Bibliophile: a person who collects or has a great love of books. That compulsive need to buy every book in your sight, even with the hundreds of untouched books still waiting to be read on your bookshelves. That nagging curiosity to know what book that random stranger on the bus is reading. The irresistible urge to pick up a book and smell the stories within --- don’t be shy, you’re not the only one who does this. Does this feel at all relatable?
Before I even knew HOW to read books, I loved the amazing world of words and literature. Reading has been a constant joy in my life, bringing me comfort simply by looking at a book or entering a bookstore. I can’t recall a single moment of my childhood to teenage years where I didn’t find solace from reading or finding myself hiding amongst the bookshelves. But like many things, my time reading for leisure faded as the bombardment of adulthood took over.
At the start of 2017, I made the decision to join the book blogging community to help bring my love of reading back to life. I wanted to remember that feeling of excitement and bliss simply from opening up a book. I eventually branched off into the Instagram community as well, into the fascinating world of making beautiful pieces of art through the medium of book photography.
But I slowly discovered how time consuming it was to have a book blog and Instagram; trying to remember all of my special projects and thoughts on books I read grew more difficult. A number of fellow bloggers led me to journaling, showing me how ESSENTIAL is it to use journals as a book blogger! So here are a couple of ways I use journaling to track my blogging goals and keep my mind at ease.
JOURNAL IDEA ONE: A Review Journal
The first journal concept that I HAD to utilize. Rather than trying to remember all the remarks you wanted to make on a book through memorization, why not carry around a review journal?
Personally, I use Do Good Paper Co.’s black large linen journal for my book reviews. The larger size provides more room for me to track all of my thoughts, while being light-weight enough to take with me during my travels. It’s honestly helped greatly with making my review writing process quicker and more efficient.
JOURNAL IDEA TWO: A Journal of Lists
Special projects to complete for my book blog, fun book tags to try for Instagram, tasks to have done throughout the week, a list of my monthly stats, write down all the books on my shelves and highlighting the ones I’ve read (with a legend, of course) … a journal of lists is PERFECT for book blogging and Instagram! Using a journal to track all my ideas, statistics and other book blogging fun has reduced my anxiety of forgetting something. Do Good Paper Co.’s pink linen diary is the PERFECT journal for this! It’s small and compact, making it easy to carry around with you and storing in your desks or drawers.
The uses of journals are endless, which is what makes them so much fun to have! Mental health checks, organizational needs, work notes, packing and to do logs --- everyone and anyone can find a reason to use a journal. There’s a beautifulness to looking back at all of your completed journals, having the nostalgia fill you up as you see your creative ideas or seeing your thoughts on all of those amazing books. A keepsake, a memory log, a good laugh --- there are so many wonderful ways to use your empty journals.
-- Written by Jenna Waite
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Jenna Waite is the owner of Bookmark Your Thoughts, a WordPress blog and Instagram page both dedicated to the review and photography of books and other bookish items. Having a passion for literature, she completed her undergraduate studies in English Literature and Contemporary Studies, and a master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences. Living in the beautiful country of Canada, she enjoys getting lost in nature and relaxing with a nice cup of coffee.