Do you journal?

[Antares]

I've tried journaling in the past, but something has always put me off doing that regularly. I stopped when I noticed how irregular I was and how little I really wrote- when I needed to vent. Just when I achieved some consistency, I blew my money on an expensive, high quality notebook. But then I was never really satisfied with my penmanship, and I didn't want to read it because for some reason or the other, my loops don't align perfectly, and I don't much like my print either.

Somehow, no matter how much my cursive is praised, I can never seem to like it enough. Then I got myself a low model Waterman fountain pen, and it looks even more polished now, although if I try, I can find a thousand imperfections. Even in print, fountain pen makes my penmanship better. But then the size of the notebook became a problem; it was so small, that it's hard to open completely, and given how anal I am about my penmanship, it just won't do.

But then, I can never really stop journaling, even if I am without a formal journal. In class, or at home, I might be writing notes, but when a something comes to me, I'd be scrawling my thoughts and feelings all over my notes. And then they'd end, and sometimes I'd practice my penmanship, so I would copy passages from a book for something to write. As a result, anyone reading through this very public notebook would likely think of me as some sort of deviant; four crammed subjects, streams of consciousness and random published excerpts.

So help me here, for those who do journal,

Why do you journal?
What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
Does your penmanship matter to you?
How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

[cannotseethe]

Why do you journal?

I constantly write. I feel like it's a necessary part of how I sort through ideas and thoughts.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?

Stuff that happens during the day. Random ideas I'm thinking about. Math and computer code.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?

Sometimes. Not much.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?

I write in a file on my computer. It's nice because I can search through it. I have the entries organized by date and I make a PDF out of it with bookmarks, too. I write stuff in my journal that I'd never want to see the light of day. No blog for me, not for this kind of stuff.

Does your penmanship matter to you?

My handwriting is virtually unreadable when I'm writing only for myself, and I don't care.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.

10.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

The file's on my computer, which is safe enough for me. I used to write in notebooks and kept them in a box in my closet. However, virtually everyone I've lived with has read them, which drives me up a wall. So those are hidden, and everything I've journaled for the last few years has been on my computer.

[Poppysmic]

I don't journal about simple everyday occurrences. I do keep a journal of any theories I randomly come up with. I also keep a separate journal for personal growth where I put all of my random realizations out on paper and elaborate on it. I never include pictures or scraps but maybe a diagram to help explain or connect something. All of my journals are on word documents. Penmanship depends on what mood I'm in. I can be a perfectionist about it or not care at all. All of my journal entries are completely honest and I suppose one could say my personal growth journal is highly personal. I don't think I would have a problem sharing it with someone close though. They're safe enough on my computer as far as I'm concerned.

[WoodsWoman]

Why do you journal?
To process life. I find writing is one way to access my Fi enough to make sense of things. Also it is very helpful to be able to look back over a period of time and see how my outlook changed. I first started journaling in '06 when I was processing the loss of my Dad.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
Little bits of everything. 99.9% first person.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
Yes - I have some cards that were given to me that are very special to me. Some other notes and tidbits.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
Hand written - my only blog, such as it is, is on this forum.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
I like a college ruled small format, 5x7ish, notebook with pockets for the odd scraps and poem drafts. The best tool is one you use.

Does your penmanship matter to you?
Not particularly - but I will edit myself.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10
Ten - though it is a process of self discovery and sometimes one moment of honesty can be the next moments fiction. I don't always use other peoples names, sometimes, but not always.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
I don't share them. The full ones are locked away, the current one is in my "pocket book" (a medium LLBean Tote with long handles). One of my sisters is instructed to dispose of them if I die, though I'm not as concerned about that as I used to be. If I disappear under suspicious circumstances there is a specific individual they are to be given to.

[Celeborn]

I do not often journal, but I have a nice Moleskine, and I love collecting fountain pens.

[Silverity]

Why do you journal?

I love to write. For me, journaling is a hobby, a coping mechanism, and a way of settling down in the evening. It also gives me a record of some of my most cherished memories and current thought processes.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?

Various things. Not usually poetry, but prose, current events. Sometimes I write in first person, sometimes I write it out as a story that unfolds with no ‘presence’ of self at all.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?

Occasionally, yes. Especially if I’m journaling on a trip somewhere.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?

Both. My hand written ones always feel more personal though.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?

I use anything: notebooks, loose-leaf, napkins, scraps of paper, music programs. I’m left handed so I write in spiral notebooks backwards, starting at the back.

Does your penmanship matter to you?

Yes.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.

Brutally, 10.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

Some I hide in other books, others are stacked neatly in my shelves. I live alone so I don’t worry much of people seeing them. Online I only give the links out to people I trust, and only one or two at a time.

[reb]

Antares, i do not regularly journal. i tried it in my late teens and early 20s, and didn't keep up with it. did not, then, seem to have much benefit for me. somehow, my mother kept my journal safe for 40+ years. i doubt she ever read it; it was in a small metal box in my folks house. found it after they both died. i posted one excerpt from it in my blog. i found what i wrote to be shockingly naive; it then made me look at the road i've travelled. way better than an old photograph.

so, don't toss out what you've got. later, it will seem like 'revisiting yourself'.

[Night Runner]

I tried journaling a very long time ago, and it just didn't seem worth it. (Sorry, future biographers.) I just blog instead - and even then, without putting any real thought into it. However, I have a little notepad in which I write once a month - just the basic, laconic facts on what happened over the course of the month and my current net worth. I might find some use for it in the far, far future.

[idem]

I did for a few years, a page or two almost every day. In the past few months, I've sort of been slacking off, for no reason I can discern ... I haven't written in at least a month. When I did journal, I basically wrote narration concerning important or interesting parts of my day, and occasionally the feelings surrounding those events. I always wrote in the first person, and never included scraps, photographs, etc. - just the date, time, and a few paragraphs of writing.

I suppose that the main reason I recorded that information was that I felt it would be a great record to have in the future - of how my life was like so many years ago. Unfortunately, as soon as I was more lenient with myself - when I allowed myself to skip a few nights - I stopped writing entirely.

I just use a standard, blank, lined book. I never bother locking it or concealing it, because there's nothing all that private in there; when I write, I keep in mind that someone might see it, and therefore don't write anything too personal or offensive.

My handwriting's pretty awful, and it really doesn't bother me that much. As long as I can read it, I don't care what it looks like.

[t3hrubikscube]

I do, yes. I don't handwrite it, but instead type it in Word documents. I tend to write a lot, so handwriting tends to get tedous/tiresome.

Why do you journal?
I like to have somewhere to put all of my thoughts. I do more listening than talking in my life, but that doesn't mean that I have nothing to say. I just don't like to share private thoughts with people.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
Yes, I always write in first person. I just write out my thoughts to try to organize them and understand them better. I do it for the purpose of trying to understand my emotions.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
Nope. I usually don't.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
I definitely prefer to 'e-journal.' I don't like to handwrite things. Handwritten journals may seem a little more personal sometimes, I guess, but I don't mind.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
When I did do handwritten journaling in the past, I just used plain old ten cent spiral notebooks. I used a composition notebook once before. It doesn't matter to me though.

Does your penmanship matter to you?
When I did do handwritten journaling, it didn't matter.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
10. I don't show them to anyone else so I don't see why I'd be anything but totally honest.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
I never really bothered to conceal my handwritten journals....or my e-journals, for that matter. I have my own computer. I do have a 'private' LiveJournal blog though...but I don't use my real name there and none of the people in my 'real life' know about it.

[tcp]

Interesting thread. Mine's actually a private file on my google documents so I can access it from anywhere with an internet connection. It's much more convenient to type stuff up because typing is faster than writing (mine is slightly illegible) and the stuff can be rearranged or searched with the click of a button. I think the downside is that you can't doodle in it the way you would with an actual, paper journal.
It contains a mishmash of my actual thoughts interspersed with bits of found stuff, basically, a crazy document of my N.
I am trying to record my thought processes so that I can go back and examine them to see if I've made the right decisions. It's kind of like ... an experimental observation log on myself to identify patterns in my behaviour. I regret destroying my old paper journals, but I was afraid they would be found and read.

[sms444]

Why do you journal?

To record and further analyze interesting thoughts.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?

Ideas and musings, mostly. I almost never write in first person - I like to organize my ideas to be as universally applicable as possible.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?

Never, those don't help!

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?

Both.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?

I have notes sprawled everywhere. I love jotting spur of the moment ideas down on post it notes and sticking them around my desk to remind me to look at them later. I probably have about 5-6 notebooks in my room right now, from only a few inches to full pads of 11/7 inch paper. I also write in Word documents while at my computer and when I'm out of my apartment, I will text message myself thoughts if I forget to bring paper/pen.

Does your penmanship matter to you?

Not even slightly - sometimes I even purposely write more sloppily so that if other people see my notes they won't make sense unless they discuss it with me.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.

9.5 - as much as possible, but the other .5 is for my occasional subconscious interference.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

I usually don't care if others find them, because they look so eccentric anyway and are rarely personal anecdotes as they are random ideas that I always enjoy discussing.

[Vulpes]

Question:

"What difference did journaling make?"

I don't but am open to persuasion.

[Warrior]

I don't really journal. The closest I come is keeping a log of my training sessions. Otherwise, I have never really felt the need to write down my daily events and thoughts. I gave it a shot years ago, but didn't really get anything out of it.

[stacyr201]

Why do you journal?
Mainly because the only people I actually talked to about serious stuff had to leave, and I lost my ability to deal with it all so I write in it to let go of the stuff that's bothering me, Usually once a week, Sunday night right before go to sleep.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
I just write my thoughts, things that are bothering me, stupid things that people do that I can't tell them to their face. Or occasionally design stuff for costumes I am in the process of planning.
Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
No
Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
I pretty much handwrite everything, If I really need it to stay secure and secret I'll type it and put a password on it
What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
I use a blank notebook, composition book, a journal a friends gave me when I graduated, anything I can just ramble in.
Does your penmanship matter to you?
Not really, I can read all of it so it doesn't matter that much, plus I don't exactly have the best spot to write, but it's the only spot I sit and write in so it has to do.
How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
10
How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
It's out in plain sight in my bedroom, where I have made it very clear that it is almost always off limits, unless I specifically mention otherwise. If someone reads it I'll know and chances are unless it's one person I will be very angry. And me very angry is terrifying as I discovered last week when I gave a mini-INTJ deathglare to someone. And that was me mostly just slightly frustrated with someone. I hate to think what it is when I have lost all sense of control.

[rhapsodical]

01. Why do you journal?
I primarily reach self-discovery through verbalizing, and when I don't have my best friend available (happens quite often, as many times, there are important things running through my head at 3am), the next best thing is to channel my thoughts into words on paper (or e-paper).

02. What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
I dabble in different types of writing. I do a lot of philosophizing and a lot of questioning. I try writing fiction, as I adore pretty words, but it always ends up being a story similar to my own.

I don't do poetry, though. That is the one that just isn't my cup of tea.

I typically write in first person in article-type works, but when I'm attempting fiction, it's nearly always in third person.

03. Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
Next to never. I like the concept, though.

04. Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
I work with both. I find myself e-journaling more often, as I have so many half-finished handwritten journals in various areas of my room -- it's difficult to keep track of everything. I only have one e-journal, so many times, it's easier.

05. What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
I have all kinds of notebooks. I like college ruled, elegantly designed notebooks. Nothing too clunky or neon.

06. Does your penmanship matter to you?
Yes. I strive to have neat penmanship. I think that once I start letting it go, it'll all go downhill.

07. How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
I don't know how to not be honest, and I don't know how to be excruciatingly personal, even with myself. I've heard it's an INTJ thing -- sometimes, even I am unaware of exactly how I feel about something.

I tend to be evasive and elusive in writing when I am discussing personal issues. I analyze every aspect of a situation to the point that I don't know how I feel.

08. How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
My e-journal can only be read by me. My handwritten ones are scattered around my room. I suppose a family member COULD find some, and I am self-conscious of that. But for the most part, they're tucked away. They are not locked.

[marcus73x]

Preface - I don't journal regularly, as I have severely trust problems, even when living alone. I guess I don't like the idea that people could find out what I'm really thinking. I grew up in a huge family where I learned that trusting people usually results in getting screwed over.

Why do you journal?

To reassemble what I'm thinking... to better analyze. Like chess.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?

The stuff that keeps me up at night... why bother trying tomorrow? What matters? Are the decisions I'm making sound? When will this friggin dog move off my legs so I can roll over?
First person, as that is really all that is relevant anyhow.


Do you like to include pictures and scraps?

Nope

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?

I've done the handwritten (block printing), but as that is incriminating physical evidence of my thoughts (whereas e-journals are but the click of a mouse from the ether), I stopped writing. I only type them out now. Being the most tech savvy of my sphere of influence anyhow, it keeps me at a slight advantage should I want to better mask my activity.


What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?

Leatherbound journals look great and blend in with other books nicely. They will last generations so that when your great-grandkids want to dig up your dirt, it will be there for posterity.


Does your penmanship matter to you?

Yes. I block print when I do write things out, and it is generally very neat. My cursive sucks a$$.


How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.

4 - See Preface. I'm not dishonest with myself in the journal. I just don't put all my thoughts in the journal. No need. I'm the only one reading, or who will ever read.


How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

I don't use physical journals, so that's safety measure #1.
I don't talk about them with prying ears, or even reference them. Area 51 concept.
I keep passwords on my computer(s) which the NSA would have trouble figuring out... at least for a few hours.
I use the age old method... I hide the file in plain sight. Microsoft has kindly made windows out of a few million files, so I just tuck mine in there.

[Firebrand9]

Why do you journal?
Catharsis. For the release and to be able to look back and capture my own personal history and spot trends. It's easy to forget the details of situations over time and I like the perfect recollection of words upon a page. And also to write advice to myself and insights I've noticed.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
My life experiences, how I handled situations, how I could better handle situations, things I want. Always first-person.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
Rarely.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
Hand-written. It's just for me. If I do a digital journal (aka blog) it's to write essays with a thrust to them.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
I like a nice Italian leatherbound book with a ribbon bookmark. Right now I'm using a brownish-red leather one that was handmade in Florence.

Does your penmanship matter to you?
Nope, though prior to going into computers I was an architecture major (yes, I know the Howard Roark similarities), so my penmanship is usually pretty neat to begin with from all the years of lettering.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
I'm assuming 10 is more honest so I would rate 11. What's the point of holding back?

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
They're on a shelf near my bed. Noone goes in my bedroom and a girlfriend would be trained to not indiscriminately touch my books without prior consent from me.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Some other good questions would be :
What time of day do you usually do it?
First thing in the morning while I drink my daily espresso.

How often do you do it?
A few times a month, but for a while I was doing it every day.

[Edd Nigma]

Why do you journal?

Too many reasons to list. Among the top are self reflection, and organizing the constant stream of random/chaotic thoughts that come to mind.

Memory isn't as reliable as a lot people think it is. Journaling is a more accurate way of remembering things.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?

Always first person.

Logging ideas started off as something work related. I would always research things, but the notes were out of order, and hard to understand. So I set up a free Invision board forum and was able to organize these findings through a bulletin board setting. That later expanded to setting personal goals, logging random ideas, what comes to mind in altered states of consciousness (drugs), etc.. definitely an excellent source of self reflection and improvement.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?

I would like to, but the process is a little too time consuming. I like to write what needs to be said, then be done. So no, not really.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.

10. Would someone actually admit to being dishonest in a journal entry? Maybe some people are unaware of inaccuracies?

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

Password protected on my computer

[Wry Satyr]

I journaled a lot when I was in college and the first 8-10 years after that...used to write about my emotional angst, trying to get at the heart of what it meant to be me. It helped me realize that I shared responsibility for why relationships weren't working. Early on, my journals included lots of drawings/sketches - mostly medieval figures or themes. One of the journals was kept as part of a college class, which fortunately for me, got me noticed by the instructor and I was invited to take her poetry workshop. That totally changed my life. I find that the more comfortable I feel with my life, the less poetry and journaling I do.

Most of my poetry centers on family dynamics, distance from mainstream society, and my connectedness to nature through my spirituality - I'm a happy heathen. When I read some of my poetry now, I hear music in my head.

[BlackMita]

Why do you journal?
I think with greater clarity journaling, and it's fun. However, there are still things I will not even try to put into words.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
I write almost exclusively about art making and changing consciousness (technique).

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
I like the look of plain notepad (computer) but I also like real paper, because I can draw pictures and diagrams as I write.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
No preference. See above.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
A4 grid or blank paper that I cut/crop.

Does your penmanship matter to you?
I don't use cursive, but value versatile skill with typography.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
I'm not a confessor, so a lot of what I think and feel does not actually go into the writing unless it relates to something specific I'm going over. I am honest, but not personal; so 7.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
I keep large binders (without adornment) full of A4 sheets. This is also where I store my drawings/art, making half of my journal inseparable from my sketchbook*. The other half is compromised of word docs on my computer (that nobody else uses).

*Seeing my art alongside the journaling would probably bump the honesty/personal rating to about 80 million, which is the bane of my existence if I take myself too seriously.

[Wry Satyr]

OK, so I answered before, but not in the technical format. So, here it is:

Why do you journal?
To put what's in my head on paper...solve mysteries, put my mind at ease.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
Stress, joy, frustration...emotional stuff, sometimes poetry/lyrics. Always 1st person.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
Lots of drawings/sketches while in college...sometimes deisgns or symbols if I'm working with runes or other hermetic readings.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
I don't blog or keep an e-journal, but my e-mails to freinds often serve as journal entries of a sort.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
I tend to use a legal pad (not yellow). I'm OC when it comes to little tabs of paper falling out of notebooks (not a neat freak, but little things like that are annoying). A good friend of mine often does her journaling in leatherbound books.

Does your penmanship matter to you?
Only if I'm using symbols/sigils that I want to look accurate. Otherwise, no. Actually, that's one of the only times when I use cursive - most of the time I print.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
I'm definitely in the 9-10 range, being honest to a fault.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
I don't really worry about it. I've got a cabinet and boxes full of notebooks, binders, folders, etc. It may hold the keys to my kindom, but the world won't disolve if someone reads them.

[MrDoom]

Why do you journal?
Primarily for self-knowledge, as well as for applications in lucid dreaming.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
I keep a dream journal, as well as a semi-regular journal, mostly filled with introspective, stream-of-consciousness ramblings.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
The software I use supports linking a given entry to on-disk files, URLs, and other entries. I use the feature frequently.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
Typing is generally the only way that I can get words out as fast as they arise in my head.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
8-9.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?
The entire database is fully encrypted by default. I'm not worried about anyone reading it in particular, the odds are pretty slim and I'm working towards getting full disk encryption on here anyways so most people won't even be able to use my computer without my knowledge, much less read some user-specific files.

[rhiesa]

Why do you journal?
I journal to help myself keep control of my emotions, so that my ideas are down on paper and later on I can look at them and refine who I am.

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
I mostly write essays, speeches and poetry. Once or twice I've tried first person narrative of my day, it felt wrong.

Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
I keep the stray notes and doodles I write during the day in between pages so I don't lose them, but no photographs.

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?

Definately handwritten, you can tell quite a bit about how you were emotionally that day by the quality of your penmanship. One entry is written with a micron pen as small as I could possibly have managed it. Another is huge swooping letters mishmashed together into an incomprehensible slurry.

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?

I have four moleskins of various sizes (people found out I write in a journal and bought them for me. The rest of them are standard black notebooks you can get at any store. I like thin slightly yellow paper. It feels better.

Does your penmanship matter to you?

My penmanship is atrocious and I love it. As long as I can read it afterwords it's done it's job (though that isn't always the case ^_^')

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.

8, the reasoning is in the answer to the next question.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

I have a row on my bookcase for them, proudly displayed at eye level. Most of them are filled cover to cover with thousands of poems, stories, essays and anecdotes. When I really like someone I offer to let them read one of them. The best way to know someone is through their writing.

[Quiet Riot]

Why do you journal?
I started because i realized i wasnt really remembering the little things that happen in my life, i just assimilate knowledge into my worldview and then forgot what i used to think. i also like chronicling things that happen with girls. but after i was into it for a while, it was just amazing the sense of closure i feel when im done writing about what happened that that day...its like i can stop going over and thinking about it in my mind once i have it down on paper. also i like writing and i like documenting my life and sometimes going back to read what i thought about something on a particular day

What do you primarily write about? Anecdotes? Poetry? Do you write in first person throughout?
first person, what happens in my life, ideas, just general thoughts. but my main focus is things that happen with girls im interested in.


Do you like to include pictures and scraps?
no

Do you prefer e-journaling (blogs, word documents, journaling software) or handwritten ones?
actually i just started making a few short documentations (short journal entries) in google documents on my gmail account, which works really well, because you can do it from any computer

What kind of notebook do you like to use? Anything in particular you can recommend?
i only use paper. 8 and a half by 11 and not hole punched. no vertical lines, only horizontal.


Does your penmanship matter to you?
no. i can read my handwriting just fine, and i have no intention of ever showing any of these journals to any other living person, so it doesnt matter otherwise.

How honest and personal are you in your journals? On a scale of 1-10.
probably a 9. im dead honest about nearly everything, but there are some things i just ignore because i dont want to write them down on paper.

How do you keep them safe? Lock? Or do you tuck them away? Do you bother to conceal them?

i have an elaborate file system in my room that contains all my school stuff, and bookshelves with hundreds of books and folders. i just put it in a folder and its unnoticeable. and convenient

i really think INJs are the most likely of all types to journal, and especially to journal more than "surface stuff" as in, the day to day happenings of their lives. ive read a Sensor's journal before. its like "we went there, and then we did this", with no real deep thought. whereas mine is more like what i thought about because of what i did or what happened

[Wry Satyr]

rhiesa wrote
The best way to know someone is through their writing.

And someone's reaction to what you wrote is a good way to gage how a relationship may progress, level of trust, etc.