5 Tips for Writing Journaling

Happy Friday to you! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week and the work day goes quickly for all of us. I love this time of year, when we’re just on the edge of Summer… needing a jacket in the morning and evening but still able to bask in the warm sun during the day. Ahhh Fall. Precious can now hide imperfections under good jeans, and bulky comfy sweater Fall.

This morning I found out that my appearance on Blogher’s The Juice was up!  During the conference they had kind of an open mic area for Bloggers to come and share tips related to all sorts of subjects, there are some really excellent tips out there on everything from organization to cooking to managing daily life, so do browse through when you have some time.

Since my tip centered around journaling, I thought I’d share a few more favorites I’ve learned over the scrappy years for today’s Five.  Some I’ve mentioned before, but as I’m getting back into the scrappy groove I need to be reminded too.

1. Use a song for inspiration - I’ve preached this one before.  It’s one of my absolute favorite ways to incorporate feelings when I just don’t have the inspiration to write them myself.  Here’s a post with a mini-album I made using a song.  And this is what The Juice vid relates too also.   Check it out on the Blogher site here.  That’s me!

2. Interview the subject – This is a tip I’ve heard and read several places before that I think is so cute and fun to read.  Especially if the interviewee is a child or an older relative.  For the latter, here’s an article with some really great questions.  You almost have an entire heritage album right there.

3.  List it- Make a list of 5, 7, 12 whatever number things or thoughts come to mind regarding an event or photo.  The list could consist of anything from words to sentences.  You can use this to jump-start a layout as well, list your top 10 favorite movies, foods, things you did this year… possibilities are endless.  For example, this layout started with listing what was in my Ipod at the moment:

Aw my first Ipod Nano.  It held 240 songs and I thought I was the bomb.  Sorry… ‘da’ bomb.  I’ve outgrown it by now… sad as that is.

4.  Have someone else write it- Especially if it’s a gift album for someone. Putting together a wedding, party, graduation, etc album as a gift?  Get friends and loved ones to contribute the journaling so all you need to do is the design.  They can supply favorite memories, funny quirks, or just their well wishes for the recipient.  (Email works great and gets the best response from a large group)   Not doing a gift album?  Combine this with tips #2 and #3 and have the subject list 10 things about themselves.  Use their handwriting for this!

5.  And finally, Just forget the journaling – Seriously.  I know sometimes it’s hard to get out of the “formula” for a layout… but honestly… sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and that’s all you need.  Tell a bit through the title and then let the photos tell the story themselves.  If you must, toss the names and dates in there somewhere and call it good.  It’s about keeping your memories and feelings the way YOU want to.  Here’s an example:

I could have gone on and on about what a beautiful day that was, (or how stinkin impressed with myself that I was figuring out my new camera), but I just wanted the photo to speak for itself.

So, there we go.  That’s 5 layouts we can make this weekend with those thoughts in mind right?  Hee hee.  No I’m not pushing myself either.  I am creating this weekend though… Sunday is my birthday (eek) and I’ve made plans to be good to my creative self all weekend long.  I’ll be back next week with some of my results to share.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend… wait there’s that word “wonderful” again… bonus tip number 6… don’t be afraid to pull out a Thesaurus…

Take 2:

Hope you have an awesome, astounding, brilliant, excellent, peachy, and sensational weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!