The Journal Newsletter
Introduction
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone’s 2011 is off to a great start. I’ve been keeping busy writing fiction and doing a bit of bughunting in The Journal 5.1. Which is why there is an update of The Journal 5.1 now available. =) See “The Journal News” below for more information.
Writing Prompts 3: Starting Sentences is also available. “Starting Sentences” by Mike Hommel is the latest writing prompts add-on for The Journal 5. See “The Journal News” below for more information.
Finally, in “How I Use The Journal”, Rich Hill talks about his mother’s lifelong journaling and how he is using The Journal to record his own life and transcribe the journals of his mother.
Thank you for using The Journal!
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 Rich Hill
My mother kept a daily handwritten journal for 38 years! She learned computers when she was 62, and took a junior college class in order to teach that class the following semester. She then taught beginning and intermediate computer classes for several years. At some point, she decided to start typing in her journal into Microsoft Word. While she was alive, she typed in 17 years of her journal. She never stumbled across any journaling software, and still kept her handwritten journal until the day she died.
I had started and stopped journaling several times during my life, inspired by my mom. After she passed away, I vowed to keep a daily journal from then on. I knew how much I enjoyed reading her journal, and I hoped my children would enjoy reading mine as much. I also knew I enjoyed reading her entries where I (or someone in my family) was included. So I try to include my children and grandchildren in my entries whenever I can. I searched for journaling software, and ended up buying The Journal, and I really like it.
I have copied all 17 years of what my mom typed in of her journal, into The Journal, and started typing in where she left off, from her manual entries. I have entered about 7 years in, since she passed away in 2004. I am now using Dragon Naturally Speaking to enter her journal entries, it seems to be a bit quicker, and easier on my hands than typing everything in. It is very therapeutic entering her journal, it almost seems like she is talking to me.
Recently, I’ve gotten sidetracked entering the daily letters she wrote to my dad while he was overseas for 3 1/2 years during World War II. I also have a lot of the letters my dad wrote her. I have 2 separate journals going for those. Those are pretty cool also, and I’m using Dragon Naturally Speaking to enter them.
The big advantage I think in using software to record your journal, is being able to search for things, and being able to edit the entries easily, as opposed to fixing handwritten documents. When there is a question regarding events that occurred in our family, I search my mom’s journal (or my own) to find the answer.
I enjoy The Journal, but know I am only scratching the surface on what it can do. I need to find time to try some of the features I read about in the user group emails. David, I am amazed and impressed with your support and timely responses to issues and requests for improvements.
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.