I'm in a journaling rut. Everything always sounds the same in both style and wording. I'm to the point of using a thesaurus to get different words into my text! I'm tending to like the word "wonderful" these days, and it's driving me nuts. I'm working on a trip album and every experience has been "wonderful." Gaah! The big problem is that I didn't write anything down for the three days we were in Iceland because I figured I'd journal about it when we got home. Riiiight. So, how do you change things up so you don't sound like a broken record? I need help!
Try writing in list form, try describing the event rather than how you felt and vice versa and try not to stress about it.
I have struggled with this on separate occasions, and I always think " I need to get out of my head". It always seems to work. I will ask my kids to "narrate" the day from their view, then write my own - often not even close, haha! I have had my husband describe something (recently, a show we watched) for a double page "what we are watching 2017" I was doing for my PL. We were really close but then the overall stars ratings we give them is almost always off. I try bring the words of the people in the pages. It is not always easy, but I have even texted a friends and asked her take on the day for a photo I had of us, then included it.
How were they wonderful? The size? The quiet? The colors? The smell? Why did you choose to go see them? Had it been a dream of yours? Was it a lark? Did it just fit in the schedule that day? Did you take a million photos? How did you narrow it down to these 3 or 4 or however many? Is it the angles were breathtaking? Was it reminiscent of anything you have seen before? It's also okay to just date and place a photo, especially in a travel book!
i tend to look up the places after the fact and see what other people wrote on tripadvisor or the like, it helps me think of the place again and reimmerse myself in it and write about it i know what you mean re: everything's wonderful - sometimes i go down the sights, sounds, smells etc line of journalling to give a broader description of the experience
I wouldn't worry about it! In 10 years, you are going to be glad to read all the "wonderfuls" and relive the experience.
This might be a cop-out, but when I'm doing one of my travel albums, I do a lot of copy and pasting from Wikipedia. I could never remember all the details of all the places I've been to, like The Tower of London, Windsor Castle, etc. For the most part, I can pick and choose what I want to use, mixing it in with my own words about the trip. But I've found it's great for dates, names, and historical events.
But that's how you talk. It's not an academic essay or a soon-to-be-published novel. It's YOUR journaling in YOUR scrapbook. I think you should absolutely keep as many 'wonderfuls' as come out. My journaling sounds very 'me,' too. I want it to sound like me. I want my kids to know what I sounded like when I was 25, 35, 45 years old and that includes all the words I might overuse or not use or use incorrectly.
Ask others. I ask my kids or DH what he thinks. What about a tid bit regarding the are or what you are taking a picture of... like fun facts. Or maybe go with your senses - what you felt? smelled? tasted? etc. Mostly, I think you will be happy to have told some sort of story to go with the pictures.
Agree ... don't worry about it. I too, have used the google trick many times for more info or facts about a place we have visited (I usually walk away with some journaling ideas I would have never thought to include) ... and often I will just let the photos speak for themselves and just add the date, the location and maybe a fact or two about the site that we visited. Sometimes a funny thing that happened will make it on the page. And I usually try to keep it simple in my travel books overall ... unless there was a story to tell for a specific photo/set of photos. For me travel books are really more about the photos! Love @Danyale 's idea to ask your family for their insight!
All of the above, plus: why did you take the picture? What did you like about what was in it? On my pages "we enjoyed it" happens a lot...
Such great ideas!! I admittedly suck at journaling, but I'm trying to do better. Loving all these tips!!
Ya'll have been great with your ideas! I really need to get my family's thoughts. It's just when I'm scrapping they're at work or school, and I forget to ask them afterwards. So, I'll make a point of asking them this weekend when everyone's home! Oh, I do this ALL the time! And I also take photos of the information signs, because who has time to read everything when you're on a time schedule? The only thing is that I've come to assume that everyone will place the information online somewhere - even the site of the place we visited - but I'm learning that not everyone does this. It happened in Sweden a lot. I guess I learned my lesson! Ummm.... because there was a camera in my hand? But seriously, I love that idea. Don't ask me why I've never thought about that before! Usually I'm just shooting away while trying to catch up with my family. That's why they're hardly ever in any of my photos - they're usually 20 paces in front of me while I'm lagging behind taking photos of whatever I'm missing! And @LeeAndra - you brought up a good point. Thanks for that insight. Sometimes I forget about being me and trying to get the journaling "just right".
@QuiltyMom - Well after taking photography classes on and off for the past 6 years, it has become an habit to think about why I am taking the photo. So sometimes, pointing that out makes for good journaling. And before I sound like a professional or something (I am not), I still take lots of random photos too.
[QUOTE="The big problem is that I didn't write anything down for the three days we were in Iceland because I figured I'd journal about it when we got home. [/QUOTE] I use a journaling app when I travel. I take just a few minutes at the end of each event (or day) and that has helped me a lot when I get home and do the pages
