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Yesterday I bought a journal. This is not newsworthy. I buy journals all the time. Like many writers, I am an office supply junkie. Next to sticky-notes, journals are my office supply Achilles heel.
Ramona DeFelice Long 
You journal – you just don’t do it in those lovely books. You do it here, and on Facebook. And I am grateful that you do!
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I guess that’s one way of looking at it, Kathy. I’m not sure if my Facebook “journaling” reveals much, other than my need to be silly, but I do try to be entertaining!
This doesn’t help me decide if I should stop buying journals, however.
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What Kathy said! And otherwise I’m just like you, Ramona. Empty journals everywhere. Sigh. My best friend, on the other hand, has written in her journal every night for decades. But she just uses a plain ledger book. She made me swear that I would burn them after her death so her daughter wouldn’t be able to read what she had written. Now that her daughter is 27 she has relieved me of that promise. ;^)
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Edith, I also have a friend who has journaled for decades. He can tell you what he had for lunch on any given day in 1981….
I wonder if this is a guilt thing, that as writers we feel we *should* journal, but the desire to do so just isn’t there?
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Your post made me laugh because I’m the same. Feel that I “should” journal, but just can’t. So glad I’m not the only one! (Those pretty little journals *are* enticing!)
I do like Kathy’s notion that blog posts are a type of journaling, though. They are a way to talk about things that don’t fit into a fictional narrative.
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Nancy, it’s nice to know I’m not alone in answering the siren call of buying journals. I wonder if it’s a reluctant to share the truly personal? I seem to have no problem with babbling all over Facebook!
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For me, it’s also that my time and energy are limited. Realistically, even when I’m not at the day job, I’ve only got one or two hours when I’ll be at my peak for writing. I can tweak and edit the rest of the day, but for me personally those few hours when my writing can really flow are best spent with the current WIP.
I also don’t have that much happen on a daily basis and if I made myself do daily journaling it would just turn into a chore. That’s why I like blogging. I can take something small and expand on it at my leisure, but if I don’t feel that reflective, there are plenty of other things to base a post on. Or I can take time off if life becomes hectic.
I’m not reluctant to share something personal on paper–journals were originally meant to be private and I wouldn’t necessarily share it with anyone–it’s more that the act of writing takes a certain amount of energy, especially if it’s something highly emotional.
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I too am a sucker for beautiful journals, but write only intermittently in my journal. (Usually when I am really depressed, which makes for a rather one-sided reading experience later.)
I love reading journals though – Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf are especially poignant.
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MarinaSofia, thank you for those suggestions. I have not read Katherine Mansfield’s journal/s and it’s been a long time since I’ve read anything by Virginia Woolf.
Journaling through depression or grief is helpful, I know. I’m not sure how reading back through it would be, as you point out. Something to consider.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing.
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