No two people are going to answer this the same way, because there is really no right answer. Journaling is very personal and everyone has their own habit!

If you want an easy way to get started you could get a guided journal that has writing prompts in it—or just write for a few minutes at the beginning or end of each day. Personally I like to journal first thing in the morning on my way to work and sometimes for a few minutes at night.

I find that if I write whatever comes into my head, eventually I’ll get to topics that are important to me. I find the whole process really soothing and beneficial for my state of mind.

i think journal writing is reflecting on yourself as well. with me, i have an online journal which make me connected to those people i don’t see and talk with often. in here, i put what i’ve done and intend to do..

with a personal journal, you can write the intimate details of your day or life. no one will know what is in if you keep it to yourself. with this, you’ll know yourself better and may be able to deal with problems better.

i saw this journal where there are questions you’d fill up. it was cute coz it would feel like answering an interview or something. during high school this group of friends i had and i shared a journal where we put just about anything :)

It’s really up to you. I like to try and write something every day even it it’s just blah, blah, blah, Sometimes, you start out just writing about how your day went but, if you continue to write and stay with it long enough you’ll find that other things begin to surface—real thoughts and emotions.

As the others mention, it’s up to you as to what to write about. If you search online for journal prompts or ideas, you’ll probably find a zillion hits. Those prompts can be a spark to help you get started. Starting is the hardest part.

I write about my daily life. I complain a lot. I use my journal to examine problems, or think of story ideas. When I write about my daily life, I try to make it as detailed as possible, or at least, now I do. :) My past journals seem to say more because of what was left out of them.

When I write in my online journal, I view it as kind of a personal essay on a particular topic. My blog is where I dump more “mundane” kind of stuff.

There is no “one right way” of keeping a journal. The only two “rules” I have for myself is to date every entry and to finish the notebook (or bound book or whatever) I’m writing in before moving on to a new one.

Write what you want, when you want. I think these folks have pretty much summed it up. If you are looking for inspiration or permission to get free, “The Creative Journal: The Art of Finding Yourself” by Lucia Capacchione is a fun book, and I’m sure there are many others. I do think that some kind of scheduled or habitual time is useful, at least for establishing the pattern of writing, but for some it can be inhibiting to stick to a schedule. I used to do a dream journal when I woke up in the morning, and at another time I did “morning pages” where I wrote non-stop for at least three pages every morning. That was good for getting all the cobwebs out. I’ve also done “art” journals and more multi-dimensional journals. Poetry journals (only poetic language allowed), day-to-day journals, travel journels, event-specific journals, photo journals, obsession journals, cut-out journals, online journals – the world of journals is wide-open. You can make up your own rules or shun rules all together. The nice thing about a journal – it’s all yours, and you can go about it any way you wish.

I’ve been a journaler for many many years. It’s an off and on thing for me. I have boxes of old journals.

I use it to get my worries out of my head and on to paper. I also include images that I like. Venting is really good, too. I love to use color – pens or paints, too.

There are a couple of books about journaling that I like: The New Diary by Tristine Rainer and the art journals by Sabrina Ward Harrison and Dan Eldon.

Nothing is right, nothing is wrong in a journal. I like to see how other people do it, too, so I check out books written about journaling. An old friend of mine carried around a composition notebook in college (that’s a really nice anonymous book to use in case you feel that people might be nosy – I love them) that was so fat and full that I itched to get my hands on it just to look. I never saw the inside, but I never forgot it, either.

Check out 1000journals.com to see what others do in these amazing journals.

Lots of websites/yahoo groups available, too. Look for journal prompts online – they’ll give you a subject and you write about it.

I also have lists – places I want to go, my life list of things I want to do, projects that need completion, ideas, plans for vacations… phone numbers… things that make me smile, things I look forward to…

Good luck and welcome to the world of journaling!

Yes, it all depends on what you want the journal to do for you. For me, the journal is a place to capture snapshots of my day-to-day existence, and not a place to ramble and ruminate.

I have been using this journal since 2002—one page per calendar day, but room for one entry for each of 11 years. It was a little expensive (maybe $35) but amortized over 10 years, that’s what—a dime a month?

Truth be told, I wrote in it only in fits and starts until the start of this year. But I haven’t missed an entry yet this year (I write my few lines just after I brush my teeth), and I am really enjoying seeing where I was last year, two years ago, and so on, all right on that page.

I find that the small amount of space forces me to distill the day’s happenings, and my thoughts about them, into concise chunks. There are spillover pages in the back, but I haven’t used any yet. Composing short entries has become a nice challenge.

Good luck with your journaling.

get creative. dont look at like JUST a record of your life. but as something alive. so that you can return to your journal and its alive with memories, voice and senses. the answers to this question are wonderful suggestions. keep it alive keep it original and your own.

this is my take one suggestion for a journal entry start with blank page, one word in the center of your page. add some color, more text, a smear of a certain perfume or scent that touches on that day, fabric, newpaper clippings EVERY thing that touches on that experience that is beyond words.

most importantly enjoy your journal dont let it become a chore.

happy journaling!