I started writing in a journal on Wednesday 11/21/79 just to note that my now ex-wife and I were separating and that I was going to start copying poems and passages from books I was reading at the time. I was 27 years, 3 months, 19 days old. Today is Friday 08/06/21. That makes me 69 years 05 days old and my journal is 41 years, 8 months, 16 days old. And as of Saturday 07/31/21, that journal is now 8,668 entries, 8,652 pages, 3,344,893 words long. Yeah, I did indeed start by writing in a 6x9.5 spiral-ring notebook. It was green. Soon there was a second. It was red. Then a third. It was black. And all were written with a Schaeffer cartridge pen I had been writing with since I was in high school, September 08, 1964 to Friday 06/06/69.... You can see where this is going. I'm really here only to say that you are one of the few people I have ever "met" who stated that clear distinction between what one "thinks" and what one "feels". My 10th grade English teacher, Miss Ann Thomason, 1966, said it this way, what I have always simply called her "Three Laws": (01) Words mean things. (02) Before defining what something is, first define what it is not. (03) There can be no reasonable or intelligent discussion with first agreeing on the definition of your terms. Now, here in 2021? Pfft, nobody bothers to "think" any more because all has been reduced to "feelings". So I have been writing both thoughts and feelings for a very long time. This is how it looks as of July 31: Journal Totals as of Saturday 07/31/21: The Stuff of Everyday Life (Wednesday 11/21/79 - Saturday 07/31/21): 15 journals: 8,668 entries / 8,652 pages / 3,344,893 words Ancillary Journals: 42 titles / 10,186 pages / 3,707,265 words Titles placed into Archives: 10 titles / 3,495 pages / 1,318,541 words That total now becomes: 67 titles / 22,233 pages / 8,370,699 words So I might add this "warning" to the idea of writing in a journal: Warning: Writing in a journal may well indeed result in being OCD as hell. But do it anyway.
