The Journal Newsletter
Introduction
Welcome to the Heart of Summer 2008! (Or the Heart of Winter for those of you south-of-the-equator.)
The Journal on Bits du Jour:
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/the-journal/
Also in this newsletter, Jon Medlock shares how he is preserving his families letters in The Journal, and we have new set of writing exercises.
Thank you for choosing DavidRM Software’s The Journal!
Writing Prompts
Free Writing Prompt – Write for 20 minutes using the following as your starter: “Nice Bully”
Journaling Prompt – Consider yourself from your neighbors’s perspectives. How do you think they see you? What do you think your neighbors might know about you (right or wrong) that you don’t suspect?
Memoir Prompt – How did you spend the 4th of July this year? (Or some other summer holiday if you live outside the USA.) Do you have any special traditions you try to follow in your celebration or remembrance?
How I Use The Journal
Editor’s Note: The Journal is used by people from all over the world, from many nations, representing a variety of personal, professional, and religious backgrounds. Journaling is by definition an intensely personal undertaking, so it should not be surprising that when someone writes about how or why they keep a journal that they will end up sharing personal information. The Journal Newsletter does not support any particular personal or religious lifestyle, but rather attempts to support anyone who keeps a journal, for whatever reason they do so. Thus, the views and opinions expressed in “How I Use The Journal” are solely those of the submitter and not necessarily the views of DavidRM Software. Whether you agree with the submitter’s views or not, I encourage you to read the article and glean from it the information and techniques that “ring true” for you.
by Jon Medlock
My mother and brother recently passed away and left numerous handwritten letters. These letters are from and to various members of the family, cover several decades of time, and are chocked full of family history. I thought how great it would be to have these preserved in digital form, protected even from fire, and placed in sequential order. Enter The Journal.
A new category called “Letters” is what I’m typing these into. It is a Standard Entry Category set up as Daily/On Demand with Normal Document Entry type. Now all I have to do is select a letter and enter it into the Letters category on the date it was written. The Journal automatically sorts them according to date. After typing in the letter, I assign it at least 2 topics: “Letters:from ___” and “Letters:to ___”, where the blanks are the names of the persons who wrote and received the letters. This way the letters can be printed in various ways: all letters, all letters from a particular individual, all letters to a particular individual, etc.
This is helping me work through the deaths of these two dear family members. But, it is also putting this portion of our family’s history in easy access for the rest of the family, now and later. The next logical step will be to enter the letters in my files and let them become a part of the total picture.
David, your excellent software is a great tool in many ways. But, in this particular way, for me at least, it is helping me as God walks me through some dark days.
Thank you!
Jon Medlock
Submission Information
If you would like to contribute to the “How I Use The Journal”, “Writing Exercises”, or “Tips & Tricks” sections, or would like to submit an article about journaling, writing, or another The Journal-related topic, we would love to hear from you.
Submissions for the newsletter should be sent to: support@davidrm.com
If you are submitting for a particular section, please indicate which one. Try to limit your submissions to 500-1000 words. Submissions may be edited for length and content.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, please state this in the email. Otherwise your name (but not your email) will be used in the article heading.
As always, if you have any suggestions for, or bug reports about, The Journal, please feel free to email them. Both are always welcome.