men who write in or keep journals

[Irish4]

I am curious to know how many men write in a journal.Are women more apt to be the ones who journal?or is it more common now that guy's journal also.I am just curious as I have been thinking on doing this but do not find much on the web ,it's mostly womens topics that seem to relate to journaling.I am not intending to make any gender mad with my question,so please do not take it the wrong way.This may be the wrong forum for this topic,I apologize if it is.Thanks

 

[DeaconKC]

I always intended to do one but always put it off. I started one earlier this year, just a little every day or so.

 

[Nighthawk]

"What book?"

NH

 

[adamjaskie]

I have one. Not so much a journal as a text file on my computer, though. I write stuff in there that's not stuff I want to share on my blog, but that I want to get out.

 

[DerMann]

When I left for college, I received a pretty nice journal (about same quality as Moleskine). During the first week and a half or so, I was dedicated to writing in it once per day.

After a while I started writing the same thing over and over again (skipped breakfast, went to class, lunch was okay/terrible, dinner was okay/terrible, joined <X> club). The monotony of it and the growing lack of time meant that I was writing in my journal less and less. Originally, I wanted to give it to my mom as a Christmas present, but nothing really goes on that's that exceptional.

It's supposed to do wonders for your handwriting, though.

 

[Irish4]

I thought that I would have more responses by now,from reading in the other forums that most everyone has a Moleskine,rhodie (I think)or some other type of journal.I do thank those of you who have responded and I think I may try to write in one.

 

[RetroPat]

I've been keeping a journal for the past eight years and really enjoy it. I'm just about finished with a journal I've had for the past couple of years and will be moving on to a new one. It's really satisfy to finish a journal and start a new one. It's sort of like the ends and beginnings of chapters in your life. I try to write in my journal several times a week. A lot depends on the amount of time I have, and the number of interesting things that happen to me. I will say that my handwriting improved a great deal after I began journaling. It's also a great excuse to use my fountain pens.

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

I'm a girl, but I don't really keep a hand-written journal. I do, however, keep a sketchbook or two handy and regularly sketch/take notes in them. I suspect that's more along the lines of what most people do with their Moleskines, etc., although I know some guys definitely *do* journal.

I think with computers, there's less and less handwritten journaling going on. People get accustomed to typing, and often switch to typing their journals. Or blogging.

 

[Nighthawk]

and often switch to typing their journals. Or blogging.

Agreed.

NH

 

[Sertsa]

I have something like that, but most are notebooks filled with writings and ideas.

It's one of the things I had always meant to do, but they would tend to become something more like idea notebooks, where I would sketch out thoughts, possible approaches to stories or phrases / observations I thought would be good. I think that may be more of what men do, while women's journals tend to be far more detailed, even becoming a kind of adult diary in some cases. (I hesitate to use that phrase, though, because I don't want anyone to think I'm belittling that. I'm not.)

A couple of years ago, however, I wound up spending five months in the hospital and a nursing home (before turning 40), first barely grasping life then working my way back to it. During that time, I kept a journal/kind of adult diary, which really helped. But the odd thing is that I've never read it. I'm not sure I ever will.

So, I guess my answer is that, when I hit a critical time, I did.

 

[Delthayre]

I also send hand-written letters

I have kept a diary, not quite daily, since late January of 2006. Ideally, it is a daily journal, but it is not unusual for me to neglect it some days and there are a few prolonged gaps, but by and large, I think I have been successful. I use black, 5 1/2" by 8 1/2" Watson-Guptill sketchbooks for journals, for whatever reason, I prefer blank pages to ruled ones. I am presently writing the second 'volume' of my diary, which merely means that I have written upon all of the pages in the first book that I bought.

 

[indycop]

I have been thinking about keeping one also but don't know much what ya put in it.

 

[Irish4]

I think mine would start something like this,......got up this morning had coffee,checked my e -mail,made sure that my lazy- boy felt the same way,remote still working good,so I guess......hum..........goodnight

 

[Miles Borocky]

I've been keeping journals since I was 13, and now have a box of them in a closet. It's been a great tool at developing mnemic prowess (that is, friends are always impressed that I remember certain shared events in vivid detail, which I attribute to having lived each of them twice.)

My journals vary in tone: some entries are just I-did-this records; some are long meditations on things I've read or what's going on in my life or in the world...

Love doing it though. What a sweet pleasure it is to have a nice journal (my current one is leather-bound) and a nice-writing pen and to sit and jot some thoughts down with a pipe and a cup of coffee.

 

[Undertow]

I keep two journals: One that details daily life and one that details "great thoughts".

 

[Bingles]

I've kept a written journal since I was graduated 8th grade. I have quite a few volumes now. I don't write in it everyday, but only when I get the urge to sit down and get something out of my system, or record something for posterity.

I keep two journals actually, both leather bound. One is my home journal, and the other is a travel journal I keep in my school bag and take with me wherever I go. It's really fun to pick up one of my old journals and open it to a random page and start reading... brings back memories I forgot about, and helps me to see how much I have grown as a person.

I recommend it to everyone, but don't feel you have to write in it EVERYDAY... write when the mood hits you.

 

[eldonkr]

I've always kept journals. I've never kept any of them. Out of the fact that the way my life was there was a higher chance that they would be found, read, and get me in trouble so I destroyed them all. Burning, drowning, burial, etc. I have one that I'd been given at Christmas four or so years ago. I used to write in it constantly. I still write in it, maybe twice a year when I remember that I have one. I have nothing that I really want to write anymore like I used to.

 

[Undertow]

I keep two journals: One that details daily life and one that details "great thoughts".

Unfortunately, this has changed. "Daily life" has been lost/destroyed. I continue to detail "Great Thoughts" in my other, leatherbound journal.

 

[Mav]

For about 12 years. Less a chronological account than a place to write down the periodic whacky thoughts that occur to me.

 

[James71]

I keep a written journal, though I dont write every day. Just when I feel like I have something to say.