I make a rule for myself to always work on today's journal page first. Occasionally 'today' might mean a sentence for yesterday or a day before if I've missed a day or two. Trying to play catch up from weeks past is a recipe for journalling despondency!


By working on today and today first gives you instant gratification. Its fresh in your mind and the writing and images will portray that freshness and authenticity that can be harder to relate weeks later. Being up to date makes filling in those past dates (even weeks worth of days) much more satisfying rather than that ominous feeling of always being behind.


Tips on today's tip!

• Not every day needs a journal entry when you are catching up. Complete what you have photos, sketches, memorabilia and comments on. If you have weeks unaccounted for - so be it. Catch up for me usually means holiday entries where I havent been able to fully complete at the time.
  
• Monthly calenders that are filled in with the basics: work, school, xyz restaurant etc are invaluable for filling in those gaps. It can be surprisingly hard to even remember what you did a week ago at times.
  
• Guesstimate the space for catch up when you work on today first. If you leave too much space it can be filled in with photos, inspiring images, quote or articles later. Too little space? This is your chance to get creative by creating fold out pages, lift up flaps or page pockets to fit all the info and images in.

What are your tips for keeping your journals up to date? I'd love to hear them!
~ Kathleen

Labels: Journal-Notes