Journaling and Morning Pages

This is my Artist Way morning pages notebook. It is a cheap grocery store bought wide ruled notebook. I didn't want to get a hand cramp writing in the tiny college ruled lines so I bought a wide ruled notebook. It is just about full and I'll need to purchase another one soon. I started out this journey writing morning pages on the computer, but I switched to a notebook and haven't gone back. However, I struggle to find the right pen that flows well to write these pages.


It was requested by Blue Dog to get a glimpse of everyone's AW morning page notebooks. My notebook will eventually (after week 8) be reread. I may note the important insights and ideas and then I will probably burn all the drivel and complaints and let the past go. When I did the AW ten years ago I used my normal journal and now I struggle with keeping a bunch of journals that contain mostly throw away writing, but because they are buried within my regular journal writing I don't want to get rid of them. I started this time with the idea that I would keep what I could use and not hold onto any of the rest of it.

Below is a picture of my journal trunk. It contains almost all of the journals I've written since 1981. I've mostly written in spiral notebooks because I like the way they open. With some of them, I collaged the covers.

Here's tip: You can collage the cover and then use clear packaging tape to sort of laminate the cover. Now, you can get sheets of self laminating stuff, but I would often just use several strips of clear packing tape way back when that laminating stuff wasn't available.

One advantage to having a spiral notebook journal is that in my college days it didn't look like a journal - so therefore it didn't attract attention from curious eyes. I have at times used smaller journals that I could carry in a large purse. Those are in this trunk too, but you can't see them as easily as the spiral notebooks. I also started numbering my journals and I have a list of the journal number with the dates of the journal. It really helps me find stuff in them when I want to refer back to a certain period in my life.




Lately, I fill less handwritten notebooks. Much more of my journal writing happens on the computer. I just slowly made a transition to this kind of writing. Not very photogenic but it helps me organize it all better and I find I can write a lot more. I'll always have a handwritten journal because it travels. And I find that my handwritten journals are evolving into a kind of travel sketch book inspiration catcher.