A few weeks ago (Over a month actually) I made a beautiful new journal.  I love it.  I love it too much!  I have not been able to make myself make a single mark in the book!  This isn’t the first time this has happened.  Several times in my journaling life I have purchased, been given, or made a book that seemed just too wonderful for me to write in.  This really tanks for the journal process.  Over the last month I have been journaling, of course, I can barely think or function in an organized manner without scribbling notes and drawing diagrams.  The problem is, lately those notes and drawings have no home.  Scraps of paper, legal pads, sticky notes, envelopes!  Its everywhere, and probably will never be gathered in total to a nice, safe home.

Do not fret.  There is a solution for this (and the sister problem of “my life isn’t exciting enough to write down”).  Its actually a two part solution.  The first and most important part is…..

THE UGLY JOURNAL

When I first had to move from my wonderful southern Florida home back to Tennessee, my life/journaling took an excitement nose dive.  What did I have to record?  Did I care for future generations to see my Tennessee life?  So for about six months—no journal.  But soon the hypergraphia itch set back in.  I had to do something.  I grabbed a bunch of printer paper and put together a slap-dash Japanese stab binding book.  I promised myself that I could make it as ugly and unappealing as possible.  It was the ugliest journal I every carried.  On the other hand it was freeing.

Because the journal was so “ugly” and “unimportant” I was able to re-establish the daily (hourly) habit of keeping thoughts and ideas in one place.  As it turns out, the wildness of the entries in that book made it one of the most interesting in my collections.  I just hope the binding holds up. (the good thing about stab binding is that its easy to re-bind). It definitely helped restart my journaling life.

The second part of jump-starting your journal…

GET BACK TO BASICS

Let your prospects of Leonardo type journaling rest for a while.  Do some basic diary work.  Put down the date and one or two events that happened.  Or better yet—start with yesterday or the day before.  After you get a few days down on paper the habit will kick in.  Don’t over write it.  Just jot something down before bed.

——————

Oct. 2 2009
Finally made PJK post for the week.  Better late than never.  Weather beautiful.  Heard from John.

—————–

That’s all you need.

For my situation I grabbed a Moleskine from my dresser and set it next to my bed.  I promised myself 30 days of basic diary, then I will get to the other book.  Ill probably keep up the basic diary in that book as well.  Just until the new wears off the book and I can go nuts.

I am in the process of rethinking the posting schedule for Practical Journal Keeping.  I am gonna add more stuff.  More posts during the week and more information coming at all times.  Unfortunately all the planning for the new stuff  ate up my weekend for getting the regular stuff ready for the post today. (By the way, if the Google spiders are looking for the word “stuff” I should hit the number one spot, right?)
The tentative plan starting next week is a normal, informative journal technique or hack on Mondays, then a book or journal review on Wednesdays, and finally a link fest on Fridays (where I will spotlight some of the other great journal related sites on the web.

Now for something at least a bit informative and journal related:

The Pig Pen Cipher, Masonic Cipher, or Templars Code. A classic.

Care to guess what these people have in common?

Beatrix Potter, writer of children’s stories
Charles Wesley, founder of the Methodist church
William Byrd II, colonial writer, patriarch, planter, and leader
Leonardo Da Vinci, inventor/artist
Samuel Pepys, 17th century man-about-town

Well, yes, the easy answer is that they all kept journals.  More to the point of this post, however, they were all famous for keeping their respective journals in code.  Many of them weren’t deciphered until long years after they died.

Does this sound familiar?  “I can’t keep a journal, what if someone finds it”? So…put the juicy bits in code.

I’ve found that keeping your entire journal in code can be a bit cumbersome.  I am all about keeping your journaling as practical and useful as possible. Sometimes, however, you just can’t risk it.  It’s just as effective to encode a name or a place or (certainly) a Christmas list.

I became interested in codes and secret writing at a very early age.  At one time I had an entire journal dedicated to collecting secret writing systems.  If I found a coded message in a mystery novel I would jot the key down in the book.  I had codes from The Shadow and the Dancing Men from Sherlock Holmes.  I transcribed the fictional alphabets of Tolkien, and Krypton, and the Disney movie, Atlantis.  I copied the rune systems of the Celts, the Vikings and the Dwarves of Middle earth. I was well suited to keep any secret I needed to.

Codes need not be so very complicated.  Leonardo simply wrote backwards. A very useful code, that is easy to remember and yet will foil the casual observer might go something like this:

an ythin gyo umigh td ot ofoo lth eey ecoul dthro wof f acasua lsnoo p.

I’ll leave it up to you to decode this message.

I had my trusty book of collected codes to draw from at any time.  You don’t need one.  You can, of course, use a bit of personal creativity to hide your secrets, or, if you are like me and interested in the methods of the rest of the world, there are many websites dedicated to codes and ciphers.

The site I check out constantly is basically an online version of my old codebook.  It’s called Omniglot.com.  Omniglot.com is a fantastic collection of writing systems from around the world, throughout history and literature and even from the imaginations of people out there today.  Admittedly some of the writing systems are a bit complex (one I’ve seen recently actually has animated, spinning letters), but there are plenty that can serve as a code for your journal or at least as a jumping off point for creating your own.

When I was young I didn’t keep a journal, I was a spy!  I read Harriet the Spy and was instantly copying her notebook antics.  She kept a notebook, I kept a notebook.

Recently there have been more books written in the diary form and my niece is all over them.  She is 9-years old, and though I haven’t been able to persuade her to start a journal of her own, she LOVES reading other peoples diaries.  More precisely she likes to read novels written in a diary format.

Here are three of her favorites:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
All diaries with accompanying cartoons.

Dear Dumb Diary (the entire series) by Jim Benton
The Diaries of Jamie Kelly in Mackerel Middle School.  She starts her diary  because her class is doing a unit on journal-writing.  I guess she like is because I am counting at least eight books in the series

The Diary of Melanie Martin: or How I Survived Matt the Brat, Michelangelo, and the Leaning Tower of Pizza

A couple of amazing journal/novels we are reading are:

The fantastic thing about these books (and others in the series’) is that they are totally interactive.  All the phone numbers work and the web addresses actually have clues and information in the story useful for solving the mysteries.

Unfortunately she is not interested in any of the non fictional diaries yet.  No Anne Frank or Zlata, and strangely she is not at all interested in the Princess Diaries.

And I have to say there is an impressive number of diaries out there for your young ones to actually write in.  A lot of them come with prompts on the pages and a fill-in-the-blank motif but some are the traditional blank books with tiny locks with popular characters on them.  Here are a couple of the more creative diaries I’ve seen.

I am thinking of doing a lot more outdoor activities this year.  Hiking, camping, rock climbing are just a few of the things on my summer to-do list.  As I think about packing for these expeditions I am thinking about keeping records and journaling along the way.  I was doing a little research along these lines this week and I found this fantastic company.

From their Home Page:

Nomad Writing Journals are a product of our passion for outdoor activities and the desire to remember, in great detail, each and every adventure. These detailed writing journals grew out of our passion for traveling and outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, bird watching, fly fishing, paddle sports and live music. Keeping detailed entries in your Nomad Journals will serve as a diary of special moments you can share with family and friends over the years. We provide you with cues to record every detail of your trips and activities as a diary would, while still providing plenty of space to record your observations. Just click a tab to see specific Nomad Writing Journals.

Man I am psyched about this place. In addition to just blank journals they have journals that are tailor made for just about any outdoor activity, complete with prompts to keep you writing about anything from kayaking to outdoor music festivals.

I’ve ordered a blank journal already to shove into my backpack as a collection book during my summer adventures.  The measurements they give are for a book that is a bit smaller than half a sheet of standard 8.5×11 paper (fold a sheet in half and see if the size suits you). The journals come in either nylon or leather covers that can be refilled with new books.  The covers can even be personalized with your name or logo.  they sell these as promotional or corporate gifts but I imagine it would be just as easy to put your own, personal stamp on one.

They even sell waterproof versions of the book refills!

Do you adventure with you journal?  If so I wanna know what sorts of equipment you use.  What sort of Journal?  Do you have an indestructible pen?  Is there a technique you use to store your whole kit?  Leave a comment and share your tools and experiences.