A structured environment is a fertile breeding ground for creativity.

Write the one thing you spent most of the day doing then have fun playing with writing.

  • Play with using an easy anchor topic for starting your entry (your exercise routine, the weather, news, etc.)

  • Write a detailed description of someone close to you - what they wear, their daily habits or what you like about them.

  • Write a detailed description of something you do everyday.

  • Write a sensory description of your environment.

  • Write entries for previous months or years.

  • Revisit previous entries and go into more detail.

  • Make a list of accomplishments you’ve achieved this past week, month or year.

  • Write a gratitude list.

  • Add images.

  • Play with font sizes.

  • Summarize your day in four words or phrases.

  • Create a playful way of writing the entry title for the first day of the month.

  • Create titles for your entries.

  • Instead of inserting or attaching a photo, write a description of a photo. Describe what it captures and what it doesn’t capture.

Play with the Process

  • Sit in a place where you don’t usually journal.

  • Try switching modalities. 

    • Switch from digital to handwritten or vice versa

    • If you’re handwriting, you can create a digital log that summarizes your day, week or month. You can use a digital format to try retroactively journaling. 

    • Switch tenses (switch from past to present or vice versa).

    • Write in the voice of someone who’s objectively observing you.

Multi-journaling

There's no limit to the types of journals you can keep (productivity, dreams, tracking exercise, things to do, food, overheard conversations, inspiration, health, work, school, hobbies, projects, your kids, gratitude lists, etc). You can keep more than journal one or you can section off part of your writing area for a different topic.

 

Adding images digitally

 

Play with different ways of inserting images to find one that works for you. If you have any trouble with formatting, it might be helpful to paste them into the margin and to add them later.

A time-efficient option is to insert just a few of your favorites at the end of the month. Add captions if you want. 

The size of the images printed look different from the way they look on the screen. If you’re planning to print your journal, print out a sample page that incorporates images to see how it looks to you.

Don't worry about perfection when adding images. Just add them if you have fun doing it.

 

Technical Stuff

 

This is geeky stuff that's a bit dry but assuming that you'll be journaling for at least a year, these tips on storage and formatting can save you the time and trouble of reformatting when you add a month's journal to the year document and if you want to to print your journal. 

Storage

Back up the month’s entries at the end of each month, adding it to the year's file. This will allow you to delete it from your devices, saving storage space.

Format

If you think you might want to print it out at some point, consider your typeface and font size. Nine pts is what we're accustomed to seeing in print but it looks small on the screen, so try using nine pts and just magnifying the view on your screen.

The formatting of the text will shift when you insert it into another document, so if widows and orphans* bother you, fix them AFTER pasting the month into the year document.

Inserting a hard return after your last entry of the month will help to make formatting changes that result from edits more manageable.

(*Widow A paragraph-ending line that falls at the beginning of the following page or column, thus separated from the rest of the text.

Orphan A paragraph-opening line that appears by itself at the bottom of a page or column, thus separated from the rest of the text.)