Thoughts on Diaries/Journals/Scrapbooks/Blogs

[VintageJess]

"Keep a diary and someday it will keep you." --Mae West

What do you think? Any of you keep journals, diaries, scrapbooks, blogs?

With my love and appreciation of history, you would think that I would be extra willing to document my own life. However, I always seem to find that I am too busy living my life to find the time to document it all. At times I have attempted to jot a few things down, but always seem to abandon it after a week or so.

The only time I've really kept good records and daily notes has been during my husband's deployments to Iraq (the initial push to Baghdad in OIF 1, and the November 2004 Fallujah fight.) I have kept all of our letters, emails, photographs, information distributions from his units and commanders, maps, our own personal diaries, etc. I guess because I really felt that it was bigger than us and should be preserved for history and future scholars.

However, I will admit to being pretty lax about keeping up with my son's baby book. My excuse was that I was just too tired that first year to write down how much he weighed at every darn appointment, etc. (Don't worry, I got most of the important stuff!) We did recently start keeping a family blog, as a way for long-distance friends and family to keep in touch. That seems a bit easier to keep up with, perhaps because I know they expect us to post a picture or blurb every so often? It has been fun to post pictures and stories on there, but it just doesn't seem the same as a lovely scrapbook to thumb through for all time.

Anyway, I would love to hear about some of your practices. Specifically, those of you who travel or are very much into hobbies--do you keep specific journals or scrapbooks to chronicle your adventures? How do you think the new technology (digital cameras, blogs, video/DVD) has or will change how we document our personal history?

Jessica

 

[artdecodame]

I've been posting in my Live Journal for almost a year now (anniversary 4th July), but just started keeping a paper one. A girlfriend gave me a cute vintage-y one for my birthday to document my travels and etc. I will use it especially for that when I return to Germany in July, so maybe years from now I'll look back at it and either laugh or be pleased! Sometimes I glue in cute old images inside to keep it colourful and fun. Also, I like to write in general, so I find I keep regular notebooks of my random thoughts and such on (maybe) my future semi-autobiographical (yet historically set in previous eras) novel.

 

[Rosie]

I've kept a journal since I was probably 16 or so. Every so often I find one and read a random page just to see what my thought were at a younger age or what was going on at that point. I've had a blog for over a year. I scrapbook about my dog (I know, I'm nuts ) because I got him when he was a puppy and he was just too cute and, it's an excuse to do something else creative. Also, this is a bit strange but I started this when I was young, I write letters to my future self but not like everyday, every few years or so. I wrote one when I was 15 that I am to open in two years when I am 30. I wrote one when I was 20 for when I am 35 and one at 25 for when I am 40. I guess when I turn 30, I'll write one for myself at age 45 or 50.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I guess I'm kind of odd in that I tend to keep a journal only when I'm going thru a particularly difficult time in my life.

I went thru a medical crisis a few years ago -- which coincided with some other serious personal issues -- and ended up keeping a very detailed diary thruout that period, including the entire time I was in the hospital. It wasn't so much a chronicle of what was happening so much as it was a place for me to unload the emotions I was feeling at the time, and because of that it's kind of painful to go back and read it today. But I've got it locked away safely in my strong box, and I'm glad I have it, as evidence that I survived something I didnt think I could.

 

[Etienne]

Gosh, this is a hot button for me! I love everything to do with writing and journaling--from the pens and inks and papers, to the little drawings and snippets of this and that! However, every time I try to keep up with a journal, I feel that I become a slave to it and then it isn't fun anymore! I've tried writing more sporadically--skipping days and weeks, etc. and then I begin feeling guilty that I'm letting it slide! Worse, when I just really feel I have to let off steam and write down my thoughts and feelings, I do it and then feel terrible that some day my family will find it and read it and think Mom had mental disorders! So I tear it up and throw it away! I am a big time scrapbooking enthusiast, though, and I fill the pages with notes and thoughts and drawings as I go. I have completed quite a number of them, including 4 large books of my 27 yr. old son's life, which have 270 pages of everything from being pregnant with him, to snips of his hair, school papers, etc. So they are like scrapbooks and photo albums combined. I'm now knee-deep in doing my daughter's life books (and she's 30 years old! I'm SO behind!! And don't ask why his got done first...!)

 

[colleency]

I keep a Live Journal. It's mostly where I write about what clothing I am making, restaurant reviews, recipes, book and movie reviews.

I am, however, behind a computer all day, so it's easy to find the time to update.

 

[Katydid]

Gosh, this is a hot button for me! I love everything to do with writing and journaling--from the pens and inks and papers, to the little drawings and snippets of this and that!

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I have a paper fetish. I especially like collecting stationary that is more akin to parchment and I keep an eye out for unique leatherbound journals but I'm really bad at keeping journals. I have a Live Journal that gets updated every month or so and my written journals fall by the wayside when I get particularly busy. When I was living at home, I could never be sure that my mom wasn't reading my journal so I NEVER wrote personal things in it and doesn't that just defeat the purpose? Nowadays I usually write in my journal when I'm going through a tough time, just to get my thoughts clear or to distract myself.

 

[Novella]

I've been an online journal person for a few years now. I've been terrible about writing in paper journals. Online journals are so convienent and something about having a potential reading audience gets me to post. Of course the audience can be bad too, as when I'm grumpy or tired and make a post about it, it's not really accurate of who I am. I'm not dramatic or very emotional in real life, so having a journal with an audience makes me consider more about what I'm posting and how it's a representation of my life. It's very good for mulling over thoughts. When I'm really upset I actually find it most effective to write fiction stories instead of writing about why I'm upset - sometimes journals get me thinking too much and I can get angry all over again.

I had a scrapbook when I was younger, although looking back on it now it's pretty messy and disorganized since it started when I was in grade school. I'm tempted to rip it apart and reconstruct it but I don't know if I will. Now I have a small scrapbook that is much neater looking. Nothing professional with all the scrapbooking stickers/stamps/fancy paper. Just stuff I come across and want to make colleges or decorations out of like paper bags, tissue paper from presents, etc.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I was very inconsistent with keeping a journal and have documented fragments of my life. Over the last six years, I have described nearly everyday of my life, though I tend not to dwell on what I do, but rather how I interact emotionally and intellectually to my world. I also use it as a tool to collect information about what I am studying, where I am travelling, and various writing projects I am working on.

It is interesting to go back and read what I was thinking on some momentous date; what were my problems the day before a tragedy, then again right after?

It also helps me to remember vacations. I described my reactions to rain forests, famous works of art, and people I have met. It's enlightening to revist them and to re-examine my reactions to them.

I buy very nice leather journals, so that they will outlast me and perhaps last several generations. It is a way of reaching into eternity.

Blogs I use for musings that I want to share. I also write poems, God help me, that I post on my blog at MySpace. This is a way to share with my friends.

I also consider many of my posts on message boards as an ephemeral journal entry.