Journaling, journaling, what to do??

This started as a comment on Zoe's post Journals, Planners and Lists...Oh My! and I quickly realized it would be hideously long so I created it as a post of its own. So Zoe, this one's for you babe! Everybody else, please go read Zoe's post and give her some suggestions, come back here and read mine, then for Pete's sake please leave a comment with suggestions for me! I need all the advice I can get here.

I've been messing around with various forms of journaling for the past couple of years now and am endlessly frustrated by it.

My problem is, I don't quite know what I want my journal to be. What is its purpose?  Ok follow me here:

Many moons ago, I used a large daily Moleskine to write things I wanted to capture every day. Mainly cute things my kids did and said. When they were really little, that was easy because they were at that age where they came out with noteworthy stuff every day.

Now they are a little bit older, and while I still want to capture those nuggets to remember, it doesn't necessarily happen every day.

When they were babies my DH bought me a journal for each one of them--lined, undated A5 size, pretty covers. I transferred all the stuff from all my various planners etc where I had jotted those nuggets and consolidated them into each of these books. Grand. But I stopped doing that a few years ago, so now said nuggets are dispersed among however many planners and journals as I've fitfully started and stopped so many, and wrote happy things to remember in whatever book I was using that day. Ugh. So the solution to that is, sit my ass down and consolidate back into each kids' journal. Needless to say that task seems daunting so despite my best intentions I keep putting it off. Meanwhile I'm still jotting things down in whatever planner and/or diary I'm using at the moment.

So journal purpose #1 is to capture memories of my kids. Solution: back-fill the journals I already have, and from that point on get better about writing directly into those specific journals.

Purpose #2 for my journal is to capture good memories in general. This is where things begin to get murky. Often these happy memories get entwined with kids' happy memories, so where do I write them? Into each kids' journal plus into a separate journal of my own? Indecision means they either don't get written at all, or at best they get abbreviated and noted in my day per page diary. But I don't necessarily want these mixed in with doctor's appointments and bills to pay.

When I was younger I filled book after book with pontification, anxiety, events, and whatever else was going through my mind at the time. I never even read those books. Aside from their cringeworthiness ("What should I be DOING with my life???") a lot of it is crap that just doesn't matter now. Also, when I used my journal as an emotional dump, that stuff is not fun to read later. And I sure wouldn't want anyone else reading it in the future. So I know I don't want to use a journal for that.

Another thing I've noticed is that I remember things much more fondly later than I felt as I experienced them at the time. It's easier for me to forget some of the hardships after the fact and remember the good times. But if I had written a journal during that time the happy stuff would have been obscured by my frustration, anxiety, boredom or whatever other negative emotions I was feeling at the time. So in that way I'm better off not recording emotions at all. Just factual reporting would be better.

But now I find myself looking back through my blog and reading between the lines to remember how I was feeling when we moved from X to Y, then from Y to Z, then from Z back to Y again and all the times in between. It's recent enough that I still remember what was going on in my head, mainly. Wouldn't I benefit now from having written some of that emotional stuff down? Wouldn't it be comforting in a way to look back through now?

So there's Purpose Q for my journal. Q being for Question, and the Question being what the heck exactly to I want from my journal?

I want something that's valuable to read back through later. Happy memories, and experiences that I can learn from.  I guess part of the problem is, I don't know what those are at the time and only recognize them in retrospect.

Currently I'm not doing any journaling at all, but I'm considering going back to a blank book to write things out to help me figure stuff out. One thing I am going to do is Ray's genius suggestion on how to catch up in a journal when you haven't been writing for awhile. Read his excellent post about it here.

So Zoe, sorry but I don't have an answer for you. And everyone else who managed to get through this post, thank you for reading!

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Russian Quo Vadis Note 16 weekly planner

Recently I went searching online for a Russian Quo Vadis planner, to help me keep up on my Russian a little bit. Quo Vadis blog listed Russian as one of the many languages in which their planners are available. I'm in the UK, where Quo Vadis has several foreign language editions available. Their website said if you don't see the language you're looking for, contact them because they might be able to get it for you. Cool! But when I contacted them, their reply was that Quo Vadis doesn't make planners in Russian. Huh?

So I contacted Exaclair in the US and they said they might be able to hunt one down for me. And they did!!  Huge enormous thanks to Exaclair for this planner!

It has a red Soho cover which looks and feels like leather.

This is the Note 16, which is 16 by 16 cm. (Click here to see it on www.quovadis.eu)

It is the exact same size and shape as the Quo Vadis Executive (click here to see my review) and the same format as the Note 27 (click here to see my review).

This is part of the Prestige collection and has super-smooth ivory paper.  The personal info page is in English and Russian, and there is a reference calendar for the year.

There are several pages of phone numbers and websites of things to see and do, information and emergency services in Moscow. I wish I'd had this when I lived there!

There are conversion charts and national area codes, and other reference pages too.

Here is the weekly format, with the days on the left and lined notes page on the right. Like I said, this is the exact same format as the Note 27 just in a smaller size. I love that the days and months are in English and Russian!

Here's a larger view of the left page with the days:

And here's the right page for notes. I like how the lines are set at the same intervals as the days so if you wanted to extend a particular day, you can easily see where it goes.

After the weekly pages there is are planning pages for 2014 with the months as columns, and a reference calendar for 2014.

There are loads of color maps in the back, this is just one:

There's also a very handy time zones map:

Not the best photo, but the edges are gilt which adds a very classy look to the book!

You can find the Note 16 on www.quovadis.eu.

Many thanks again to Exaclair for this planner!

Moleskine 2013-2014 planners

Yes you read that right. They're not available yet, but I found the Moleskine 2013-2014 18 month planners!

You can see them on this website here:

http://www.telegram.net.au/products/moleskine-diaries-design-stationery/18+Month+Diaries

Scroll down from the current range and take a look at the ones that say New.

Star Wars 18 month planners!  Woo hoo!

But even more exciting than that, Moleskine has a brand-new format for 2013-2014 called the Turntable which can be used either vertically or horizontally. This is genius, and honestly I'm peeved that I didn't come up with this design myself.

Click here to take a look:

http://www.telegram.net.au/product/18-month-2013-2014-magenta-large-turntable-weekly-m-dhd118wt3t-moleskine-diaries-design-stationery

**UPDATE: the website has changed their links and the images are no longer available, but you can see the Moleskine Star Wars, Turntable and all their 2013-2014 planners in the Moleskine Spring 2013 catalog here.

I'm always excited every year to see what Moleskine comes out with next!  New formats, colored covers, Star Wars themes, all very exciting!

Meanwhile I'll keep scouring the internet to look for their 2014 planners, I can't wait to see what they come out with!

Personal Planner UK Winner!

I am very excited to report the winner of the Personal Planner giveaway is:

Sally!!!!!!

Congratulations!!!

Email me at laurie at plannerisms dot com so I can pass your email on to Personal Planner UK so they can send you your code to create your very own, totally customized Personal Planner!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the giveaway!  And, huge thanks to Personal Planner UK for sponsoring this giveaway!

Personal Planner UK: new lower prices and giveaway!

Personal Planner UK now has lower prices on all their planners and notebooks!

Here are their new prices:

Personal Planners:

Small             £14.99

Medium         £17.99

A5                 £19.99

Large            £21.99   

Notebooks:

Small             £8.99

Medium         £9.99

A5                 £11.99

Large            £12.99

To highlight their new lower prices, Personal Planner UK is sponsoring another giveaway here on Plannerisms!  Everyone worldwide is eligible to win a code to personalize a planner or notebook of your choice!

Personal Planner UK planners are entirely customizable: you choose your cover, or download a photo for the cover, choose your size, interior layout, and all the other features you want. It's all up to you!

Here's what you have to do for your chance to win:

1) Like Personal Planner UK on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/personalplanner).

2) Then post a comment here on this post. Only one entry per person please. Entries close at 6pm London time Friday November 9.

That's it!  The winner will be selected via Random.org and the winner will be announced here on Plannerisms Saturday November 10!

Be sure to check back Saturday to see if you've won! The winner will email me so I can put you in touch with Personal Planner UK to receive your prize.

In the meantime, go check out all the personalization options at www.personal-planner.co.uk!

Entries are now closed for this giveaway. Thanks to everyone who participated! Check tomorrow's post to see if you won!

Countdown to the Plannerisms Planners!

I've had lots of people asking me about the new Plannerisms planners and when they will be ready. Many thanks to everyone for your interest!

I am very excited to report they are printing this week!  Hooray!!!

They will be ready to order in a couple of weeks.

I can't show you any images until they are printed, but here's some information:

The Plannerisms planners will be weekly + monthly. The weeks will be across two pages with all seven days as vertical columns and space on the weekly pages for goals, lists and notes.

There will also be month on two pages grid calendars. There will be lots of pages for goals, and pages for monthly lists and reviews.

The planners will be bound, 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches with several color choices for the covers. They will have two ribbon placemarkers (to mark your month and week) and a pocket in the back. They will have an elastic closure too.

They will cost $19.99 USD and will be available for worldwide shipping.

As soon as I can post images, I will have them up here so you can have a look!

Many thanks again to those of you who are holding out to see the Plannerisms planners before buying your 2013 planner. If you are looking for a weekly planner, I think you're really going to like this one!!

Gold Slab notebook winner!

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the Daycraft Gold Slab notebook giveaway!

The winner is.....

ASM!!!!!!

Congratulations!

ASM, please email me your mailing address at laurie at plannerisms dot com so I can send you your cool new notebook!

And for those who didn't win, don't despair--there are more giveaways coming soon here on Plannerisms!