Starting a journal is no easy task. Four whole days have gone by and still I’m unsure of what to write on the first page. Why am I so hesitant? Why not just start of all wobbly and let the plot unfold all by itself? I will definitely have to forget about trying to make everything look absolutely perfect. For starters, using a computer most of the time has played havoc with my handwriting skills. I’m hoping to see an improvement in this as I go along. Even sketching has become more difficult. Copy/paste has become the norm. Cameras have become our eyes. Photoshop does the rest.

The thought of starting a journal was sparked during a nostalgic but happy event but even before I could go out shopping for the perfect notebook, this was suddenly followed by a not so happy event. Which should get priority? The world is a complicated place. Maybe one should do the weeks backwards – in afterthought. Sometimes certain circumstances cloud one’s judgement and in your mind a bad situation becomes the worst ever and writing it this way, could go down in history as a nightmare, when maybe it was just a slight wobble.

I’ve visited online sites for advice on how to keep a journal. My journal will not be falling in the password-protected private category. Just another password to remember and temptation to write stuff that should never ever be seen again (even by myself!)
It will also not fall in the professional category. I’m not a professional in anything.

Where does this leave me. There does not seem to be a category for my journal! An artistic or scientific journal sounds appealing but that would mean keeping two journals. No, I’ll just call my journal an “all kinds of everything” journal.  It will be a combination of writing with pen or pencil on real paper (recycled it says on the tab) and then publishing some of it here. I’m hoping to inspire others to keep their very own and unique journals as well. Sometimes I will be writing each day, other times like when my week suddenly becomes scrambled in confusing ways, I might rather skip a few days or weeks.  When I page through my journal, I do not want to see words like hate or loathe or angry. For me those emotions are easier overcome by a good old cry. A journal filled with negative emotion could become heavy baggage.
Now that I have given myself this pep talk – maybe I should begin…