Variety is the Spice of Journaling

​What have you written today?
Yes – YOU!
Whether you are a seasoned wordsmith, or someone who barely feels adequate to manage a Facebook status, YOU have words and meaning buzzing through your head every day. They need a place to rest and work out who they are and what their true relevance is in your life. Sorting out your thoughts and feelings on paper can be a great stress reliever, helping you to make sense in trying times—or set in stone precious moments of joy and celebration.

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For such a purpose, God has blessed us with glorious tools: language, a pen, and a JOURNAL.
 
Write it down. Just write it down. You have a myriad of choices as to WHERE to tuck your treasures—since journals come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. I have amassed quite a collection through the years, a resource for my writing projects, but also a record of my thoughts and experiences at the time they happened. A primary source document of my life in the moment.
 
Journal Variety is Joyful!
In truth, I have a goodly number of journals for varied purposes. They are each my favorite.
 
There are so many beautiful journal designs available in every price range. I collect them and give them a place of honor, initially, as home decor before I know what I shall secret to their pages with my pen. Assigning each to a unique purpose, they are like my own multi-faceted personality. I can take pleasure in each—in its particular season.
 
From Dollar Store special to Museum of Art editions, my journals become part of the fabric of my home, displayed where I can visually enjoy them, in addition to owning their purpose as a repository of reflections culled over time. The variety spices up my bookshelves and gives flavor to the unique thoughts I am inspired to write about. Here's a list of how I divide my thoughts on journal pages:

The Purse Journal
I can't go anywhere without a journal of some sort in my purse. Inspired ideas pop into my head at their will and if I don't write them down, I run the risk of losing a treasure. Notes for a book or blog post from an event I'm attending might need recording—or the name and contact information of a person I meet. I may even need to rip a page from this mini-sized journal with my own contact information to give to another if I've been careless in forgetting to pack business cards. Which often happens. I don't like heavy or bulky purses, so I look for small, lightweight journals to tuck inside my bag, with a pen at the ready. I always use a retractable pen as the lidded pens require an extra movement to remove the lid and place on the end, often falling off leaving a pen point free to wreak all manner of chaos inside my purse. The size of the purse I'm using determines the journal I select. I prefer journals that have a closure, perhaps a magnet or elastic, so the pages don't get ruffled. Artistic design is included in my choice, but sometimes the utility of a miniature marbled memo book and rubber band does the trick.

The Artist's Journal
​I keep a couple of journals for sketches and poetic ramblings. These don't have lines. I keep a small folding wallet of colored pencils and pens, plus some scraping supplies with me, in case I want to capture a moment's reflections more artistically. I use a mid-size model, my preferred size, which fits best in a mid-size bag that is not too much of a bear to drag around at retreats or conferences.

The New Book Project Journal  
When I’m working on a new book, I designate a journal to the purpose. It might be a fancy journal within which I will adhere sticky notes, clipped papers, inspirational pictures, and the like that have to do with my book idea. I’ll jot notes on the book topic, character sketches, even write a page or two in longhand to get in the flow of the book. It’s a place to work out the development of the book before I start the digital file and actual writing of it. This journal is foundational to my finished work.

The Quotes Journal
I mark up my books with a yellow highlighter and often write notes in pencil throughout as I read. Sometimes, a quote from my reading is so captivating, memorializing in a journal is necessary. I like finding journals with an old-world classic look in which I'll jot down the quote with the book reference and the date. Collecting quotes like this creates a reference book that I can look to when I'm searching for post material. It comes in handy when I'm reviewing my journal writings for longer manuscripts. I have collected quotes and references ready to use without searching through all my books trying to find where I read that inspiring thing I remembered I read, that would be perfect for my writing project. I love reviewing my Quotes Journals! It's like feasting on a collection of favorite thoughts. In addition to a journal, I’ve used an index card box with tabs. I write out the quote, author, book/resource, and page number on the index card and secure it in the proper tab sectioned by author, topic, etc. Sometimes, the index box is faster for research purposes when needing to locate something for a project.

The Notes Journal
I have journals that are assigned to the retreats and conferences I attend. I only use them at that time. This is where I'll jot down notes from the speakers I hear and often take my notes using artistic lettering and varied sizes and spacing. Rather than the standard alpha-numeric notes of academia, I take my notes visually representing the words in the way I receive them in my spirit—where the emphasis is most keen. In the evenings when I'm in my room reflecting on the meetings that day, I break out my colored pencils and add more artistic flourishes as I review my notes. Some pages I'll use to glue brochures, handouts, and perhaps the souvenir bookmark, postcard, or business card. It's always interesting to review past retreat notes prior to the next one I'm attending. It's a record of learning, seeing the lessons the Lord leads me to over a period of years. Each one builds upon the other. It never ceases to amaze me as I watch how such a volume grows.

The Creativity Journal
Here, I look for a fun, artsy journal—like my Alice in Wonderland journal. This is where I keep my thoughts on creativity and art, and how God works through the arts to glorify Himself. I read a lot on this topic and study the arts to find the Lord and biblical principles in the creative process. Classic literature is very inspiring to me in this vein, inviting the reflection and recording of my thoughts about the craft of writing and visual arts. I may also jot down ideas for future projects in this journal, or fits and starts of poetry as it comes to me.

The Devotional/Prayer Journal
I have quite a number of these. I like finding journals that have Scriptures on the pages or a particular theme like joy, peace, worship, and the like. I use my Streams in the Desert journal when I'm in valley times, and a Psalms journal for worship reflections. Sometimes, I go to a rather generic looking journal to simply pour out my devotional thoughts about a Scripture passage as I have insight. I always date it and include references in case I want to do a deeper study. Often, my thoughts begin to turn to prayer and I find myself writing out the prayers in my heart inspired by my study.

The Life Story Journal
I had one of those small diaries with a lock and key when I was in the 8th grade. It's hidden away in a memory box with other remnants of my school years. Each page was dated, with just so many lines upon which to write. I never filled it completely, though my 8th grade year was full of angst and adolescent foolishness. Gah! I'm embarrassed to read what I did write! As an adult in the 1990's, I started getting into the very large "commonplace" books—huge, gorgeous, journals bought pretty pricey at a fine arts store. I have a couple of these filled with detailed accounts of certain seasons in my life— the people and motives and lessons learned. Sometimes, I'm embarrassed to read those pages, too. Eventually, I moved to keeping such drama relegated to journal files on my computer. Yes, I admit it. I conceded to the ease of typing, with far longer accounts than I'd record in longhand. Digital journal files on a computer are great for keeping the words flowing at high speed. But the documents I wrote thirty years ago and saved on floppy disk are obsolete to be read by contemporary computers. So, write on a computer file, but print out hard copies for long term records.

The Binder Journal
In my young adult years, I kept binders and wrote in longhand on canary yellow pads. I'd punch holes in the yellow paper and keep that in the binder, in addition to all sorts of souvenir pages and items tucked in sheet protectors. It is still a journal style I use today. Most of my tangible journals are of this kind— binders everywhere! The binder is where those digital journal printouts are best kept in as opposed to a backup digital format. As noted above—I thought those floppy disks would save me. How adequate will saved files on a flash drive be in thirty years?

The Blog Journal
My blogging years as The Writer’s Reverie had me regularly posting my musings on many topics and experimenting with varied writing styles and genres. The need to writer for public consumption set boundaries on what I wrote about, but many of the posts involved details of personal experiences and thoughts on the genre topics I specialized in. Alas! After a decade of blogging, I transitioned to publishing and a business website/blog and lost a lot of the online posts I’d spent so much effort creating. I saved about half of it in Word documents before shutting down the blog. So—for long term, blogging needs special upkeep to not lose material.
 
So—which would be your journal of choice? Betcha can't choose just one!
 
As long as you have some way of recording the work of God in your mind and heart through the written word, you are fulfilling your call as a writer and person of value, living a life worthy of record in the time and space you have been given.

May you take great joy in all your journal adventures,
Knowing that each word in whatever format.
Paper-bound or digital,
Is a treasure and legacy of God 
Working out the miracle of your life and calling!

Originally published by Kathryn Ross, June 2019 on the blog, The Writer's Reverie
Updated by Kathryn Ross, April 2026
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