Journaling

Check out this post I read today.

I cannot recall a time I did not journal.

I've got tubs of filled or mostly-filled books. I use all types of books - lined, unlined, handmade, spiral bound - it makes no difference. I just have to write. I also use electronic journals - I keep it simple and use Word. At times I write for hours, at times only for about 5 mins. I have periods where I write daily and then spells where weeks or even months can pass with no writing at all. (I have learned that these are the times that I need to write the most). At any given time I have about 4 journals going. I always travel with one, and have a small one in my purse that I can pull out to jot something down at a moment's notice.

What do I write about? Everything. I write about what happened. Things that inspire me. Ideas I get. Brilliant passages in books I've read. Quotes that capture something true. Names of books I want to read. Cute things that my ns say or do. Really everything. Sometimes they are simply diaries - what happened, when and to whom. Other times they are much more introspective, as I try to noodle something out. My travel journals have stuff stuck to the pages - tickets, ads, just about anything that captures my interest.

In the past several years, I've also started keeping visual journals - some pages end up on this blog. This has been a stretch for me. I tend to me more comfortable with words, and I've found that images - personally created, or pasted in - can often capture a mood, feeling, moment much more effectively than words can. I have journals that are intensely private, and ones that are public.

I do not know another way to be. Do you journal?