As I begin my exploration into my third year of paper journaling, I have found myself being inspired by Lilly Ashton (her blog, + tumblr) and her beautiful online footprint, to begin a digital journal. I hope to keep updates inconsistent and sporadic, as it was intended.
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| my paper journals from 2024, 2025, and 2026 (current) |
When I began my paper journal, which is a mix of a commonplace book, a diary, and a sketchbook, I was worried it would be too slow of a process for me to latch onto it long term. Instant gratification is the new normal and I won't pretend I haven't been influenced by it. But the process of slowly filling a journal cannot be replaced by anything else. It has shifted in utilisation in the 716 days since I started, but has fundamentally stayed consistent.
"So all this and you're going digital again?" Well... yes and no. I'm still writing in my journals, having started my new one only yesterday. I love my paper journals, but paper has it's bounds. I hope to use this blog as an extension of my paper journal, expanding on things I write about in there on here. Of course my paper journal is more personal, private, but I do hope to connect though this blog, and push myself to be more open. I also want to include things that I never would write about in my journal. I love analogue, but I don't have endless time to hand write everything!
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| my baby boy Clive |
Wahoooo! Happy blogging! I love your journals all together, very cute very good <3
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! They are my prize possession >.<
Deletei just made a similar post about loving analog journaling but still wanting to talk about stuff on the digital blog-world.
ReplyDeletefor me, i´ll try to post about fun stuff i see or collect and media stuff. i used to love book and fashion blogs back in the peak of blogspot, so now i´m doing it as a silly archive for myself, i think it sounds very fun to log in once or twice a week to update ☆
YES YES! The main issue I found with my previous escapade with digital journaling is I only posted about my day to day, and that started feeling like a chore. So I'm instituting a fun only policy on this blog!
DeleteI write media reviews in my analogue journal but I hope to create an archive of longer form writing, especially for TV shows. With the resurgence of weekly releases, I hope to do episode to episode posts about my fave shows.
a weekly digital digest! brilliant
Deleteahhhh!! hello!! fellow analog journaller! i've also been journalling for a while (mainly junk journalling) but have always loved the idea of digital journalling too :) your theme is so cute btw
ReplyDeletethank you so much, I love your theme too!
DeleteI have to work in my analog journal. While I did have one last year it was mostly, kind of like a bullet journal, while not bad I would like more expression. I see yours with stickers and media reviews and ideas and would like that. Definitely will try the to share small stuff on digital and fun only here.
ReplyDeleteis that nibbles I see on your journal? your stickers are all super cute!
ReplyDeleteIt really is interesting how the digital/physical mediums differ-- this year is the first year I'm trying out a more traditional diary type journal after doing mainly bullet journals for the past five years...plus trying out this blogging thing (from the same inspiration as you haha). I'll be really interested how you'll continue your craft in both forms!
Been looking through all the blogs from Lilly’s comment section and I am in love with yours! Super cute vibes, feeling super inspired and I can’t wait to see your future posts!
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog! I relate so much to what you said about digital journaling. I also tried to keep a journal in Notion for years but would eventually forget about it because it wasn't fun to "flip" through or revisit, no matter how much time I spent decorating the page. I even tried to do it in Obsidian, which is the main app I use now for notetaking, but the only thing that really sticks is doing it on paper. I've been feeling a bit self-conscious because I haven't been decorating my spreads at all, they're basically text on white paper, but even that is so gratifying to reread later in the year. In 2025 I got my first Hobonichi journal, which I'd been wanting since I was 15 or so, and I regret not trying to write at least a few words every day </3 When I went through it on New Year's Eve it was so nice to read all the entries for the days I managed to complete and recall all the moments I would've forgotten otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHow are you managing your commonplacing? I get stressed about it because I tend to take notes digitally so I can easily add more later if I find new information and have it all in the same place. I feel like I have to make a choice between digital or analog and I get so indecisive I end up not even trying to do physical commonplacing, but all the people I've heard talking about it speak wonders of it!
Hi!! Yes I had the same exact problem with Notion, I love it for organising and data logging but it does not work for any long form journaling that I wanted to feel more personal.
DeleteHonestly, In my paper journals I don't do much decoration, I use gridded paper exclusively, as I find it most flexible for using it as a journal, a commonplace book, and a sketchbook, all in one. I have a burning hatred for most lined notebooks, as it seems that most stationary companies seem to love making them ugly as hell, and it was honestly the main reason I stayed away from paper journaling for so long. That all changed when I found my true love, grid.
Anyway, the main decoration I do is colour coded entries that I use to organise my contents page, and maybe a sticker or doodle here and there. I find hand written entries pretty enough and unique enough that it feels more personal already. I might make a post one day talking about how I organise my journals, but who knows when I'll get round to it.
Common placing changed how I approach journaling in general. I feel more free in how my journal is organised, or not organised. I let go of the idea of daily journaling, as well as keeping logs of my daily activities as well. It feels more like collecting pieces of information, weather it's about myself, the media I consume, a doodle, a new recipe I tried, anything. It's like a collage of the last year of my life for me to look back on.
When it comes to organisation, I do colour code my entries depending on the content, but I designed the layout to be as intuitive to me as possible so it's basically second nature at this point. I would say when it comes to layout and organisation, ignore what everyone else is doing and do it the way you want to, no matter how neurotic or relaxed that may be. I would also say, don't worry about it being completely perfect, in my first journal, I didn't start doing monthly calendar spreads until April, sure I missed the first 3 months of the year, but if I had waited til my next journal I would have lost 9 months of entries. If you want to change something, just do it!