Blog Journaling: How-To write personal online

Hello, It’s Me.

Today’s Topic:  How much do you want to share with the world.

Last week, I concluded the series on beginning journaling.  In the series, I went over the beginning points of journaling.  These topics included:

• What is Journaling
• The difference between online (digital) and handwritten journaling
• Tools of the trade (types of books, software programs, pens, and decorating) of your journal.
• Types of Journaling (personal, bible, project, and Mixed Media) for starters.  There are all types of journaling you can do.

Now it is time for the series the end but this is really only the beginning of what I hope is a weekly guide of sorts to your journaling.  I am not telling you what to write, but I will be giving you pointers of what I have learned in my various stages of journaling.   To be upfront about this section, that will come about Every Wednesday or Thursday (I am late), this is yours to take and make use of.  I am a semi-expert on this subject, meaning I know what works for me and another person may take this section of my blog and make it something else.  What I will never do, unless it is required by law, is to tell you that you must write about this topic when I give you writing prompts, tell you that you must use this product, or tell you what to say in your journal.  That is the beauty of journaling.  It gives you the freedom to express yourself.  So, if someone ever tells you to feel this way or write this way in your personal journals, send them my way, and I will professionally try to steer them in the right direction, expert or not, LOL...

This leads me to my topic:  Sharing is Caring, or is it?

Unless you are a child or have been living in some secluded place where you do not have any contact with people. (Deserted island, anyone?)  You may have heard that the moment you post something on social media, you have put a bounty on your head for anything you say, no matter how private you think it is.  Employers can look up this information, as well as parents, partners, even your 3rd grade teacher if she really wants to find out about you.  In fact, it has been said that if you do not want to be found, stay “off the grid”. This means, do not signup for any social media accounts.  So, what does that mean if you have an online journal?  It means, do not share your personal thoughts and do not put your journal on the “interwebs” (Internet).  For example,

I have an online journal that is only accessible by Office 365 (Ms. Word).  It is called “My Next Journey”.  I have it on my computer, but if I want to access it on my Ipad or on the OneDrive (Online) because I feel like writing at the library, I can get to it.  It is password-protected (meaning you need my userID and password to get to it.  Is it really protected?  Not really.  Hackers can hack into my account, bypass my userID and password with a program and get into my computer and look at it if they really want to.  I think this is one of the reasons why many seniors do not want to own a computer.  The news media and Hackers have scared them so much until it is not funny.  The other part is they are scared of the technology itself.  I am getting off the topic, so, let me reel myself back in.

I do my best to protect my journal of prying eyes of my family and the world.  If it is worth sharing I will do so on this blog like I am now, but it has to be worth sharing.  You cannot share something that is not relevant to the topic you are writing about.  That is plain common sense in the writing world.  In other words, if you are sharing a piece of your soul, make it relatable to the reader, or you will lose them.

So, what are some relatable topics?

I am not sure, but some topics I have seen on other blogs have been:

• Remodeling Journals- If you have a bathroom that you are remodeling, you may want to talk about your budget (no personal finance information like the account number to your loan-hackers love that sort of stuff), the type of workers you are looking for (first names only, please), or the style you are looking for in the completed project.  You may want to post pictures of the before and after.
• Moving journal – This works the same way as the remodeling journal.  Tip:  if you share this online, say “the city we are considering to”, “not far from where we currently live”, or “out of the country” when mentioning the location.  It is the safer route.  You can actually start a house hunting journal and move from that point to a moving journal.
• Pregnancy Journals- I am seeing this more and more.  You want people (especially women) to read about your thoughts, happiness and pain, and all the moods that come with being on track to becoming a mommy.  Journaling this online gives other women a chance to say, “yes, this is me too, to sympathize, and to “ooh and aww” at the results (a beautiful baby).
• Weight Loss Journal- I am at a loss on why would anyone would share a weight loss story until I thought about my weight gain story.  Not proud of it, for sure, but it is good to know that when someone is doing the Keto Diet, for example, there is someone else who is going through the same diet you are going through.  We all should strive to be healthy, and this is one way of doing it, to journal it, so others can learn from it.
• Travel Journals- another perfect example of “take the reader along for the ride”.  Even though these journals are turning into video journals, either way, you can picture yourself on the Chocolate Hills on the island of Bohol in The Philippines, as the blogger pens away their thoughts on a hot July morning.  If you give good descriptions of the place, you may have that reader booking the next flight to that part of the world, which was the idea the whole time.

So, while it may not be good to share your, “mad at the dog, who bit the cat, who scratched the furniture” type of day with a personal online journal entry, it is good to share those moments where you are not the only one who is going on a once in a lifetime adventure to see the Northern Lights in December.