1. When did you begin keeping a journal/diary?
I started sometime before 1996. I was either 8 or 9.
2. Do you journal regularly or sporadically?
Thanks to blogs, college, and other time-eaters, my journaling has suffered a sharp decline. For years I wrote daily, or at least a few times a week. Granted, those entries were all about which boy I was 'in love' with, or what various teachers were wearing. At least I was writing!
My journal writing comes in spurts, now. I'm not sure if blogs really detract from my writing habits, but there are some months where I write once, and some weeks where I write twice a day. I'm a bit of a mess. I most often write while watching crappy reality tv shows, or when I have so many other responsibilities and things to do that I feel overwhelmed and decide to hide from the world by writing about nothing in particular.
3. Which, if any, of the following things do you use your journal for?: recording dreams, creative writing, arguing with particular individuals (your boss, your parents, your lover, etc.), listing books/movies, tracking your weight/diet/exercise, composing unsent/unsendable letters.
My poor journals have taken a beating. They've been used for everything from grocery lists to coloring books. Usually I jot down paper ideas, or other things that I want to puzzle through. Problems are a popular topic, as is complaining. Also, I try to keep track of my travels in my journal as a sort of word-based scrapbook. Some entries are in the form of letters, some are lists, and some are just blocks of scribbled words.
Dream recording? Yes. Creative writing? Yes. Arguing? Yes. Lists? Yes. Weight? Yes. Letters? Yes.
4. What other purpose(s) do you use your journal for?
Lately my journal has become a bit like Twitter. Throughout the day I'll jot down the time and whatever has just happened, or whatever I'm thinking. It's ... weird.
5. What kind of material text do you use for a journal? (For example: leather bound hard-cover, cheap spiral notebook, etc.)
My first 7 or so journals are all old spiral notebooks, with their covers layered with scotch tape and magazine clippings. Some sport American Girl stickers. All have scribbles about crushes and hearts.
My current journal is one of those nice Moleskines with the stretchy band to keep it closed. This is because I am oftentimes a lable-whore, and I love the Moleskine line. I thought I would love the journal, but it's actually a bit of a nuisance. Gladly, it's nearly full. I haven't yet lined up the next journal.
People tend to buy me blank journals as gifts, and while I appreciate the gesture, I never use these suckers. I probably have a dozen of them just sitting around.
6. Where do you keep your old journals?
The cedar closet at my parents house has a stack of old journals in the back (hidden beneath some Cabbage Patch Kids. Everything I own, besides hundreds of books and a few odds and ends, has been stuffed into that closet while I'm in college. I need a place for my stuff.
7. How often, if ever, have you read through your old journals?
Rarely. However, I did go through them a few months ago, when I was feeling particularly lonely. I wound up laughing uncomfortably and being embarrassed by my juvenile writings. But also, they rekindled a lot of love for my fiance, who has been a star in various journals since middle school. We used to be so cute.
In my current journal, I do like to go back and read the early entries from when I spent the summer in Oxford, got engaged, and then lived downtown in London for two weeks with the fiance. That was magical. I wish I had written far more. Between then and now, though, there are some truly horrifying entries that I would rip out if I had the nerve.
8. Have you ever allowed anyone else to read your journals?
Oh Gawd, yes. In middle school, you do plenty of dumb things. And in high school. Well, the journals from those years were really just repositories for unrequited love and stupid musings on bands, hair, clothes, and crushes. When friends came over I'd let them go through the journals. Sometimes they even left notes for me. It was strange. It was for attention.
I remember one time in particular when some of the boys were over, and they got ahold of my journal. They took off through the neighborhood with it, and ruined one of my pictures of NSYNC. Oh, the horror.
Nowadays, my journal is my personal property. Although many entries are in letter format and I refer to either the journal or a future reader as the receipient, they are not to be read today. Still, it does kind of bother me that the fiance doesn't even ask to read it. I'm still looking for a bit of attention, I suppose.
9. How has your journal keeping changed since you began blogging?
At first, I think that blogging (back before it was called a "blog," on LiveJournal) helped to keep me writing. That first blog acted more as a billboard for messages to my friends, and for stupid things I felt the need to post. My paper journal was the actual journal in my life.
Since then, the writing has petered off, and for various reasons. Typing is easier. I have less to say, or less time to say it in. With school demanding so much of my time, I rarely write at all.
10. Upload a picture of your journals (or as many as you can).
Oh. Uhm. Er...
That's not really an option at the moment, since they're hidden away in the closet. And I don't have a camera or scanner handy. There are some pretty hilarious entries, though. Tell you what. Here's a link to a recent blog post, quoting pieces of my original LiveJournal. The list of mullet names is a real keeper!
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