I got into bullet journaling a few weeks ago. I looked at a bunch of resources that went into detail, but I felt like I didn't have the big picture. The Absolute Ultimate Guide covers the motivation, what bullet journaling is all about, and details for getting started quickly, all in one relatively short post.

Hello, I am keeping a journal in handwritten form for several years now. From the beginning I used acid free paper and archival ink so that the pages will be readable for a few decades. However I am thinking about keeping a digital backup of everything for several months now. Reason for that is that in case of a fire I'd loose all my memories. So it is important to me to keep this information in a separate place.

Now I could go the easy way and could just scan all pages and save them, but this would just be a regular backup. So I was reading about OCR that is being used by many software solutions to recognize text and make pictures or scans searchable. However this is good only for digital text and not meant for handwriting.

Now Apple shows that recognizing handwriting is possible, because my iPad learns from my handwriting in notes and can convert digital text to look exactly like my handwriting. I can make a picture of handwritten text, too, and can then select that text in the photos app. So this shows me that there is indeed a solution that can recognize my handwriting.

So does anyone here know how I could achieve this in my case so that I have a digital backup of my written journals and make all of this searchable? I am fine with technical solutions like python scripts or self-hosting something, as long as it makes my goal possible.

Thank you in advance!

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 @Œ[email protected] 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 folding bone (to neatly fold your sheets of paper) and a paper trimmer thingy (I don’t know the English word for those guillotine-like paper cutter) that will help you get neat edges.

Along the years, I’ve made some notebooks myself ranging from the real fancy one (I learned to do book binding three decades ago) to the real dirt cheap ones, made from a stack of printer paper, some empty cardboard box for the cover, and a couple staples.

I loved using them a lot and they all felt so much more personal than purchased notebooks, no matter how cheap and quickly I made them. Each was uniquely mine.

Curious to give it a try? Great!

• If you have zero experience in book binding, this video is an excellent introduction that will teach you how to do everything properly and should help you get a real fine handmade notebook. Something you would not mind gifting to someone you care about: Bookbinding Basics: Chapter 2 - Basic Materials & How To Make Your First Notebook.
  BTW, the channel in its entirety is absolutely excellent and well worth watching but it focuses on bookbinding more than on journaling ;)
• The previous video focuses on making a nice simple notebook but it still takes some efforts to achieve. If you want to experiment faster and simpler (and cheaper too, maybe) you can check this other video: Pocket notebooks // How-To | I Like To Make Stuff.
• Finally, as a middle ground between the two I would suggest this video: My hand-made pocket journal.

Personal advice: don’t be afraid to try stuff out and to screw up. That's how you learn anything that is worth learning, and even with some issues it will still be your very own unique journal and I'm willing to bet you will like it ;)

Like I think I mentioned, I always have had a soft spot for my own diy notebooks even the cheapest/dirtiest I've made. And I will never hesitate to make one, say for a short-lived occasion (a few days or weeks worth of writing) as I simply use less sheets of paper to make it. It’s also a very simple way to be able regularly renew your journal too: change the cover and the paper. And maybe beside using a ring binder of some sort it's the only practical way I can think of to use a mix of various papers in the same journal.

Also, when I’m in a hurry (polite version of ‘when I feel too lazy’) I don't bother with making anything fancy. I simply fold a few sheets of paper (I prefer watercolor papers, since I like to sketch but a less expensive mixed media paper will do fine too, and if I was only writing or sketching without using watercolors I would not mind using 80gsm copy paper from Clairefontaine) that I staple, not even trimming the edges.

Nope, I don’t worry the staples might be rusting because of the water in my watercolors as I seldom do heavy watercolors washes in my journals but even if it was to rust, so be it, it would simply be part of that journal.

And yeah, when I feel less lazy I can properly bind the signatures using some thread and a needle and I may even use some nice cover material too ;)

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.

Job Hiring PNGs by Vecteezy

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?

I started a few years ago. Sometimes, I had a dream that I wanted to remember and so I started writing it down. I also drew sketches of the places I dreamed about.

In fact, writing about my dreams is how I got into journaling in the first place. It was only a year ago that I decided to also start a "regular" journal.

Do any of you also have a "dream" journal?

It's not our Weekly Thread (I will post it in a couple days, like every week) but I just replied this in another thread and thought it might be worth sharing with you guys. I also invited the OP to join our community. Hopefully, they will. A short summary, to give you some context: the OP was worried that they can't keep on writing in their journal and asked for advice. What follows is my reply to the OP reply to my first comment. The whole thread can be read here.

It's a bit long but I see so many (young or not so young) people being blocked by that perfectionism shit (I also had to fight against it, mind you). Let me know, if you think this has little to do with our community or if you think it's ok and feel free to add your own remarks and suggestions:

One thing I’ve discovered about my mentality is that, I’ve developed a perfectionist perspective/mindset

Perfectionism is the enemy of creativity, which journaling can be considered a form of but that’s true of any form of writing. Perfectionism will often be used as an excuse to not finish/publish a text. I learned at a very young age to say to my own perfectionism to fuck off. Even for simple stuff like commenting here on lemmy I’m OK with publishing posts/comments in English (which means that they contain even more mistakes than they would have in my native French), I’m ok with mistakes and I can always edit the ones I see later on. I’m also ok with not having a fully articulated expression of what I really want to say (for that you would need to read and me to write in French). And that’s true for any other published work, not just here on Lemmy (I may have been writing for a living, younger).

As far as I’m concerned, I consider perfectionism one of my worst enemy. I see it as my own fear of realizing I’m far from being as good I imagine I am ;)

After reading your insight, maybe I’m sensing a change in my perspective. A positive change. Maybe I can LET GO of the feeling of failure and move on…

So glad to know that!

Don’t be afraid (really) to try letting go of that perfectionism. Worst case: it won’t help you. But if it does help you, you will never regret getting rid of that shit feeling.

A warning before you try anything new: you need to be prepared, like be OK in you head, like for real because it’s the most likely outcome, with the idea that you will fail at doing it, that will fail the first time, and maybe the second time and maybe more. And even if you don’t fail, you may be ok with doing something great either. That’s not an issue. That’s how you begin. That’s how anyone begins. Trying to get rid of that shit feeling of perfectionism you will indeed fight years-long education and habits. It’s not just an on/off switch so be ok with that ;)

We now live in an age that hates failing and is in absolute adoration before perfectionism(at least as much as it is in adoration before money). That is the most stupid thing ever conceived; And it is even more so for all the kids that are being taught that. Because, simply put, failing is essential part of leaning. I would even say failing is the only legit way to learn anything that is worth learning.

How did you learn to walk? By walking a marathon or running a sprint like some athlete or was it by falling on your diapered toddler bum one clumsy step after another, over and over again? Yeah, not that brilliant but be assured that was the exactly the same with me. How did you learn to write? By writing poetry that put to shame dear Shakespeare at your very first attempt? Or by making a shit ton of mistakes, and by writing each letter clumsily one at a time, and then, after years of practice, by realizing you were indeed able to write your first (but still rather poorly worded) real sentences? So did I. And I experience that with every single language I learn(ed), even more so with non-Latin languages. And how did you (maybe?) learn to kiss, and more? Don’t tell me you were at the top of your art from your first kiss, and that you were a perfect lover the first time too because I certainly wasn’t (and, decades later, still am not ;)

Failing and then trying to understand how and why, and how to avoid repeating the exact same mistake, is at the core of learning and therefore should be at the core of any quality teaching too. Not telling kids they’re perfect and all they do is amazing. That’s bullshit. Alas, it’s that bullshit that is now the norm. Heck, teachers in schools nowadays are even afraid to give poor grades to students as that could be traumatizing for the kids… forgetting that’s it’s the sole purpose of giving a grade: to assess the level of assimilation of whatever the student was supposed to have studied. Sad state of affair out of which the real losers here are those students that don’t learn essential knowledge and skills anymore. They’re the ones that are being screwed up.

Sorry, for that rant. It’s something that worries me a lot to watch so many younger people being frozen by the fear of failing despite being at the very age where they should happily be taking so many fucking risks and be daring of trying the most stupid shit. I also worry a lot realizing those younger ones are very quickly becoming unable to read and write, or to do simple math. Meaning they aren’t able to learn and understand much by themselves, and less and less able to communicate whatever thought, emotion, or idea they may wish to share.

To get back to your situation: your journal is not a work of art that will end up exposed in art galleries nor in a museum, maybe you will do stuff that will end up exposed and studied, no one can predict the future, but they should not be your journal. That journal is one of the tools in your toolbox with which you will do what you want with your life. It’s also a work in progress. Use it, abuse it, experiment in it, break it as often as you feel like it. In a few decades, when you will look back at your old journals, you will be happy you have tried (and failed) so many times at so many things. And I’m willing to bet you will be happy to have kept a record of all those failed and imperfect attempts of yours ;)

Why a WT?

We’ve a steadily growing community—we’re now 494 members! Welcome to all of you :)—but we still lack momentum.

The idea is to encourage more participation by sharing a weekly theme. This just an invitation and you’re more than welcome to comment about anything else (related to journaling), or to start your own thread ;)

Also: do you think we should do something to celebrate the 500th... if we manage to get there?

This week theme: What do you do you when you finish a journal?

Do you have any special rituals, or do you just start a new one?

Obviously, the question concerns pen and paper journalers more than digital users but don’t hesitate to comment as a digital user too! Explain us how you manage switching app (or if you don't switch and only use one, like I used to do when I used DayOne), or if you lack the emotion of finally filling the very last page of a notebook and starting a new one? Or if there is no emotion associated with that?

Edit: once again, I used my non-admin account to post this weekly thread. Silly me. Feel free to petition and demand a less amateurish admin if you feel like it's needed. I won't protest :p