year - a little like the logging approach in the article you mentioned, though admittedly a little less personal.
Being able to look back at the drop of a hat is fantastic, plus it's searchable so I can easily find when I did something if I need to.
posted by inbetweener at 2:06 AM on February 24, 2012 [5 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
To start out, I'd make index cards for the following things, knowing I could make new cards whenever I wanted:
Films
Events
Books
FriendX
FriendY
FriendZ
Medical
Psychological
Hacks
I'd probably only index once a week, though. The nice thing about index cards is that you can refer to each of your books as book A, B, C (or whatever) and be noting the whole time which volume you're in - ultimately you'd have an index to all your journals, not just the one in your hand.
I do not believe there is such a thing as a secure paper record of anything, I'm sorry to say. You can probably use nicknames or euphemisms/code words for a handful of things, but this is not any real protection, and it's a royal pain to use for more than a handful of different topics.
posted by SMPA at 8:17 PM on February 18, 2012 [1 favorite]