Journaling Made Easy!

Journaling….

For many, it is the most difficult part of scrapping… it is the reason I have so many unfinished pages sitting in the corner… they are waiting for the perfect story, written in perfect words… Yet, journaling is probably one of the most important parts of the page! The story of our lives, isn’t that what we are trying to tell? Seems that it should be easy since “we” are the ones living it, right?

Well, today I am hoping to be able to help you make journaling a little less painful and a lot more fun! (and to decrease your backlog of unfinished, need to be journaled, pages!)

Next to scrapping, I truly enjoy reading, which oftentimes leads me on expeditions to the bookstore to find a new story to occupy my average life. On my most recent trip to the bookstore I found a journaler’s treasure trove in the “self-help” and kid’s sections.

The first - journaling gem I ran into is, “My Listography” by Lisa Nola. I have two similar books called “List Yourself” and “More List Yourself” by Ilene Segalove but I picked it up anyway because it has a ton of fun lists, for example: List all the Cities you have been to, List the pets you’ve had and their names, List 10 Wishes you want to come true, List your favorite places to go in your hometown… and the “list” goes on and on (pun intended). Whether you use the list prompt and the list itself as the journaling or as a springboard for pages or narrative journaling, this book is sure to help you get started journaling your story!

While browsing further I came across, “The Book of Us” by David and Kate Marshall. It is a journal-style book with prompts about your relationship. It is listed chronologically beginning with “Before I Met you my Love Life Was…”, through “Starting out” and “The Middle Years” and ending with “The Later Years”. I have been wanting to document my husband and I’s relationship, but I am usually at a loss of what exactly I want to remember. This book is really stirring up my creativity which I am sure will lead to a beautifully journaled album later on!

In the kid’s section I found a series of “American Girl” quiz books, one in particular, “The Family Quiz Book” caught my eye, as I am always trying unsuccessfully to document our personalities and lives as a family. It is full of quizzes which compare and contrast, describe and zero in on the true personalities of your family members… and it is fun to boot! I have already given a couple of the quizzes to my kids and I am excited to turn them into great pages! Well, I hope my bookstore finds will help you as much as they have helped me! Having trouble journaling? These books can all help! - Just head to your local bookstore and pick one up!