So may questions. But the answers are simple. Let's take them one at a time.
Pen or Pencil?
"Grab any writing implement, it doesn't matter."
Not! Don't believe them! Pens do matter. If your pen skips, stops working, feels unbalanced in your hand, you'll soon stop journaling. Spend some time finding a good pen. Don't use pencil. It's too easy to erase. Be bold. Use a pen.
Some folks go overboard on this. Some journal writers suggest finding that pen that "you can connect with" or that "speaks to you." I hope it doesn't speak to me or I'll need more than private journaling to resolve those voices.
No, I'm talking about a practical pen that is a joy to write with. A good pen is one that responds quickly to your style of writing. Are you left handed? Get a pen that doesn't smear. You want a pen that never hesitates, responds to your way of writing and drawing and is reliable.
Use a waterproof pen
Why? For one reason, they wont smear while holding the book's page. As I write down the page I use my left thumb to hold the book open (especially is this true on a new journal). The moisture from my thumb can smear the non-waterproof inks and create thumb prints down the page as I progress.
Another reasone I prefer waterproof is that I like to draw or doodle in my journal. Some days later I may return to a drawing and fill it in with some watercolor. Non waterproof inks smear and mix with the clean watercolor and crate a muddy mess.
Uniball Vision Micro (0.5) is my favorite. I can leave them uncapped while I ponder a point without fear of drying out. They last a long time of constant drawing. (I've experimented using a single Uniball pen for work journaling, private journaling, and note taking at meetings. Results? A single pen lasted five weeks of constant use. Your mileage may vary.) However, the felt tipped pens will dry out if I leave them uncapped. I often leave the Uniball uncapped on my desk throughout the day without a problem. It starts writing immediately when I pick it up again. Would it last longer if I capped it between uses? Perhaps.
Longhand or computer file/blog?
I've read lots of conflicting advice on this:
"Write in/on whatever material you feel comfortable with."
"Write only in long hand in a book journal."
"It doesn't matter what you write in, could be a private blog, computer file, hard bound journal."
"Use three ring binder and cheap copy paper. Then you can remove and add pages as you like."There is something special about writing long hand in a book while pondering the day's events. Many journalists love to quote The Artist's Way and the recommendation of Julia Cameron of writing three pages of long hand every morning. For Illustrated Journaling I stick to a page a day.
John Stienbeck write long hand while writing The Grapes Of Wrath. He wrote several pages to his editor each morning before he wrote his draft's contents that day. (Read about this in A Book Of One's Own by Thomas Mallon. It's my all time favorite book on keeping a journal.)
Use a bound blank book for your Illustrated Journal
My advice for journaling/sketching book? Use a blank hardback bound book about 5x7 or 6x8 inches.
While you may like to write stories on computer on in a blog, a private hardback journal book provides a whole different writing and sketching experience.
Why a bound book? The pages can not be removed, such as the pages in a three-ring binder or spiral notebook. You want to go back weeks, months, even years later to review your words and sketches. Seeing the entries in context will help you see growth. It will put your whole writing experience in perspective. You'll return to your current writing journal with a better perspective. You'll whine less. You'll focus on what matters more. And you'll be encouraged to see your sketching has even improved.
Believe me when I say: The single thing you could do to improve your journal writing and sketching is to see it in perspective. You can't do that if your pages are torn out.
Other reasons for keeping a book journal
The IBM PC personal computer was invented in 1981. Since then we have seen word processors change dramatically. I personally have learned seven or more text editors on personal computers. Not all of them provided interchangeable file formats. What I wrote in WordStar was not readable by WordPerfect except through some intermediate format that lost paragraph marks, bold, and underlines. Additionally, I've owned at least 20 or more machines since my first personal computer. Some of them gave out on me when I least expected, losing some of my data files in the process.
A book never crashes. It's true you could loose a book through carelessness, theft, or a fire. If the pain of losing your journals is too great for you to contemplate, consider scanning your pages and keep them on the internet in a private place somewhere. However, I have moved across country three times and all my journals come right along with me. Although, if I had scanned them I would not have needed to pack them all each time. But I recommend keeping a book journal and never throwing them out.
But there is a greater reason for keeping your journal in a book than the worry about file formats. You'll want to flip through it's contents and randomly scan it's contents. This is more difficult to do using computer files. Additionally, I like doing some sketching. Pictures often bring back the memory faster than words. An illustrated journal will help you recall events in a richer way. More on that later.
A book never crashes. You can drop it and it still works. You can quickly flip through it and see the beauty the written page fan past in all it's hand written glory. If you change pen colors occationally, you'll see rainbows as you do this. Better, if you add some doodles or illustrations copied from the events of your life, you'll relive the happy events in a flash. Nothing is better, more personal, than a hand crafted account of your life.
Can't I use a soft leather cover Journal?
Why not use a soft, rich leather covered journal? Most of my writing and sketching is done in my lap or even standing up. Hardcover books simply give me the portable "desk" that supports the pages of the journal. If you are doing Illustrated Journaling on the go, you want to be able to write and sketch anywhere, with or without a desk. Having a hard cover book will give you that portable writing and sketching surface.
How big? How many pages?
Not too big. You want to pack it in your suitcase when you go on vacation. Right? What value is your life's journal without your vacation events included?
Not too small. If the pages are too small you will not be able to write meaningful things of the day, or include sketches of your experience. You want a page big enough to capture the sights, sounds, and feelings of the occasion, and that can accommodate a sketch that will immediately bring back the memory.
So what size? The best all around size I've found to be most convenient is a 400 page journal that is 5x7 or 6x8 inches. Four hundred pages? Yes, it ought to have a full year's worth of pages, or about 400 (counting front and back), that's 200 leafs. This gives 365 days (if a page a day) plus a few extra pages for those especially eventful days. (You can use an indexing method to extend your day past a single page.)
I hope this "How?" has given you some ideas.
Now go get a book and get started!
...dave
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