Tips on journaling?

BastardBeastie 🌐

I've had a digital journal all about the various things i go through as a nonhuman being for quite a while now, but unfortunately i find myself writing less and less. I don't feel like it's a lack of motivation or anything, rather i just cant find anything to write about? I wish to keep adding stuff so I can look back on it later on, and it's a little frustrating to just have nothing to add to put on the blank page :x

I'd like to know if 1: you have a journal/log of sorts you write in and 2: how you manage to keep updating it on a regular/semi-regular basis

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7 comments

I journal about twice a month. Quantitative logging makes it into a spreadsheet, meanwhile the journal holds epiphanies or diary entries or little essays on specific prompts, but those don't happen often. Life is monotone, there isn't always something (alterhuman) to write about daily, and that's okay. 

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I guess that's true. The mention of spreadsheets did give me a small idea though so thanks :v

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Happy to inspire :}

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I write on Dreamwidth a lot! I do it whenever I have a quiet moment, usually at the beginning of my day. I will go over any big events since I last updated, or at least the biggest, most important thing I can think of. Sometimes it's HUGE, other times I just watched a particularly good episode of a show, or perhaps the weather was nice. Really, any memory or event that I would not like to be forever gone in the depths of my memory. 

I also put down any ideas I have and a quick explanation of my thinking. Sometimes I end up repeating ideas in each entry, but it helps me keep an eye on what I want to do and why. 

Sometimes nonhumanity will come up, sometimes not. I just write about what is important to me in the moment. I also do not force myself to do it every day. If I have a quiet moment in the morning, I take the opportunity. I recommend finding a certain situation in which you would like to write, and just letting yourself write whenever you're there. It doesn't have to be every day. You don't have to be incredibly consistent with it. And you'll find your own way of doing it in time. 

I hope this helps! Good luck! 

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I do keep a journal! Both a physical one and one online. I have been using an instagram account for only my eyes since 2017 and post on there almost daily, it's become a habit for me. The physical one is harder for me to keep track of because I honestly get frustrated at how fast my thoughts go and my writing can't always keep up. I think what I would recommend is making a habit out of writing just anything daily (or how ever often you want to make a routine for) even if it's a simple "I don't have anything to say for today". That way you can hopefully catch all your thoughts about your identity, and hopefully that will create a flow.

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  1. Try to keep your journaling practice consistent.  The more consistent it is, the more the habit will take root.

  2. Write even when you don't think you have anything to say.  Use writing prompts if you genuinely can't think of anything on your own.  I'm also a big fan of the list of nouns Ray Bradbury advocates for in his essay "Run Fast, Stand Still, or, The Thing at the Top of the Stairs, or, New
    Ghosts from Old Minds
    " in Zen in the Art of Writing.  It's geared toward speculative fiction, but I think it's easily adapted to personal journaling.

  3. Keep a record of everything, no matter how much you feel you couldn't possibly forget your latest experience, memory, shift, noemata, etc.  Time erases and blurs together more than you might think when you're first making such records.

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I have a little paper journal, but I don't upload it regularly. I personally never push myself to write something when I have no motivation and will, but that's just because when I force myself to do something, it never is good in the end. Instead of forcing myself to write, I look for motivation and - what comes with it - inspiration - first. I look through the internet, find others who talk/write about their experiences and then there's a chance that I think to myself: "hmm... why don't I write on the same topic but about me?".  Other than that, I find journaling promts somewhere, like on Tumblr. I have a different "sense" of journaling that many folks, that's what I've noticed, so my advice can be useless to you haha :] But here, I'll share some of prompts and topics from my journal:

  1. An "experience analysis". That could be a shift, some behavior that you had. Was it positive, negative, neutral? How did it exactly feel? What do you think triggered it?

  2. A wishlist tied to your identity - it could be realistic or not. You can include objects, abilities, appearance traits, like dream body mods, ect.

  3. Find ask games on Tumblr and answer them. Literally. There's tons of these question games, I recommend looking through them and see what could be fun or encourages you to think about your identity more deeply.

  4. 'sketch out' your _type - you can literally draw your "final form" ( ;] ), some parts of it, like body parts, daydream-drawings [so eg. where do you dream to live, who/what to live with]

  5. Just any drawings that give you euphoria! Objects, beings, places, symbols, everything realted to you!🫵

I hope that I somehow helped :]