Does anyone journal by hand?

[Luxuria]

I finally got into it this year and I can’t stop collecting journals. I use a three page day and a daily log page. I am not fancy by at all, but I love writing by hand. Anyone else?

I also use a pocket notebook on the go and a task/bullet notebook as well.

 

[Mr Mononoke]

I knew a writer who has a deep passion to write their stories by hand. They had beautiful handwriting and they found it cathartic in ways. I think it is a great way to put your ideas (literally) onto paper and develop it again when you type.

I have a habit of typing ideas on my phone by drafting emails to myself at any time of the day. I have lots of notebooks and notepads with a quote or an idea or a line... even words and their meanings when I read or catch something that I may use, but my handwriting is terrible (I write in small capitals) and I still struggle with reading what I have written.

I don't journal though. If I have things I need to express during the day, I'll just write, bottle up that emotion or how I am thinking and focus it on editing a story with that similar vibe. I have many stories in my anthology that I am editing so if I am feeling a little unsure of myself, I can delve into a story (or continue editing like I have been at the moment) and use what I am thinking into making a better story.

 

[tde44]

I journal and write all of my drafts out using fountain pens.

 

[Trish]

I am a sporadic journaler. I go through phases where I journal daily and then will have a year (or more) where I don't touch it. When I do it though, it's always paper and pen. It's so much different than typing.

 

[Luxuria]

I knew a writer who has a deep passion to write their stories by hand. They had beautiful handwriting and they found it cathartic in ways. I think it is a great way to put your ideas (literally) onto paper and develop it again when you type.

I have a habit of typing ideas on my phone by drafting emails to myself at any time of the day. I have lots of notebooks and notepads with a quote or an idea or a line... even words and their meanings when I read or catch something that I may use, but my handwriting is terrible (I write in small capitals) and I still struggle with reading what I have written.

I used to write a all my story stuff by hand, but I have a very difficult time typing things from a page. I completely understand having messy handwriting. I write in a mix of capitals and lowercase. I also sometimes can't read what I wrote and others can't either. I think I have dysgraphia.

And don't worry about how your handwriting looks. Because in a journal, it will be just you reading it.

 

[Luxuria]

I journal and write all of my drafts out using fountain pens.

OH! What type of fountain pens do you use? I like Pilot and Zebra is okay. Although a little light. I love the traditional ones, but they are not prtable and tend to leak. I also like using inkwells/feathers/and dip pens.

 

[Luxuria]

I am a sporadic journaler. I go through phases where I journal daily and then will have a year (or more) where I don't touch it. When I do it though, it's always paper and pen. It's so much different than typing.

Haha, sounds like me. I am currently 2 weeks behind on journaling. Before that, I would journal on and off. But now, I have been trying to commit to 3 pages a day + log. It is very different from typing, agreed. I have developed a bad habit though, collecting journals. I just got another one yesterday.

Do you happen to collect ones you want to use?

 

[Naja Noir]

Not a day to day play of events, but I did start writing down my fondest and most important memories. I have a fear of losing them to time.

I'm also a dream journaler, those, when I can remember them, typically get written down.

Also, in my quest to combat my ferocious anxiety, I've started writing down my calmest/safest memories, so I can reference them and go there when needed.

I got a fountain pen for Christmas and use it, feels good.

 

[Luxuria]

Not a day to day play of events, but I did start writing down my fondest and most important memories. I have a fear of losing them to time.

I'm also a dream journaler, those, when I can remember them, typically get written down.

Also, in my quest to combat my ferocious anxiety, I've started writing down my calmest/safest memories, so I can reference them and go there when needed.

I got a fountain pen for Christmas and use it, feels good.

Hahah, we're similar. I have a worry I will forget important memories, too. That's why I am stuck 2 weeks behind. Because my family took me to my favorite show that was touring and I want to get all the details down.

Oh, that's neat. So, you remember a lot of your dreams, then?

That's a great idea. I like the idea of writing down calming memories. For me, just writing out my feelings helps my anxiety a lot.

Nice! What color of ink are you using?

 

[Trish]

Do you happen to collect ones you want to use?

Of course I do. I have a stack of them in the closet of a room we use for storage. Pretty colors, nice pages, whatever drew my eye to them. It's sad. But I still can't resist buying when one catches my eye lol. Someday they'll get to serve their purpose.

 

[Naja Noir]

Hahah, we're similar. I have a worry I will forget important memories, too. That's why I am stuck 2 weeks behind. Because my family took me to my favorite show that was touring and I want to get all the details down.

Oh, that's neat. So, you remember a lot of your dreams, then?

That's a great idea. I like the idea of writing down calming memories. For me, just writing out my feelings helps my anxiety a lot.

Nice! What color of ink are you using?

I remembered them vividly until recently, I'd say last year or so. Though a few months ago i did have one in striking detail. I've written a story about one and plan to incorporate a few more into stories if I ever get back into storytelling.

Yes, I agree, such things can be cathartic.

I use black ink almost exclusively unless I'vegot no choice. I love the gel pen that came with the set as well. Writes so effortlessly.

 

[Dogberry's Watch]

I write everything by hand first and then type it up. I also journal, but not daily. I do a weekly catch-up kind of entry or I'll note my bigger thoughts. Sometimes I drop a tarot card draw (I use them for more of a meditation kind of thing. Draw from the pile, consider what the meaning could suggest about my life. I know the first thing I think of tends to be the forefront thought, not necessarily tied directly to the card or the universe). I recently started printing out pictures and quotes on a little sticker printer I have and just plopping them in the pages when I don't have actual words to say, but want what I found important to be recorded somewhere.

I pick a theme each year and try to center my thoughts around that, and I use dot matrix paper journals. Bullet journals without the fancy penmanship and so on. I do put colors in, but that's as ... imaginative as I get with it.

 

[bACK iN mY dAY]

I have this book that is part journal, part almost draft 0 type poetry with sketches and stuff like that in it. There's not much literal in it (I kinda fear that stereotypical 'someone taking it and reading my darkest secrets' type event) but it became a really... cathartic thing. An extraction of my thoughts and fears about myself and other people. It might be the best thing I've done, which is both cool and a tad tragic considering all the other stuff I've worked really hard on. In truth, I wouldn't keep a journal regularly up to date enough to justify it's existance. So a hybrid creative outlet which explores my feelings is also nice.

But the idea of wanting to remember does resonate with me. For months now I've wanted to get a polaroid camera and just take pictures of people along with what they would want people to know about them. Something hard, something non-digital that risks being gone with a power surge or a deletion. That appeals to me too.

 

[bACK iN mY dAY]

Also, in my quest to combat my ferocious anxiety, I've started writing down my calmest/safest memories, so I can reference them and go there when needed.

What an amazing idea. Absolutely stealing this. On the dreams - do you have a best dream? Or is that an odd question.

 

[Naja Noir]

What an amazing idea. Absolutely stealing this. On the dreams - do you have a best dream? Or is that an odd question.

Not odd. Yes, I have one in particular that I've had several dreams about, but each dream about it differs in some way. I even loosely wrote a flash piece about it for a different forum. In them, I'm on another world. There's a red tinted sky, dimmer sunlight, a lot of desert. It's beautiful but chaotic, sometimes by war and other times because it's raining death from above. I want to defend it, but am usually unable.

I like to imagine that our dreams are more than just our brain misfiring. Whether past lives or those that our spirits fly away to while we sleep here, I can't know for certain, yet anyhow, but it makes remembering my dreams so much more interesting.

I have a dream journal that's been mine since I was a teen. The rest I write in a notebook and one rather long google doc set up for the rest. Lately, I've been handwriting more. Like the op says, I love that feeling. Also, I don't want to lose that ability to write in cursive. It's freaking me out how many people can't do it nowadays.

 

[tde44]

OH! What type of fountain pens do you use? I like Pilot and Zebra is okay. Although a little light. I love the traditional ones, but they are not prtable and tend to leak. I also like using inkwells/feathers/and dip pens.

I have a collection of about 35 FP's, of which 6 or 7 are always inked.

Almost all of mine have either broad or stub nibs. These slow me down, make me write larger - both factors in making my chicken scratchings more readable even to me! - and I enjoy the look of different inks on the page. These do require decent paper to write on and I use Rhodia pads (A4+ lined) for most of my writing. This paper works extremely well with my fountain pens and is also quite thin so they are less bulky. I should also mention that I will punch and store my printed work for review as well as my journals & diary (these are generally made from HP32 paper in 1/2 page size) using a disc bound system.

As to which pens, these range the gambit of moderate to expensive. Not because price means necessarily a better writing experience where the nib meets the paper, but because I have moved over the years from the pens being a work only tool to a hobby and I have come to appreciate the look and feel of the pen in the hand as part of the writing experience.

The ones I use the most include:

• A trio of Visconti's - Homo Sapiens Bronze Age with a broad nib and Magma with a stub nib; a Divina Elegance with a broad nib. These are my absolute favorites to use and they are the smoothest out-of-the-box of any in my collection, including a Montblanc 149. Although the 149 is very close. It is not on this list as while the writing experience is quite pleasant, it no longer does anything for me in terms of esthetics.
• A Pilot Vanishing point with a broad nib. I use this when editing my drafts after printing them out. Love having a retractable nib during editing.
• A Kaweco Sport with a fine nib (one of my few with less than a broad) which I use when away and I want to write on the go like waiting for a doctor's appointment.
• A Karas Kustoms Ink V2 with a broad nib.
• An Opus 88 Demonstrator with a stub nib.
• A TWSBI 580 with a broad nib.

I should mention each pen is loaded with a different ink color which makes it easier to see changes and edits while writing as well as when I stopped and restarted.