It's been awhile since my last entry. I was hoping to write something for this series more frequently, but things got really busy and so here we are. A number of notable things happened in between that I wanted to write about.
Starting off with... I have a new rule for this series of blog posts; all journal entries should be written impromptu or on the spot. This means not copying previously written down notes or entries from my digital or bullet journal.
This is how I originally started writing journal entries in the past by the way. I would login to write.as at night and write a journal entry based on what was in my head at that time.
More of a brain dump, versus a routine that involved going over previous journal entries, then compiling them into one big journal entry/blog post.
Over time, as I got more into bullet journaling, this practice of writing a journal entry on the spot went away. It was replaced by writing a journal entry based on entries I've written down on my bullet journal or daily logs in Obsidian.
At first it was great. I had so much material, so many thoughts and ideas to write about. But as time went by, I noticed that blogging this way became more like a job for me. I lost that excitement that you get with writing something on the spot and then immediately sharing it online. Not to mention, it was a chore having to go through and filter previous daily log entries to find something I can copy or write about.
I'm not saying this method of writing is bad. It's just that for me, it was no longer working. It was no longer keeping the spark for blogging alive that is. And so that's why I'm going back to more impromptu writing with this series.
This started out as a Remark.as response to this post from Ernest Ortiz. Once it became long enough, I decided to make it a proper blog post instead.
So, here's my response to his question about my “writer's carry”:
Interesting, I've never heard it called a “writer's carry”, but it does make sense.
I used to write down my thoughts and ideas on my bullet journal. That habit slowly faded away once I started using Obsidian on my phone. Since my bullet journal is too big to carry around with me all the time, I still primarily write down thoughts and ideas on my phone first. But lately, I've been trying to get back to more analog writing, and have been writing to my bullet journal more.
I currently have a navy blue Bullet Journal, the official one that is a collab with Leuchtterm1917. As for my pen, when I'm at the office, I write with a Uni Jetstream pen. And when I'm at home, I use my Zebra Sarasa pen. Everywhere else where I can't easily write into my bullet journal, I use Obsidian on my phone.
During today's lunch, I challenged myself to not use my phone until I was done eating. This used to be easy for me, but I've since let old habits creep in. I counted at least 6 times, that my hand unconsciously drifted to my jeans pocket trying to take my phone out. I was successful though at stopping myself every time. I was able to finish lunch without needing to use my phone to distract or entertain myself.
What's the point of this exercise? For me, the point is I got to rest my eyes. I work on computers all day. Spending lunch time looking at my phone will not rest my eyes. Looking at something far away in the distance does.
A bonus I got from doing this, is that I had time to think. Without my phone in front of me while eating, I thought about starting an online journal once again.