The Almost Weekly Thread: DIY journaling notebook/sketchbook
The Almost Weekly Thread is my attempt at keeping the community active while I’m unable to post at least once a week like I used to. Consider it a programmed but totally irregularly scheduled publication ;)
For this first issue, I got the idea from a recent comment from @Œil@jlai.lu that mentioned scratch building their own notebooks using scrap of leather for the cover.
DIY is great idea and helps making the journal even more ours. It is something I’ve been doing on and off (off for the last two years or so) myself with great satisfaction.
There is no need to use leather, or anything fancy to make one. As a matter of fact you probably already have all you need to make a simple one from scratch: some copy paper, a stapler and maybe some thicker paper or cardboard for the cover. Your journal can be as simple and as fancy (and as expensive or as cheap) as you want it to be.
The required tools are limited: like I said a stapler or, better, a needle and some threat, maybe a foldi
Sorry for the late reply, you may have noticed my last message announcing I won't be available a lot for the time being.
Little tip: For those who like Midori Traveler’s Notebook-style, it’s super easy and way cheaper to make them. There is a bunch of tutorials on YouTube, like this one. I made a few ones with scraps of saddlery leather someone gave me. Well…someone gave it to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me ;)
That's a great suggestion!
I would add that a DIY journal also makes one's journal feel incredibly more personal. At least, that's how it felt to me every time I made my own. Like you suggests, no need to learn anything special or expensive and even using scraps it will feel unique. I would encourage anyone to give it a chance.
My last handmade journal, dating back a couple years ago, was exactly that: a few stapled sheets of paper with a nice cover made out of recycled cardboard (from a sturdy pasta package :p). The paper I used for the pages was a few sheets of mix-media smooth A4 paper from Clairefontaine I folded in two (being smooth making it great for writing with a fountain pen, and fine for my watercolor sketches) :p
I don’t think I’m a worthy replacement for you :-D
;)
Don't feel sorry, it's great that you wanted to give it a chance, I appreciate it. I will keep the repo available, if anyone wants to use it (here, or anywhere else).
There is no issue either if no one can post regularly around here as the community will simply fall a sleep, like it once was, up until someone shows up willing to give it another chance. Or maybe not and it would just mean that journaling is too much of a niche topic for Lemmy's limited actual user base? That we can't tell, but at least we have tried to make it a more lively community.
BTW, if anyone is looking for a more active journaling community, I updated the OP with a link to our cousin from r/journaling. With their 2 million or so user base, they've a lot more going on.
It’s sad to hear that you need to take time off from this community but I can understand not having the time. I’d like to wish you all the best for your personal matters.
Thx, a lot. I have no clear idea how much or even how long this business will take so I'd rather not promise anything I won't be able to hold. I will do my best to keep posting, though ;)
I may post a weekly thread if I can think of something interesting. I’d like to keep the weekly thread going, because it is fun.
I created a repo which contains all the source files you need to create a new illustration (it also contains the banner illustration and the community icon). They are SVG files (a standard/open format) created using Inkscape (a free vector illustration app available for Linux, Windows and Mac), the font you will need if you want to keep the same design is called 'Annie use your telescope', it's free.
BTW, I had prepared an illustration for the WT#13 already( it(s just that I could not find the time to write the post). It's in the exports folder) feel free to use it if the theme inspires you: beginning without spending too much, as I do think too many people don't realize how cheap it can be to journal be it analog or digital. You're more than welcome to use or to not use it. If you don't I'll still try to publish it as a standard post, later on... as soon as I can ;)
Also, would you want to become Moderator? Not that there is a lot of of work but it may come handy and you get a shiny badge :p
Upcoming changes for the community
Hello guys,
No Weekly Thread this week and probably not in the foreseeable future as I need to deal with personal matters that will reduce the time I have available for the community.
Like I always said, I don't own the community, if I'm anything it's its janitor.
So, if anyone is willing to pick up this role of janitor/mod/admin I will gladly give them all the keys. And if you're feeling like keeping publishing the Weekly Thread or want to change the banner/icons I will also give you the source files for all our illustrations (I used Inkscape to create them).
If no one wants to that's fine too. I will keep the Mod hat for the time being and do my best but I won't publish that much.
Edit: if you miss a (much) more active community, don't forget about our older cousin r/journaling. With their 2 million or so user base they always have a lot more going on.
I quit doing that... 4 or 5 years ago (started doing it in late 70s) ;)
Pour faire gagner du temps, je me suis déjà emballé moi-même et j'attends sagement qu'on me migre avec les autres données ;)
Bon courage aux admins.
Thinking about it now, this can probably seriously challenge a kid’s faith in their abilities, and rob them of a sense of accomplishment.
I literally took that as a personal challenge, and then started getting better ;)
This was so much kid-me. I was so frustrated comparing my 'finished' model planes with the box art. Still, I kept building and painting them :p
J’espère que malgré tout que vous resterez avec nous. :)
Si on devait se quitter les uns les autres dès qu'il y a la moindre friction (version tout public de 'avoir une couille dans le potage'), de un y aurait beaucoup trop de claquements de portes dans ce monde, et ensuite on vivrait tous bien seuls ;)
Je suis surtout curieux de savoir ce qui cause les soucis (enfin, si c'est intelligible par un incompétent moi)
cool (et curieux de savoir ce qui merdouille) ;)
OK,merci ça ma rassure... Enfin, non c'est pas ce que je veux dire mais au moins je sais que c'est pas mon ordi qui a une nouvelle crise ;)
Dans les choux? (24 avril)
C'est mon ordi ou jlai.lu est afk pour le moment?
#12 Where do you journal?
We’re now 516 members! A warm welcome to all of you :)
The idea with this Weekly Thread is to encourage people to participate more by sharing a theme. See that as an invitation, nothing more and you’re more than welcome to comment about anything else related to journaling, or to start your own thread while ignoring this one.
This week theme: Where do you journal?
Do you like to write your journal at home, comfortably installed on your desk or maybe on a couch or in the bed? Or do you journal everywhere you go? And how? Do you do it on your phone, or in your journal (that you carry everywhere you go?) or maybe in smaller notebook?
#10 Changing the past through journaling?
What is this WT?
We’ve a steadily growing community—Welcome to our 18 new members since last week, we're now 483 total!—but participation is growing slower.
My idea is to encourage people in participating more by pushing a weekly theme. It’s an invitation, not a mandatory theme. Feel free to comment about anything else related to journaling, or to start your own thread ;)
This week theme: If by journaling it you could change one thing in the past…
News aren't that great and I thought it might be an interesting way to reuse a classic sifi theme. So, if by journaling it, writing it or skecthing it down in your journal, you could change any past event, not something global like an election, a war, some castatrophic event, or anything like that but something directly linked to you daily or to the people close to you.
- Would you use that power?
- What would you change?
#9: Digital or/and analog?
Are you a beginner, or are you considering if you should start a journal? Ask all your questions here. Are you more experienced? Feel free to share tips, tricks, pictures of your journal, anecdotes. Anything related to keeping a journal is welcome in this weekly thread.
Why a WT?
We’ve a steadily growing community—we’re now 465 members! Welcome to all of you!—but we don’t have that much active members.
My idea is to encourage people in participating more by pushing a weekly theme. It’s an invitation, not an obligation. Feel free to comment about anything else related to journaling, or to start your own thread ;)
This week theme: Is your journal analog or digital? Both? Or something else entirely?
Are you more of an analog or a digital user? Do you use both without any hesitation? Do you use a dedicated app like, say, DayOne, or a word processor, or a text editor, something like MS Word, LibreOffice or TextEdit?
Do you have an app you love to use? That helps you journal
#8 Nothing is working out
Are you a beginner, or are you considering if you should start a journal? Ask all your questions here. Are you more experienced? Feel free to share tips, tricks, pictures of your journal, anecdotes. Anything related to keeping a journal is welcome in this weekly thread.
Why a WT?
We’ve a steadily growing community—we’re now 456 members, twenty more than last week! hi & welcome to all of you!—but we don’t have that much active members.
My idea is therefore to encourage people in participating more by pushing a weekly theme. It’s an invitation, not an obligation. Feel free to comment about anything else related to journaling, or to start your own thread ;)
This week theme: Nothing is working out
What do you do when stuff aren’t working as expected? Do you journal about them? If so, how? Do you use your journal as tool to try to better understand what’s going or is it just a way to record the event and keep track of them?
#7 Privacy and intimacy
Are you a beginner, or are you considering if you should start a journal? Ask all your questions here. Are you more experienced? Feel free to share tips, tricks, pictures of your journal, anecdotes. Anything related to keeping a journal is welcome in this weekly thread.
Why a WT?
The community keeps getting new members—we’re now 436 members, hi & welcome to all of you!—but we don’t have much active members.
My idea is therefore to encourage people in participating more by pushing a weekly theme. It’s an invitation, not an obligation. Feel free to comment about anything else related to journaling, or to start your own thread. You can also let me know if you don't like to see a Weekly Thread. I won't be mad ;)
This week theme: I (don’t) care about my privacy!
Digital journal often offers some way to encrypt our entries, analog journaling not so much. Anyone opening a journal will be able to read it which can lead to some sad situations. But even if that journal was stored
New Community Added to the Sidebar
I’m very happy to report that I have yet again updated the community sidebar with a link to a brand new community.
a community for stationery users and lovers. We talk about pens, fountain pens, notebooks, planners, pencils, mechanical pencils, markers… and in general about everything we use for writing, journaling or drawing.
It’s great to see more communities around interesting topics. And this one obviously is. Well to analog journalers/writers among us at least ;)
In those sad and stupid times, more than ever, we need Calvin and Hobbes. Thx.
#6 Do you journal about the world events?
Are you a beginner, or are you considering if you should start a journal? Are you more experienced? Feel free to ask all your questions here, to share tips, tricks, pictures of your journal, anecdotes. Anything related to keeping a journal is welcome in this weekly thread.
Why weekly?
We have a steadily growing community and we’re now 418 members! But we don’t have that much active members (which is fine, don’t get me wrong). My idea with the weekly thread is to encourage people to participate and to hopefully give it more visibility. It also makes it simpler for lazy-me to regularly publish new content ;)
If it needs to be said, you don’t have to post your questions, discussions in this weekly thread. Not at all. You also don’t have to talk about this week’s theme. It’s just a trigger or an invitation you can completely ignore. I would even encourage you to talk about anything else, as well as to start your own threads.
This week theme
Do you journal about all the shit h
#5: Nothing interesting ever happens in my live!
Welcome to our new members!
The Weekly Thread is the place for everyone to share content and ask questions. Are you a beginner, or are you considering if you should start a journal? Ask all your questions here. Are you more experienced? Feel free to share tips, tricks, pictures of your journal, anecdotes. Anything else related to journaling is welcome
This week theme: What’s worth journaling?
I regularly read on the Reddit journaling sub—no doubt we will soon be able to read as much interesting conversations right here, in our own Lemmy journaling community ;)—people complaining that they don’t have an interesting enough life to write about it.
Neither is mine. And That’s fine. For me, events don’t matter much, it’s how they impact me and how I perceive them.
What about you? (I will share some details about my uneventful journal in the comments).
New Community Added to the Sidebar
I updated the sidebar to add a new ‘Notebooks' community, a place to, I quote,
Share your collection, use cases, note-taking methods, pens, and accessories as you see fit.
You are welcome to share your journaling here too. Anything involving a notebook is welcome!
Obviously, I'd rather see journaling content posted around here, a dedicated community, but that's absolutely fine to do it anywhere as long as it encourages people to journal more; to talk more about how they do it, and at least as important, if it encourages newcomers to give journaling a chance.
We have no excuse anymore as we now have our dedicated journaling community, a fountain pen one, and now also a notebook community. Maybe we should have one dedicated to the humble but so useful ballpoint pen/gel pen too ;)
#4 How is your journaling going?
This week theme: Are you an addict to stationery?
Are you a beginner, or are you considering if you should start a journal? Ask all your questions here. Are you more experienced? Feel free to share tips, tricks, pictures of your journal, anecdotes. Anything else related to journaling is welcome in this weekly thread, don't hesitate.
Edit: I forgot to welcome new subscribers. Like, really what was I even thinking?
So—let's all pretend I did not forget—welcome!
#3 How is your journaling going?
Welcome to all our new members—hi!
You're beginner, or you're simply considering if you should start keeping a journal? Ask all your questions here. You're more experienced? Feel free to share pictures of your journal, tips & tricks, anecdotes.
This week theme: Do you like your journal pages to look perfect?
Anything related to keeping a journal is welcome in this weekly thread.
Shhh, don't spoil the next episode ;)
#2 How is your journaling going?
A warm welcome to our new members. There is not a lot of activity going on on the surface but our numbers are steadily growing (351 this very morning!), which is neat!
This the second issue of our Weekly Thread, where anyone is welcome to post pictures, questions, anecdotes, suggestions, tips and tricks, your latest great find, absolutely anything related to journaling (at least remotely)
Did you treat yourself with some fancy or not so fancy office supply? Or maybe you're testing out a new journaling app or workflow? Did the dog ate your brand new journal or chew on your new Montblanc fountain pen? Anything else, more or less serious?
Are you a beginner or you're not sure if should start keeping a journal? It's a good place to ask any question ;)
How is your journaling going?
Post pictures, questions, anecdotes, suggestions, tips and tricks, your latest great find, anything related to journaling in this weekly thread.
Yep, I'm still trying to find a way to encourage more people to participate, so feel free to use this thread, or obviously to start your own ;)
New Community Added to the Sidebar
I updated the sidebar with a new (new to me, at least) community called 'Web Revival' that wants to be "A movement focused on capturing the creativity and openness of the early Internet."
At first glance, it's not strictly a journaling or writing related community but I think it's intimately related (and very interesting) as it's very close to what motivates many of us in keeping a journal—the ability to make events/time/thoughts truly ours and not just things we're remotely looking at.
Blogs, that used to be called 'online journals' you know, personal websites, Small Web, small forums (like the communities, here on Lemmy) and so on made exactly that for the Web. They made it our Web. Not just a product we're allowed to consume. We made it and its content.
All those things that once were popular and are not so much nowadays—I'm exaggerating, they're still popular? Well, maybe but allow me to ask this: how many of us go check our respective profiles when we
I had indeed noticed the constant derisive comments regarding Americans,
May I humbly object that without numbers to confirm the mentioned anti-American bias (I have no idea on the question myself, and I have no desire to start such a study either) but without any data of how many comments have been posted, how many have been analyzed, and where they were posted, what % of those were blatantly anti-US and even how is defined that 'anti-americanism'—and I don't mean a few selected examples, I mean real stats—all of this is nothing but personal opinions that may indeed be correct, but can also be completely not correct.
It not only depends one's own sensibility it also depends where one is looking at and what they're looking for
I mean, would I read content from say an instance like hexbear I'm pretty sure I would find a lot more anti-US comments (but I would also find a lot more anti-anything, and overall braindead-shit) but if I was making the odd decision to eat shit myself, I would not complain it taste like, well, shit.
But maybe I'm just another of those anti-Americans? Maybe not.
Edit: typos and clarifications.
oups, wrong account :p
Welcome to new members
I see quite a few new members have joined our small community in the last few weeks which is great! (Edit 16th Dec: we passed the 300 members!)
A warm welcome to every single one of you!
I was wondering if you would be interested in post where everyone would be able to present themselves in a few words if they wanted to, maybe share a little info about themselves and their journaling habits or why they're considering journaling?
No obligation, obviously, and nothing too personal should probably be shared but here it is.
If the discussion gains enough traction I may pin it as a permanent welcome post and an invitation to new members to introduce themselves. If it doesn't, well so be it.
I will introduce myself in the comments, read you there ;)
Community update: the new banner & icon
Edit Jan 4th: re-uploaded the banner with the correct version—yep, I'm that professional :p
Like announced two weeks ago, I wanted to update the banner and icon for the new year. Here they are.
Let me know what you think about them. I saved a copy of the old files, should everybody prefer the previous version, it'll be easy to revert back.
And once again, a big thx to @SomeAmateur for your remarks and suggestions regarding my first proposition. They helped me a lot, hopefully ending up with something nicer ;)
The question was not for me, but maybe I can share my pov:
In my opinion most of this overlaps with PKMS. What things belong in a PKMS that don’t go in a journal and vice versa?
There is no hard-coded rule and everythign go go in either one. But I think you already noticed the difference yourself: it's all about the purpose. Which to me is very different in one and in the other. My journal is about free writing while the Zettel is about connecting (and maybe managing) stuff.
In my journal, I do not try to connect anything, or to manage it in anyway beside the dates. I write freely, a few words or a dozen pages if need be and I sketch. In my Zettel, each notion or idea has its own card and since it's analog (real paper cards) each note is also space-limited (I can't write dozen of pages on a single A6 card), which helps me a lot to either summarize more any idea that is not short enough, or will force me to split it into as many logical/meaningful independent units (and in as many cards) as needed so I can then later play with them more freely.
That Zettel is not something I will ever read linearly from first to last card, unlike my journal. It's only there to help me re-read those cards while I mix (a selection of) them in different/unexpected ways, and therefore create new ideas, aka new connections.
I consider my journal fully linear while my Zettel is non-linear, but they both contain the same kind of things: stuff I'm interested in enough to be willing to write about. I will just not write the same way and not with the same objective.
Already looked into Zettelkasten awhile ago. Seems cool but I am getting by just fine,
It's just there if you need it. What's great though is that you try it (and use it too) very simply without much effort.
especially because there’d be a cost to redoing my PKMS that way,
You don't need to 'redo' all your existing content to begin with. You simply need to start using your Zettel with new ideas/projects and it will slowly, organically grow. Say, the next book you start reading, you decide to take your reading notes in the Zettel, and then your own ideas, you put them in the Zettel too, and so on. It will work with you, at your own pace and it will respect your own limits. But, clearly, you don't need to use it at all, it's just there if you want to give it a go ;)
It can also very easily evolve with you and your workflow and adapt to any change in the way you work. My numbering system has changed a lot since I started using it (as my cards changed too, I went from A7 to A6)... That said, I never had to renumber or rewrite a single card, I don't need to. I simply reference old cards by their old numbering scheme and new ones by their new system, they co-exist in peace and harmony. At least with my analog Zettel, that's how it works (without ever forcing me to do anything I don't want or I would consider wasted time)
All of that to say: don't think you will need to redo all the work. You can if you feel like it but you also can just move on. That being said, it's clear the Zettel is just tool among many ;)
Edit: sorry, answered with my mod account, instead of my 'user' account :/
They might change in the future but I have not found a way either, so :(
I could have answered here, that may have been more logical but, yeah, I have yet to understand how exactly that cross posting thing works, and how I'm supposed to be using it. So, if anyone wants to read my answer it's posted as a comment over there... Yeah, I also have to figure out how to make an instance-agnostic link to a specific comment, too.
I think the problem is, they have become far more than a ‘statistically insignificant minority’. Anti-intellectualism is becoming more rampant at a horrifying speed
I do wonder if we have any data regarding that? I mean isn't it also, next to this quick rise of proud idiocy I'm not denying, a lot more noise made by them, and around them? Say, for example, by our dear media willing to do their worst in order to sell more paper/get more page views?
An interesting read, thx.
Flat-Earthers seem to have a very low standard of evidence for what they want to believe but an impossibly high standard of evidence for what they don’t want to believe (Lee McIntyre, Boston University)
This sums it up perfectly, for me. And not just for those flat-earthers. They don't want to discuss their ideas, they want to be right. There is no way we can have a sincere debate with any 'believer' (of whatever).
And why should we? Why should we do the work to prove them wrong knowing they will blissfully ignore any demonstration that does not end in 'omfg! You were right all the time! The Earth is indeed flat, and hollow, and reptilians are our true overlords, and the only time NASA send anyone to the moon is when they were all high!'
Why not let them do all the work themselves, instead? They seem to be so willing. I would even happily see some public money used to fund their 'space exploration' probes if I did not know for sure that the instant their stupid ideas would be proven wrong by their very own probe, the fact that any public money would have been involved in making it, they would argue it's one more irrefutable proof of the conspiracy against their (unshaken and unshakable) truth.
Imho, the real issues is not those people believing their moronic ideas. There always have been a bunch like them. Flat-earthers, doomsday believers, anti-vax, conspirationists of every single type you can imagine, and so on. We should be fine with them holding to their believes. Why? Because they should not matter, they should remain the statistically insignificant minority they are, no matter how loud. Also, we should not be afraid to call them for who they are.
Have we really become afraid of calling them by their name? Amusing morons at times, but morons nonetheless, and shameless assholes for those among them that take advantage of those people's gullibility for their own personal profit.
Have we become that fragile ourselves that we're afraid to simply ignore them when we're not frankly laughing out loud at their 'theories'? Because if we have, that bunch of eccentrics and their theories, is certainly not the issue I would worry about. We are.
Community update: a new banner & Icon?
Edit 18/12: I updated the proposition, based on u/SomeAmateur remarks.
What do you think? Feel free to comment, even if it is to point out the things you don't like, or that you don't like this proposition at all and prefer the old one. I'm no logo designer, I can promise you won't hurt my feelings ;)
Original post:
Since 2025 is getting closer I thought it might be a good opportunity to change the banner and the icon.
Here is a quick mock-up to promote something a tad less... serious.
There are two versions of the banner, one with and one without our dear Lemmy. And two versions of the community icon too, one with and one without the name in their default square shape and as a circular icon too, so you can get a better idea what they would look like.
What do you think? Is there one you prefer? Do they both suck, and the banners too?