When I was 14, it was called a diary. Now that I'm 43, it's a journal. There were a lot of years in between when I didn't have the time, energy, self-absorption or privacy to sit with a pen and a blank piece of paper. I'm kind of sorry about that. I think it could have helped me get through some of the harder parts of parenting, partnering and work, but that's water under the bridge. In Second Life, journaling is a pleasure I've come to really enjoy. 
For me, it happens two ways. I have my writing journal in which I pour out my mostly mundane thoughts. Right now I'm working with a red journal that contains handmade paper, using my Uniball micropoint. I find that both the paper and the type of pen I use are important. I also need blank pages--no lines to hold me in.
I've tried Julia Cameron's Artist's Way suggestion to do Morning Pages, where you write for at least 3 pages no matter what, even if you're just writing "I have nothing to say" over and over again. But I find that I still lack the discipline to keep up with them. My computer calls to me and my pile of work and if I don't have some thing to wrestle with on paper, then the siren song of "get something done today" will often win out over the journal and cup of coffee ritual that is probably better for me.
My other journal is my art journal. With pen, pastel, paint, collage, chalk, etc. I record my world in more visual terms, which has been an interesting route into my soul and into greater understanding of myself. I use all different size and types of journals, mostly filled with watercolor or sketchpad versions. I confess to a brief fling with Moleskines, although I also admit to feeling a tad pretentious when using them and so my love affair is on again/off again, depending on the phases of the moon or some other mysterious force, apparently. Right now I find myself lusting after these Fabriano Art Journals.
My 18-year old college freshman daughter has inherited my love of journaling. We still have the video of her beaming 7-year old face as she tore through the birthday wrapping to reveal her first diary. "It has a lock and everything!" It's been her constant companion and certainly has preserved her sanity (by her own admission) during the worst of her teenage angst. I'm glad that she's found something this helpful this early in her life. But then again, she wants to be a writer so I'm not surprised that she's taken to it so thoroughly.
I think that Second Life is a good time to acquire--or re-acquire--the journaling habit. I encourage you to explore different journal varieties, different pens, different formats. Find what you enjoy, what feels good in your hand and to your heart. And then try making it a part of your daily routine. Come on, if you do it, I will too.
Here's some inspiration to get you moving:
- Teesha Moore keeps the most fabulous and beautiful pages. She does the art in her studio and then takes the pages with her to a favorite coffee shop to write. This is how she creates them.
- Keri keeps different kinds of journals--some are collage, some not. All capture her essence.
- While not a Second Lifer, Sabrina has made a name for herself through Spilling Open and subsequent books.
- If you love Moleskines or want to see how others use them, you may want to check out Moleskinerie where the most rabid fans explore their love of the journal in all it's forms.
- I also love Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art, which explores the various ways in which women and men of all ages have chronicled their lives.
- If you REALLY want to dig deeply into the journaling habit you can explore Ira Progoff's Intensive Journaling method, an approach that builds in part on the idea of writing in community. The Program is offered at locations throughout the world and is what hard-core journaling is all about. I have Progoff's At a Journal Workshop but have not been able to devote the time that I need to get it started. It definitely seems to require the kick in the butt of going to a workshop.
These are a few of my resources. Post a comment and let me know a few of yours and how you use journaling to explore your Second Life.
Michele
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