Why Keep a Journal?

TechFactoid

This post was composed using Markdown in Byword and Brett Terpstra's Marked 2. I'll tell you about them sometime.

I was reading through the beginining of my current journal - a bit like tidying an attic - and became thoroughly absorbed by this past life and my brain started listing the reasons why keeping a journal is so useful. Here's a few of my thoughts.

There are so many benefits to keeping a journal.

• To record events.
• To keep track of recurring events.
• To capture thoughts and ideas and organise them.
• To collect information.
• To get your feelings and emotions out of your head.

Record Historical Events

To record what happened, events that occurred in the world. Things that you and others around you experienced. Who did what and when and where it happened and in what circumstances. What you thought about, what you said, what they said and how your felt.
A physical chronological record, so when you look back you know the what, the when, the where, the who, the how and maybe the why too.
Whether the weather. It was interesting to read in my journal that this time three years ago the weather was much the same as it is at the moment.

Record Specific Things

What I Eat

You might want to record what you eat for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you’re on a diet or you want to remember what you ate at a certain time and place. Make comments on the quality and quantity of what you ate. Maybe you eat out a lot and want to review the places you ate.

What I Drink

You might want to record what you drink to keep track of your:-

• Fluid intake
• Caffein intake
• Sugar intake
• Alcohol consumption

These are health reasons but you might be more interested in the quality of the things you are drinking like:-

• Tea
• Coffee
• Wine
• Beer
• Spirits

This could be for your own interest or as a reviewer.

Numbers, numbers, numbers

How far, how fast, how long, how much, what time? We quantify so many things in our lives because they are significant in certain contexts.

“Them as counts counts moren them as don’t count” Riddley Walker.

“Just because you can count it doesn’t mean it counts. Just because you can’t count it doesn’t mean it doesn’t count” Albert Einstein

Now make the sound of one stone clacking.

How I Felt

What sort of mood were you in when you were eating or drinking? The context is important. Where were you? Who were you with? What were you doing? Why? Did you want to be there?

Legal

If you think your employer or employee is behaving badly, a chronological record of significant events and conversations is essential if things turn nasty.

Capture Thoughts and Ideas

You always think you’ll remember that thought, idea or flash of inspiration. “Of course I’ll remember. It was such a fantastic idea” but a minor distraction shifts your attention and it evaporates leaving only the memory that you had a great idea. So, write it down when it happens.

Florilegium

Other useful things to capture are:-

• Quotes and sayings
• Recipes
• Where to find that certain thing
• Books you want to read
• Music you heard and want to buy
• Anything else you want to acquire
• Where you found wild blackberries
• Any other useful facts
• Interesting words or phrases
• Instructions
  • How to do it
  • How to get there
  • How to make it
  • Nifty tricks and shortcuts
• Names and addresses (that really good plumber)
• A good restaurant
• Places to visit
• Bits of that book you’re writing, song you’re composing
• Lists, lists, lists

This is a florilegium - literally ’a gathering of flowers - a miscellany. These notebooks were kept by 16th century clerics to gather information that might be useful when writing sermons. They escaped into the wild and became fashionable with ordinary - albeit wealthy and literate - folk.

Mind Dump

Catharsis. The benefits of dumping your thoughts, and emotions onto a page are manifold. It gets them out of your head and exposes them to the light where they are less likely to cause mischief. Thoughts and emotions can run amok inside your head but get them out in the open air and they seem different. Not quite so powerful or menacing, perhaps mundane, even ridiculous.

You’re using a different part of your brain to evaluate your thoughts when you write them down and read them. The more logical, analytical part which dampens their emotional power. You put some distance between you and them. It may be only the few inches between your eyes and the page but at least they’re not inside your head.

Writing your thoughts allows you to structure and organise them and cause other thoughts and ideas to appear spontaneously. Like walking down a street and seeing all the side streets leading off to who knows where - other places to explore that you were previously unaware of, offering new possibilities. Or walking to the end of a dead end street only to discover there’s a hidden alleyway leading into a market square.

Your scrivenings can build a map that shows you the lay of your mindscape and reveal patterns and connections you didn’t know were possible until this bird’s eye view was available to you.

Writing is therapeutic and cheaper than a shrink - who may have motives different from yours that may not be in your best interests - if you become dependent on your journal, that’s a minor problem that may - in the long term - provide you with solutions. Becoming dependent on your shrink/mentor/councillor is the path to Trouble with a Capital T.

Reflect and Review

It’s always informative to look back on the day, week, month, year, decade to see how far you’ve come - or not, to see what’s changed - or not.

What do you need or want to do? Where do you want to go? Where would you like to be the next time you sit and review?

Times of Change

Something else that’s worth recording in your journal, which is related to creating a historical record, is recording events during times of great change. For instance, when Mam became ill and died. It would have, or will be, useful at some time to read about what was happening at specific moments, to note how I felt and acted. The same for others too, what they did, said and felt.

Reading it as history might make it easier to spot patterns, trends or significant milestones. It’s easier to forget and lose track of things during times of rapid change or flux - especially when emotions are heightened - as you’re devoting so much time and effort to dealing with what’s going on. What’s pressing and proximate.

Sitting quietly and writing a few notes can be an oasis, a safe haven, a time to reflect, gather your senses, think, regroup, organise and plan. Your journal can become a map in turbulent times. A valuable navigation aid.

Keep it handy!

Bindery Tales

My first attempt at making a Moleskine style journal has proved its worth. It has been thoroughly tested in the rough and tumble of the world and is now crammed to the endpapers with squiggly marks.

As it was my first attempt there was a fair bit wrong with it. I was in such a tearing hurry to finish it that I didn't notice that I'd glued the block in upside down. The bookmark ribbon is glued to the spine of the block before it is glued into the case. As you can see, its tail is sticking up not hanging down in the usual manner.

That's a unique feature Awa Rich!

Y'know, it was never a problem so you're probably right. Aynho, I intend to make the bookmarks a feature in future editions.

I'm cernly looking forrit to that future feature Awa Rich!

The hand made batik dyed Nepalese Lokta paper I used for the cover is lovely stuff but it goes a bit wooly - like felt - with the sort of rough handling a journal can get. It can be quite pleasant but I decided to seal the next batch with acrylic varnish.

The First Journal

I wasn't able to get a replacement ready for seamless continuation due to being away for a week looking after a black dog, some adjustments I wanted to make to the stitching frame and pricking cradle, and good old procrastination.

I'm currently using an old Moleskine that I started scratching my thoughts in a couple of years ago but abandoned due to lack of enthusiasm. Aynho, with renewed enthusiasm I will fill it before starting on a new one.

The new journals are A6 - the same as the first one - which is a nice handy size to keep in your bag for when inspiration glints.

The Second A6 journals

How often do you find yourself riding a train of thought (or the rail replacement bus service Awa Rich) connecting this, merging with that and going off down branch lines, when the clouds part, the sun shines through illuminating a sparkling nugget of wisdom. You stop and say to yourself "yes, of course!" 

You think "I'll remember that", certainly you will, it was such a lucent crystal of verity. Something distracts you and moments later all that remains is a memory of the elation that you held such a perfect thing, and the frustration that you can't remember it. The touch of a vanished hand.

Flinkin' 'eck Awa Rich, it's just a thought. No need to get so melodramatic. Pass me the spirit of hartshorn, I'm having a fit of the vapours!

Mythology is full of descriptions of this common phenomenon (On the Caledonian Canal Awa Rich?). The faerie gold that turns to dry leaves, the enchanted music who's melody you can't recall though you danced like one possessed. It seems perverse that our brains leave us with the memory that we held something precious but can't remember what it was.

Sometimes 're running the tape' can bring it back. Rewinding it backwards can help. Sometimes it pops back unbidden at a random future time. A handy notebook can relieve you from a lot of grief.

Update: The blue one has already found a new home in Ireland, with a friend of Marie's sister. I hope it serves her well.

I made the first journal with cheap photocopy paper which wasn't so good for writing with a fountain pen. It was too thin and absorbent. I used Conqueror 100 gsm wove vellum in the second pair, much better paper.

A5 Journals

The modifications I made to the stitching frame and pricking cradle are working well. It's surprising how a small change can make a big difference. I can prick the stitching holes quicker and more accurately and it's a lot easier to set up the tapes in the stitching frame now. There's still a bit tweaking to be done, but it feels more like a useable piece of equipment - rather than an experiment - now.

The two journals in the photo above are the same as the one I sent to Marie's sister. The blocks are made from 100 gsm Conqueror. The one on the left is covered with some heavy wrapping paper from the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. The one on the right is covered with hand made Nepalese Lokta paper from Shepherds/Faulkiners in Victoria.

I'm pretty pleased with them, they look, feel and smell lovely. The only slight problem is that I used A4 paper folded in half, so the grain runs across the page rather than parallel with the spine. I thought I'd try it to see if it made any difference as getting hold of good quality A3 paper isn't easy. Apart from feeling a bit stiff when you flip through the pages, the major problem is the way the block warps when the humidity is high. Aynho, it was just a test and I learned something from it. The next ones will benefit from the experience.

Standing on the shoulders of giants Awa Rich!

Quite so

Books are Madjicke!

I've always been fascinated by books, not just for their content - I can, and probably will, wax lyrical about that interminably.

Books have been revered and feared throughout history, mostly for their content but sometimes their reputation is enough. There's a mythology that surrounds books. They can be full of dangerous things. Madjicke spells and incantations, or still more scary, ideas. All things that may tempt you to stray from the path, and we can't have that, can we Awa Rich?

But, I'm talking about books as objects. Even before you become enthralled and absorbed by what's inside - which may be no more than the potential of blank pages - there's something about a book that's powerful and madjickle. Hold a book in your hands, open it, flick through the pages, smell it. Feel the enchantment crackle.

Bookbinding is one of those ancient traditional crafts that have always seemed like alchemy to me, but a madjicke I wanted the knowing of. I looked around for books about making books - recursion is another thing that fascinates me - I never seemed to have the ready money when I was thinking about it. I looked at courses, they were even more expensive.

This year I resolved to figure it out and found all the answers I needed at the Delphic Oracle, or YouTube as it's more popularly known. You can learn just about anything you want to on YouTube, it just takes time, patience and asking the right questions.

My first attempt was a sketchbook. I buy lovely sketchbooks that I never use because they're too precious to be sullied with my scrawlings. If I make my own then they'll be friendly to my scratchings, went my reasoning.

I've made half a dozen small sketchbooks (A5 and A6) using various kinds of paper and was well pleased with the results. They work! I mean I can use them like a 'proper' sketchbook and they don't fall apart. Unbelievable! It was quite a long journey but well worth it to have something I can use.

I hadn't intended making Moleskine type notebooks as I have several thirsty ones on the shelf. I stumbled upon SeaLemon - who has several tutorials on bookbindery on YouTube - including 'How to Make a Moleskine Style Notebook'. So I thought I'd give it a try.

The first attempt was a bit frayed at the edges as I'd used cheap photocopy paper on the inside and tried to trim it with an X-Acto knife. Nevertheless, I still have all my fingers and something useable. I've nearly filled it with inky symbols that represent the machinations of my mind. Result!

I made another for my partner, Marie. She was delighted with it and asked me to make one for her sister.

This is it. The cover is made from a sheet of wrapping paper from The Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. The pen is a TWSBI Diamond 580.

This is a teaser. Some time in the future ("It's gonna be the future soon!" - Jonathan Coulton song) I'll describe how I got to this point.

Front cover

Front cover (belly band removed)

Rear cover

Front and rear cover

Front end paper

The dangerous bit