J is for Journals Past & Present: A-Z Blogging Challenge 2020

How many of us would love  to find a journal of an ancestor,

                                 writing about her (or his) everyday life?  

The nearest I came to an ancestry JOURNAL was a recipe collection  written  in my mother's small, neat handwriting, and two family narratives I wrote,  based on my father's childhood and wartime  experiences. Dad was fond of regaling his memories  to us,  and I persuaded him to type them out for me.   I was very proud to have these. 

 

    

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My own experience of journalling:

 In late 2017 two online blog posts  caught my eye, both making the point that:  We are quick to write about our ancestors and also about our own childhood memories, but what are we doing about keeping a record of our life today for future generations?

I decided to take up this  challenge - and  had such a positive reaction to my initial  post,  that I launched:

JOURNAL JOTTINGS
Recording my everyday life - a picture for future family historians

Here was my introduction:  

"A Bit of Backgroand Information
I  live with my husband  in the village of Earlston in the Scottish Borders, a rural area of small towns, rolling hills and flowing rivers.  I am retired, but involved in a number of  community groups and with my daughter and family who live close by.

I will be writing about my rural lifestyle, my day to day life and my activities, plus thoughts on the world around me - TV, News Items etc.,   but not my innermost thoughts on family and friends - they remain my innermost thoughts."

My first cover image - here with my  local weekly Walk It Group.
I tended to change this according to the season. 

I tackled this prompt with great enthusiasm, was pleased with the look of my  page and did my best to spark interest  through catchy titles and sub-headings.   I also wanted to convey through my photographs a picture  of the Scottish Borders (an oft forgotten corner of Scotland)  and used the website Pixabay for other free images, cartoons etc.  Besides my activities locally, I wrote now and again about "On my Bookshelf", "On the Box" (TV)  and "Making the Headlines" (News items).

A  constructive comment interested me - Why not write as if to an imaginary friend or "Dear Diary"?    But I never carried this  forward.

 
A Review a Year On
I spent a ridiculous amount of time drafting each weekly post,  and struggled to come up with effective titles for the posts which might attract readers. For the  number of page views remained dismal - despite a handful of loyal readers. 

I played around with the post titles – sometimes highlighting Journal Jottings, or Life This Week, or sometimes the topics I covered.But I think it was difficult to come up with anything  that would be picked up by Google. It was rare to get page views before I posted it on Facebook.  Was it really worthwhile? 

Also an online journal by its very nature is quite restrictive and was not  totally representatives of my life.  I rarely made mention of family  and am wary of posting photographs online of our granddaughter,   though I know many people do feature their children.   I had no wish to spark controversy and get involved in arguments, or, even worse,  troll comments in this increasingly aggressive online world.  So I avoided giving my thoughts on such topics as politics, the church and the Royal Family etc. 


There was also the factor that I had to give priority to my other blogs -  Family History Fun, and Auld Earlston (my local heritage group title).  Three blogs  was becoming too  many to manage.   

You will find my original Journal Jottings 2017-18 blog HERE . 

Was it not time for a change?   Might I be better  composing a private journal  on Word just for myself?  This would have  the advantage of giving me more freedom of expression and also would let me feature images from the web which would be otherwise  be subject to copyright.  

So I said goodbye to "Journal Jottings", and began "Random Ramblings" on Word. (You can tell I like alliteration!)

That new  title probably says it all, as I do ramble on rather, still composing it on a weekly basis and including more trivia that I would do online. I don't, though,  spend as long editing ad nausam.  But I am still enjoying the task.  As with Journal Jottings, I am printing a hard copy of each post,  with my first lever arch file rapidly filling.

Admittingly,  as I am typing it,   it will not have the same immediate appeal, as seeing the actual handwriting of an ancestor, but how many of us these days do much legible handwriting?                 

So what are you doing to record your everyday life? 
Now in the midst of the Corona Virus, is an ideal time.


DO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

I look forward to following the number of contributors on journalliing, and personal memories,   who are taking part in this A-Z challenge. 

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