My Journaling & Writing System

I LOVE notebooks and journalling. It's my favourite hobby. No, really! It is! I currently have- hold on, let me count- 6 notebooks in active rotation!! That doesn't include the other 6 notebooks that I am half-way through but not actively using, by the way!

Idea Capture

Most of my ideas start off in my newest notebook, a small spiral-bound notebook from Muji. I use this for brain-dumps and general idea capture throughout the day. I'll also use this every now and then for smaller diary entries! This notebook really is my raw, unfiltered thoughts. Any (non-meditation) post I have made has started off as a little note in this book (or one of its many predecessors).

Thought Journal

If I want to expand more on an idea, I will do so in what I call my 'Thought Journal'. This is the place where a rough idea is processed, developed and planned. While I am writing this post, I am using a rough plan I made in for it in this journal for reference. Obviously, this is not a rigid system, many ideas are also born straight in the Thinking Journal. I find that rigid systems often just cloud my mind and disturb my creative process!

Manuscript Journal

Many ideas do not leave my Thought Journal - some aren't good enough or simply don't need to go any further. If I am happy with a post idea though, I will then draft it up in my Manuscript Journal, which is a nice and thick, lined a5 notebook I got randomly off of Amazon a few months ago. It allows me to create rough drafts quickly and thoughtfully, while also building an archive of almost all of my writing in one place! This really is the stage where creativity really takes over and I get into the flow of things.

This is my main system for generating ideas and writing posts, but there are still more active notebooks in my system!

Commonplace & Media Journal

I have 2 cheap Pukka Pad notebooks that I have turned into a commonplace book, where I keep profound and inspirational quotes, and other cool things; as well as a media journal, where I track and write about music, books, TV and films. These notebooks are really just kept for me to have some fun and enjoy the smaller things in life!

Spirit Journal

Last, but not least, is my favourite journal in this whole system - my Spirit Journal. This is an amalgamation of 3 things: a Diary, Meditation Journal and a collection of love letters to my partner, Ace. Unlike my other posts, entries in the series "Tori's Meditations" never enter my Manuscripts Journal. Instead, I pick a topic to reflect on, and write my honest thoughts into my Spirit Journal. I then type out these entries, only changing mistakes in my grammar or spelling.

Eventually, this journal will be a gift to Ace. The idea is to give him a complete, unfiltered record of my deepest thoughts and reflections over time. Just feels like a really sweet thing to me!

The truth is, many reflections and entries in that journal will never be shared with anyone else. I only share a select few of my meditations that are not too personal. Please don't hate me too much for that lol! Anyway, that's all that I have for now! I truly hope that you got something from these ramblings!

Until next time,

~~ Tori <3