Questions for journal writers

[sun_set_bravely]

*How and where do you buy your journals?
*Do you worry about things like acid-free paper?
*Do you like them richly decorated or more simple, no-frills?
*How long does it take you to go through one journal (specify size)?
*Have you ever bought a bulk amount of journals to save money over buying them individually? How did that work out?
*How many do you have sitting around your house now?
*How and where do you store them?
*What do you want done with them when you die?

~ ~ ~

Okay, this started off as a simple question about where to find discounted, high-quality journals, and has morphed into quite the questionnaire. I'll answer these questions myself after I shower.

~ ~ ~

edit, 11:41 a.m.

All right, here are my answers:

*How and where do you buy your journals?
I buy my journals when I see them in different stores, usually when they're on sale. I'll often go down to Pearl Paint and get spiral, unlined sketch books to use as journals.

*Do you worry about things like acid-free paper?
I haven't in the past, although I've started to wonder about how important it is, especially because I want my journals to last for a long time. (see the last question)

*Do you like them richly decorated or more simple, no-frills?
I used to like them no-frills, but now I'm moving toward more lush, textured journals. I like to have something beautiful in my hands where I can put my words. Of course, these are usually more expensive, so I don't buy them as often. I'd love to find a place to buy them discounted.

*How long does it take you to go through one journal (specify size)?
For a 9 x 7 -ish journal, I'll go through it in one to three months, usually. Thicker ones will take me longer.

*Have you ever bought a bulk amount of journals to save money over buying them individually? How did that work out?
Nope, but I'm starting to wonder if I could save myself some money that way.

*How many do you have sitting around your house now?
Just started #51 today. And this is specifically journals -- I have a separate stack and count of spiral notebooks full of my writing practice.

*How and where do you store them?
I have two small IKEA bookshelves next to my desk where I keep them. They're quickly outgrowing their current home. I may have to clear out old script writing in one of the cabinets to make room for more journals.

*What do you want done with them when you die?
I want to donate them to a library where they can be preserved for future researchers to have a first-hand account from a woman in this time period. curmudgeon turned me on to this idea several years ago when she announced that her journals were accepted to a library. I had never thought of that idea before, but it makes sense to me, as I often feel like I'm writing as much for a future generation as I am for myself. I don't know what the process is for journals to be accepted for this kind of use, but I'll figure it out eventually.

Comments

[verian.livejournal.com]

*How and where do you buy your journals?
- I don't buy them.
*Do you worry about things like acid-free paper?
- No, I don't buy them.
*Do you like them richly decorated or more simple, no-frills?
- Are you actually listening to me, I DON'T BUY THEM
*How long does it take you to go through one journal (specify size)?
- Oh for goodness sake, if you are going to keep banging on about journals then I'm going.
*Have you ever bought a bulk amount of journals to save money over buying them individually? How did that work out?
- You, madam, are obsessed.
*How many do you have sitting around your house now?
- NONE!
*How and where do you store them?
- *sigh* I don't store them anywhere as I don't have any, please, I beg of you, just accept the fact I have no journals, none, not one.
*What do you want done with them when you die?
- Right, that's it, I'm going out.

[nickelchief.livejournal.com]

O Mr. Thomas how I've missed you.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Clearly someone has some denial issues going on. You love journals, you know it. GIVE IN TO THE URGE!

[verian.livejournal.com]

There you go again, journals journals journals, obssessed you are, obssessed.

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

*How and where do you buy your journals?
my journals have mostly been kept on gift
ledgers and notebooks that i've received
from various friends over the years(who
knew i was obsessed with writing).

*Do you worry about things like acid-free paper?
i didn't buy them myself, so, NO.

*Do you like them richly decorated or more simple, no-frills?
i had no choice, but prefer simple.

*How long does it take you to go through one journal (specify size)?several years at least, for a ledger-sized one.

*Have you ever bought a bulk amount of journals to save money over buying them individually? How did that work out?
i've NEVER bought one!

*How many do you have sitting around your house now?
one. i got it for my birthday last year.

*How and where do you store them?
store?--store? WE DON NEED NO STEENKIN STORAGE!!!

*What do you want done with them when you die?
they will have all but one become compost, since
i don't save them.(i refer you to my poem which
begins "some of my dreams become poems"(or something
like that)

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Wow, you've never had to buy a journal. That's amazing! I've gotta get friends like you've got.

May I ask why you don't save them? I'm intrigued, because I'm on the other end of that spectrum, where I rarely throw away any of my introspective writings.

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

probably i don't save them, because after a couple
of years, when i finally fill one up, i look at the beginning
and say to myself "OMG! what WAS i thinking here?"
my poems are a much more accurate barometer/journal
of my life. i can remember where i was and what
was going on in my life by looking at them, and i
have NOTEBOOKS full of hard copies. before i was
thirty, i never wrote on a typewriter if i could
help it, and now rarely write in longhand if i can
help it. the exception is my sketches. in sketchbooks,
i have written notes, comments, pieces of dreams, the
beginnings of poems, etc. lately i have taken to
cutting some of them out and mailing them to my
friend(a painter who is retired also)for his
amusement. ~paul

[bleppo.livejournal.com]

*How and where do you buy your journals?

Honestly, I buy them at a drug store, in the school/office supply aisle. Once every few years, I get extravagant and go to some stationary store and get something fancy. These relationships never last.

*Do you worry about things like acid-free paper?
No, not really.

*Do you like them richly decorated or more simple, no-frills?

See above.

*How long does it take you to go through one journal (specify size)?

It's actually quite rare that I make it all the way through one notebook before I start another.

*Have you ever bought a bulk amount of journals to save money over buying them individually? How did that work out?

No. But I but them so often, that I might as well. It get's confusing. I have to mark them in some way, so that I know which one is mose current.

*How many do you have sitting around your house now?

Three, I think.

*How and where do you store them?

The one I use most often lives in my tote bag, which travels with me everywhere.

*What do you want done with them when you die?

Burn! Burn! Hm. The problem is, most of what I write in my private journals comes out complete jibberish. I can look back a year or two later and have some idea of what I was trying to say, but even someone fairly close to me would look at it and wonder how it was that some cross between Jerry Lewis, Robert Frost and Courtney Love came to be residing in my head.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I buy my journals at the Asian-themed boutique here that carries my beloved Miquelrius brand books. They are not cheap but they make me so happy, and I can get two months out of them instead of the usual one. Otherwise I snag journals at Buck A Book, Rodney's Used Books, or by gift.

I really don't care much about acid free paper. It's a nice perk if a journal has it. I produce in such volume it seems archival quality paper would be a waste.

Fancy journals make me nervous. I do like covers that make me happy. Last year I sprang for a big hand-bound journal covered in a vintage silk scarf. I enjoyed watching it get beat up in my bag over the four months it took me to fill it - it was about an inch thick - but man, was I glad to have it done with. My back was paying.

I have dozens here. Probably about 50 at this point. Maybe more.

It takes me two months to go through the journal I use now. The pages are quite thin but the cover is stiff plastic and wirebound, so I can still write anywhere. The hardbound funky journals you see at bookstores I usually fill in a month, which is why I stopped buying them, unless they're $3 at Buck a Book.

I don't buy bulk but if I find a nice cache I will buy three at a toss. I know I'll use them. Waiting for me right now is a Wonder Woman journal and

I store them in cardboard boxes, in an old Rubbermaid trunk, and all over my room. There are too many to display so I usually just keep the last two years accessible.

I haven't any idea what I want done with these when I die. There are flashes of brilliance, but more often there are interminable reports about my internal world and What I Did In the Kitchen This Weekend. Plus I am sure there is stuff in there that various people would find hurtful; I have not written with an eye for publication. At any rate, nickelchief knows he is the executor of my writing, so I leave the bonfire to his discretion.

And yes, I do go back and reread!

[nickelchief.livejournal.com]

Burn, baby, burn!

I mean, publish, baby, yeah!

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

D'oh!

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

I love journals that make you happy. I've never heard of Miquelrius before. It's hard to judge from their website how their journals really look, but the designs are fun and quirky.

And the next time I'm in Boston, I have got to check out this Buck A Book place. You've spoken about it before, and it just sounds so darn cool.

I'm still in the re-reading zone here. Damn, this takes a while! I think I'm going to have to take a break, lest I regress permanently to my past, never to return.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

The Miquelrius journals are just a little boxier than a regular booktype journal, have a translucent plastic bendy cover with some bright happy design on it, and are wirebound. The lines are just the right distance from each other and not so dark that they intimidate me. I find them the perfect size to fit in my bag, even a purse, yet with a hard enough cover to not flop all over the place if, say, I'm on the train scribbling in the corner.

Currently I fear I've exhausted all the design options at Asierica and am praying for replacements. I don't like repeating covers.

Regarding Buck A Book, it's a subsidiary of Building #19. A peek at that website should tell you most of what you need to know. Buck a Book is not as charmingly skanky, and the pickins vary widely. Usually I have to weed through a lot of kittens and puppies and gardening-themed notebooks before I happen on the odd art lot. It is worth a gander when you're here though. If it's a miss you'll be in and out in under a minute!

Also, pace yourself on the rereading. Remember what happens when you reread The Fountainhead!

I may answer these in my own journal as well

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

How and where do you buy your journals? Stationary stores, book stores, any place that has notebooks and blank books; I check every store I go into. (Even The Container Store stocks notebooks.)

Do you worry about things like acid-free paper? I worry more about whether the paper will take fountain pen ink without bleeding or feathering.

Do you like them richly decorated or more simple, no-frills? I decorate them myself, with postcards, pictures, rubber stamps, stickers, etc., so I like plain, narrow-ruled books, usually with plain or simple covers.

How long does it take you to go through one journal (specify size)? Depends. I've gone through 200-page books in six weeks, and 150-page books in three months; it really hinges on what I'm doing and writing during the time I have it. Figure six weeks to two months per book, though.

Have you ever bought a bulk amount of journals to save money over buying them individually? How did that work out? Not yet, though when the little Xonex spirals I loved (back in the 80s) were discontinued by the manufacturer, I bought up as many as I could, and used them for another four years or so. I still haven't found the perfect book.

*How many do you have sitting around your house now? Filled/completed? 126 since I started keeping a handwritten journal regularly in 1987, plus four or five notebooks of morning pages, and three pressboard binders of typed or dot-matrix printed journal entries. Empty/potential journals? Perhaps ten.

How and where do you store them? Full ones are on three shelves in the bedroom; empties are on shelves nearby and near my corner desk.

What do you want done with them when you die? Perhaps the Diary Despository; perhaps read by family then burned... I haven't really thought much about it.

Re: I may answer these in my own journal as well

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

I should add (seeing schpacky's comment) that baldanders and redbird are my literary executors, so it'll be up to them.

(And it's Diary Depository; ignore the goofy spelling above.)

Re: I may answer these in my own journal as well

[poetbear.livejournal.com]

i liked that spelling! it
was de-lovely!~paul

Re: I may answer these in my own journal as well

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I didn't know that The Container Store stocks notebooks. I'm going to have to look more diligently when I visit any store.

And I've never heard of the Diary Depository before. I tried to search for it online, but only found a broken link to the main site. Tell me more!

[nickelchief.livejournal.com]

Most of my journal writing is done right on my laptop. But for non-digital-media, usually when I'm traveling or anywhere away from the computer, I buy a cheapo Five-Star spiral notebook at the drugstore, write in it, transcribe the entries back into my computer when I'm done, then recycle the handwrote.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Whenever I start to get worried about where I'm going to put all of these journals as they start to pile up, freak1c likes to say, "It's called a laptop." Unfortunately, I'm hopelessly devoted to John Travolta -- I mean, handwritten journals, as they soothe my savage beast and all of that good stuff. I'm antiquated, I know, but I feel better connected to what I'm writing when I do it by hand.

Of course, your technique is far more environmentally friendly.

[http://users.livejournal.com/lindalee_/]

for some reason, i always seem to find a journal i can't live without at barnes & noble.

no (acid free)

simple. without lines is best. however.. i DO like leather-bound journals... i'm highly partial to them and i find i'm more likely to use the journal if it's leather bound.

hmm... can take up to 6 or 7 years to get through a journal... i'm very sporatic about journal writing. also, i have burned through one within 1 month... regardless of size.

never bought journals in bulk... but when i see one i love, i buy it. even if i don't need a journal at that point.

hmm... probably 3 or 4 unused ones... and a bazillion filled.

on bookshelves.

hmm... i don't mind if someone (anyone) reads them after i'm gone. sometimes, i even hope that happens. narcissistic? yes... i guess so. ahh well.

[curmudgeon.livejournal.com]

Briefly, you have to find an appropriate archive and write the archivist or chief librarian a letter asking whether your journals would interest them. If so, the library will send you the proper paperwork and so forth.

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

This is good to know. Thanks! Hopefully, I've got a while to deal with this, but it's in the back of my head.

May I ask what drew you to the idea of donating your journals to a library? I think it is such a cool idea.

[curmudgeon.livejournal.com]

I hated the idea of having them end up in a landfill somewhere, and I'd done some research using primary sources in the past, so my brain just put the two together. If I hadn't found somewhere willing to accept them, I probably would have come up with some other way to keep them out of the dump, though.

[moriana90.livejournal.com]

*How and where do you buy your journals?
I buy the composition books at the dollar store.

*Do you worry about things like acid-free paper?
My journals are for myself. I’m not concerned on preservation. So the answer is no.

*Do you like them richly decorated or more simple, no-frills?
I buy just the black and white marble. Although I end up add décor to them.

*How long does it take you to go through one journal (specify size)?
I go through one composition book every three months.

*Have you ever bought a bulk amount of journals to save money over buying them individually? How did that work out?
Depends on the sale of books.

*How many do you have sitting around your house now?
Used: 4 ½ New: 3

*How and where do you store them?
I keep them in my book shelf in my bedroom.

*What do you want done with them when you die?
I can only hope that a good friend of mine takes them away before my family finds them.