A Tale of Four Journals

It started with Larry Crab's PAPA prayer. For me it's a good discipline for both seeing and expressing myself as I am. I filled up four or five journals before I realized that they were all puny and over-priced. On top of that, there was no continuity. Every journal was an interesting and useful design, but I disliked the way the changes intruded on my purpose. I wanted to get in a groove and stay with it. Enter the Levenger Infinity Journal. The paper is nicely ruled. It's quite fat, and there is no bleed through. The best part though is the refills. When I come to the end I remove the current journal and put a new one in the leather cover. It's seamless which is what you want when you are focusing on an important task.

One Journal leads to another. I'm reading through the Great Books and other stimulating intellectual volumes, and I wanted a place to record all the new insights and such I was gleaning. My first thought was to get another Infinity Journal in a different color, but they've stopped selling it. Casting about for alternatives, I used a gift card to Barnes and Noble to select a gorgeous red leather journal with an amazing owl on the cover. Since I'm playfully enrolled in the Owl Correspondence School, it was a perfect fit.

Harriet is set in the sixties. Anytime I see a display of materials devoted to the period I take a look to see what might work for the plot. A table at B&N was set up like a shrine to Woodstock. I'd begun to scribble down ideas on whatever was in my purse and it was a mess. The peace sign journal was too perfect. All my scraps found a home and these days I pull it out for anything that inspires me no matter which project it belongs to. I've even gone so far as to get multi-colored pens so that the inside matches the outside--lots of fun.

The last journal isn't as much fun, but it's important. I'm going on a diet. The journal lets you record tons of data so that you can focus on other aspects of your attempt to get healthy when this or that strategy has gone stale. I like that.

Write it down. As a writer I should have known what magic that strategy can hold, but I didn't.