First Look At The Journal

I've been very excitedly creating the first pages for my new Journal/Diary/Bullet Journal (not quite sure what to call it). I mostly manage my life digitally these days but I felt like having somewhere to write down things and do some journalling might be a good idea. I also keep so much of my life on various post-it notes and digital task lists but I felt like trying to get many of these things into one place might help me be more organised. As I will only be using the journal for my private life stuff, not work, I decided to keep it to a small size (A6, i.e. a quarter of a A4 sheet) - I don't think I have that many things going on but it remains to be seen whether I want to move on to a bigger journal if this turns out to be my thing. I just thought a tiny book would be easy to slip into any bag I happen to be carrying so it will always be with me. My journal is a silver coloured Rhodia as I read some reviews about paper quality and the paper quality for the Rhodia seemed to be better than the Moleskine or Leuchtturm based on reviews.

I'm so excited to get started with the journal and it was easy to get going as I was on annual leave when I first got my journal, so I had time to actually create pages and fill them. However, after going back to work, although I've been able to keep up with filling in my habit trackers etc, I haven't really been able to create any new pages or even have time to journal. I had planned to do some journalling tomorrow as I thought I would be sitting in a car for many hours, but now due to a very long story that is too boring to tell I will have to drive for many hours instead.

Second attempt at weekly spread.

One aim of the journal was to get me writing more so I can improve my handwriting. And above all, to start to practice some beautiful lettering. I accept that it will take a lot of practice but we all have to start somewhere. I'm also looking forward to buying a nice pen for lettering at some point, but I don't think it's a good idea to buy too many expensive things immediately at the start but I'll wait and see first if the whole idea of journalling sticks first.

Last but not least I'm also hoping that the journal will inspire me to be a bit more creative and try to learn to draw and doodle. But based on my first attempts, I might just stick to using my crafty supplies and stamps for decorating the journal instead. Also, although I know it from the start, the paper is not really good for anything other than writing - I would love to find a journal with watercolour paper but as they are all for "real" art, they only come in completely white pages, not in the dotted format. The creamy paper in the Rhodia is great for writing but won't really work with any wet medium. So I probably need to use the Distress Inks and pencils only and stay away from the watercolours.