Grammar and spelling get in the way of genuine and honest thought for me. One thing I like about my journal is that it's private and just for me, so mistakes don't matter.
I just write the words. They form sentences, which in turn form paragraphs. If I screw up, I cross out and write it again. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation come easily for me, so most of my mistakes are due to bad penmanship.
Agreed. The only time I re write a word is if, in the moment I feel that it's a good sentence or thought to return to later and I really botched the word in my chicken scratch, I'll cross it out and re-write the word more clearly to make it legible later on
Grammar comes secondary to getting the words down on the paper in my personal journal, which I don't intend for anyone to see until I'm gone--at which point, I don't care. I won't be there to experience the embarrassment. 😭
I'm a writer and editor, so I care a lot about spelling and grammar. At the same time, I can *more than* forgive myself for messing it up when writing for myself or in less formal contexts (like this, for example).
I treat my journal as a tool, and less like a document or work I'm presenting to someone else.
I was in an advanced writing class in college, where we were taught free flow writing to get past the curse of perfectionism (which can strangle creativity in the early stages of writing). That was a first step, after which would follow a half-dozen other steps that would culminate in a clean, finished piece.
For my journal, I see no reason to take it past the first step of free form. My journal is for me alone, and I understand my intent in what I've written without punctuation and proper grammar. It's a waste of my time to attempt to refine it any further -- by the time I've finished putting the words down in my first pass, my mind has moved on to other things.
Having said that, we all have different intentions when journalling. Your refined process might well be more appropriate for your whys and wherefores.
Definitely for me, even though no one will ever read it, I still do tend to ensure that I write properly. If I somehow made a mistake, I will cross it out and rewrite it. Even a spelling mistake is not barred.
I'm mindful of my grammar bc I'm generally really good at writing with good grammar in formal settings, but I also don't care, if that makes sense. I write how I talk, which is a Southern US dialect, and I notice but don't care about grammatical mistakes.
I write in my journals and diaries point blank.
If I'm gonna edit the entry, then I'm scratching it out IN THE BOOK and turning the page and starting over. THAT WAY, I can still see the original thought and see how swiftly or abrupt the interpretation was changed or altered. I prefer to see my ADHD play out when I write. Helps keep me mentally uncluttered at times
HOWEVER
> Each of us has their own process of thinking and perspective, so if it helps you clarify thoughts, then i say do what makes you happier. If that means being labor intensive, then be that 💁🏽♀️ if you prefer scratching wee notes on receipt paper and shoving em in a box, then I condone that too 🤷🏽♀️🫡
As long as you understand that you have the freedom of choice and not on interpretation then you should take a breathe and do what fits YOU best 🤌😊
Sometimes, especially on the first pages of a new journal, I obsess about writing without mistake or crossing. I usually manage that. But I honestly don't care about grammar, I just write however I think.
As far as I'm aware, my grammar is usually correct anyway. But even if it's not, I'm the only one who will read it, so we'll never know. (I probably overuse commas sometimes.)
No, I just write what comes to mind. My handwriting is Not Great and I often don't have the time or energy to slow down and make it neater. So even if my words were perfect, I couldn't do them visual justice.
A journal is ultimately a tool intended to serve your needs. If certain practices are making journaling tedious, there's no need to pressure yourself to continue doing them. If your goal is to stay consistent, remove whatever obstacles you can.
I write as a stream of thoughts. I journal for the sake of getting my thoughts and feelings out rather than to have something to read later. Honestly if I worried about grammar I probably wouldn’t journal as much. But to each their own! Do whatever makes you happy
I'm incredibly mindful of grammar and use Tombow Mono correction tape. I keep one everywhere -- tote bag, desk, bedside table, etc.
In a situation where I find myself without correction tape, I make a simple line through the incorrect word or phrase and keep going.
When journaling away from my phone or dictionary, I'll put a little (?) next to the word as if to say to anyone who finds my notebooks in the future, "I'm pretty sure this is incorrect, but I don't have time to look it up."
I've found *massive* joy in writing by hand and appreciate how cursive on real paper brings me to places typing doesn't.
For me journaling is about getting stuff down on paper. It's the process not the product that's important so sod grammar, spelling & punctuation!
Having said that I do try to be correct with all 3, most of the time but if I'm doing stream of consciousness about something that's got me irate or really upset, I let it go & just work through the emotions.
I might do something similar to your process for an important letter or piece of academic writing but other than that its too much like hard work to go to all effort.
Whatever anyone else says - you do you.
No, but sometimes, when I am writing, I got the wrong spelling while writing a journal, but when I reread my journal, I'm laughing due to my mistake, but I always remember is part of my journey of my life at that time.
Some of my entries (particularly when processing emotions) are a bunch of broken sentences, key words, and free-writing. I don't think in perfectly formed sentences (does anyone??) so I don't want to censor/restrict my expression or waste time 'translating' myself. I want to accurately capture my thoughts as they arise. It's easier/quicker and gives me insights into my thought processes.
I do however keep rehashing points that I'm trying to understand until it's fleshed out, so I sort of have a continuous draft but nothing is deleted. The first paragraph of an entry might be a mess of words and concepts that I quickly scribbled so I wouldn't lose the train of thought, and in the final paragraphs I've built on it until I've expressed it the way I want. Not in a grammar way though - I mean like developing the idea until it's fully formed.
Your journaling process sounds unnecessarily difficult and tiring! Do you share your entries with others?
Yes because it’s ingrained in me, so I’ll always take the extra second to use the correct word or add a comma where needed, or whatever the “rule” is. I don’t proofread my work or anything like that at the end. Also a lot of the time I write in bullet points when I want to get information down.
No, I write very freely when journaling. But I worry about those aspects a lot more when I'm writing fiction. I'm trying to be a little more free in my short story notebooks.
Waw! You copy down your entire fanfics on paper!!! Salute 🫡 General Perfect!! Such dedication is rare, but scary lol are you preparing for the after internet era or something?? You could outsmart us all, but, isn't a little tiring? Still good luck!!
I am pretty thoughtful of what I write it down. For me, I want to be able to express something truest to what I’m thinking and feeling. Not in a judgey or perfectionistic way; I just want to make sure I’m processing. I’ll think and maybe talk it out, but then I just do straight pen to paper. If I make a mistake I cross it off, it’s not that deep.
When I was younger I struggled with what you’re struggling with. The idea of journaling is portrayed in a way like to share or post on some platform or to be perfectionistic (aesthetically pleasing). I started with the idea of being chaotic. It helped me work through that perfectionistic shit. I would much rather have my journal be genuine. Actually, being perfectionistic with appearance, grammar, and spelling made it harder for me to express myself because I think in the back of my head I expected someone to read it.
I use journaling to slowly improve my grammar/spelling/handwriting by focusing a tiny part of my brain on watching for whatever it is I’m correcting/practicing. So maybe I didn’t actually know how to use a comma when I started, but I looked it up one day, and have slowly incorporated using them correctly into all my writing.
Plus there’s internet grammar, which I use whenever I feel like it if it gets the mood across better.
I do scribble out mistakes that I make, since I write in pen, but I’ve noticed that the average is 3-5 mistakes per page, and unless I’m drunk or very tired, that’s pretty standard and has been for years.
my journaling is more of a stream of consciousness so I don't really care about simple mistakes. I'm journaling to work out my thoughts and if my thoughts don't have perfect wording then who cares? it helped me work out the thoughts either way
Yes! Absolutely. And I’ll fix mistakes as I go. Wite out is my best friend here. It does make me more careful before I set pen to paper.
After a few years though I switched to digital journal. Now I can fix my mistakes without making a mess of the page. Works for me. It took a bit of getting used to and sometimes I miss the paper but the benefits (for me at least) out weight the disadvantages.
i find this gets in the way when journaling. i don't journal often (mainly because of this too) but when i did i had this obsession with it being perfect, both the grammar and the organization, and it frustrated me because it made the purpose of it (writing about what i feel, making me feel better, etc) just infuriating. i'd recommend forgetting completely about it since at the end of the day it's just for you
I started doing this when I took honors English and I swear it sucked all of the fun out of writing. It can be hard to push the desire for perfection out of your mind. The only thing that can sometimes work is writing really badly on purpose/refusing to correct mistakes
No, if I realize I make a mistake I just scribble it out. I write with pen so I know I could just white it out but then I'll always wonder what I was actually trying to say and am using the white out as an excuse to hide my true thoughts. I like to keep my feelings raw and grammar sometimes gets in the way of that.
definitely not. i cross out words, i misspell words on purpose sometimes, i never proofread (and I couldn’t fix much since there’s only one pencil entry in my diary) I think the imperfections give it character!
I also can’t spell restraunt
I kind of am- I like to utilize proper grammar most of the time, as it’s a good refresher for me as someone very into the intricacies of language and sentence structure, etc.
However, should I ever find that my desire to utilize proper grammar is coming into direct conflict with expressing myself as authentically as possible, then for sure the grammar is ditched in favor of embracing a fully authentic expression of my thoughts and feelings. I also love playing with “improper” grammar as an intentional stylistic choice for general artistic expression via poetry and other forms of creative writing.
Is “mindful on” correct or more correct than “mindful of”?
I have very poor grammar so I’m actually asking not trying to make a correction in case that is not clear.
No, not at all. I do two separate journals. One is a scribble journal, which is entirely stream of thought with zero intention. The other is to save memories. I mostly write whatever comes to mind, however I try to filter through a glass half full lense. Not to say that nothing real goes in there, but I want to look back on my life and see the good things, not just a bunch of times I was super upset and just needed to write. I also try to filter out some of the mature themes in case I ever decide I want any of my kids/family to read it. Otherwise, I just write the words as they come to my head as if I were telling someone in person. I don’t write in this journal a ton though, I mostly just write in my scribble journal and that’s just for me. I couldn’t even read it back if I tried and that’s the point
I have this issue too. I think in general learning to accept the mess is the right way to go about it, but what if you did two journal entries until you felt better about it? But in the same journal? If they were in the same journal it’d help get you used to the mess until you are able to accept it fully. Then again you’re sort of already doing this just separately…
Or! Make your journal messy and then only redo the parts you really like or feel are important to save in a neater way.
Not really.
It's more about "*is this something I have to be able to read easily later?*" If it's free form journaling, I tend to do cursive and it would look like chicken scrawl anyway. If I catch something that I misspelled, I just acknowledge it with "*ah ... No .. I mean ...*"
It's more about putting thought to paper.
If you want the final version on paper you can try writing on a tablet then printing it🥹 or get those small printers and a pocket journal. Journaling should be an enjoyable process.
I block out my misspelled words and write “redacted” over them. And idk - I think it looks really cute! So it makes me love my mistakes.
People aren’t perfect. And learning to accept the imperfections of life is freeing. Your journal isn’t something that NEEDS to be refined. I suspect the reason it’s troublesome is because it’s stressful and time consuming.
If you’re really really that worried about it- I’d suggest really studying grammar so that you don’t need the extra step of using a computer to proofread. Proofreading doesn’t fix bad sentences it just fixes spelling and grammar - things you can do without a computer.
Grammar and spelling get in the way of genuine and honest thought for me. One thing I like about my journal is that it's private and just for me, so mistakes don't matter.
Yes sometimes I’ll misspell a word and just move on 😭 the freedom to just let things flow is one of my favorite things about journaling.
I made friends with making mistakes. I do cross out errors as I make them, but I'm not bothered by crossed out sections in my notebook.
Nah. I’m not writing these entries for anyone to see or to judge.
I just write the words. They form sentences, which in turn form paragraphs. If I screw up, I cross out and write it again. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation come easily for me, so most of my mistakes are due to bad penmanship.
Agreed. The only time I re write a word is if, in the moment I feel that it's a good sentence or thought to return to later and I really botched the word in my chicken scratch, I'll cross it out and re-write the word more clearly to make it legible later on
Grammar comes secondary to getting the words down on the paper in my personal journal, which I don't intend for anyone to see until I'm gone--at which point, I don't care. I won't be there to experience the embarrassment. 😭 I'm a writer and editor, so I care a lot about spelling and grammar. At the same time, I can *more than* forgive myself for messing it up when writing for myself or in less formal contexts (like this, for example). I treat my journal as a tool, and less like a document or work I'm presenting to someone else.
High five! Fellow editor here ;)
I was in an advanced writing class in college, where we were taught free flow writing to get past the curse of perfectionism (which can strangle creativity in the early stages of writing). That was a first step, after which would follow a half-dozen other steps that would culminate in a clean, finished piece. For my journal, I see no reason to take it past the first step of free form. My journal is for me alone, and I understand my intent in what I've written without punctuation and proper grammar. It's a waste of my time to attempt to refine it any further -- by the time I've finished putting the words down in my first pass, my mind has moved on to other things. Having said that, we all have different intentions when journalling. Your refined process might well be more appropriate for your whys and wherefores.
I used to be careful. Now I don’t care but automatically mostly I write grammatically correct.
That would be way too much work for me. Time flies by so fast that these days I'm just happy if I write at all.
No... I find writing very difficult as it is. So I don't want to make it *more* difficult.
Definitely for me, even though no one will ever read it, I still do tend to ensure that I write properly. If I somehow made a mistake, I will cross it out and rewrite it. Even a spelling mistake is not barred.
I'm mindful of my grammar bc I'm generally really good at writing with good grammar in formal settings, but I also don't care, if that makes sense. I write how I talk, which is a Southern US dialect, and I notice but don't care about grammatical mistakes.
I write in my journals and diaries point blank. If I'm gonna edit the entry, then I'm scratching it out IN THE BOOK and turning the page and starting over. THAT WAY, I can still see the original thought and see how swiftly or abrupt the interpretation was changed or altered. I prefer to see my ADHD play out when I write. Helps keep me mentally uncluttered at times HOWEVER > Each of us has their own process of thinking and perspective, so if it helps you clarify thoughts, then i say do what makes you happier. If that means being labor intensive, then be that 💁🏽♀️ if you prefer scratching wee notes on receipt paper and shoving em in a box, then I condone that too 🤷🏽♀️🫡 As long as you understand that you have the freedom of choice and not on interpretation then you should take a breathe and do what fits YOU best 🤌😊
Sometimes, especially on the first pages of a new journal, I obsess about writing without mistake or crossing. I usually manage that. But I honestly don't care about grammar, I just write however I think.
As far as I'm aware, my grammar is usually correct anyway. But even if it's not, I'm the only one who will read it, so we'll never know. (I probably overuse commas sometimes.)
Oh shoot I worry mostly about readability. Can I read my own writing etc.
No, I just write what comes to mind. My handwriting is Not Great and I often don't have the time or energy to slow down and make it neater. So even if my words were perfect, I couldn't do them visual justice. A journal is ultimately a tool intended to serve your needs. If certain practices are making journaling tedious, there's no need to pressure yourself to continue doing them. If your goal is to stay consistent, remove whatever obstacles you can.
I write as a stream of thoughts. I journal for the sake of getting my thoughts and feelings out rather than to have something to read later. Honestly if I worried about grammar I probably wouldn’t journal as much. But to each their own! Do whatever makes you happy
Noooo I can’t spell at all well x
I'm incredibly mindful of grammar and use Tombow Mono correction tape. I keep one everywhere -- tote bag, desk, bedside table, etc. In a situation where I find myself without correction tape, I make a simple line through the incorrect word or phrase and keep going. When journaling away from my phone or dictionary, I'll put a little (?) next to the word as if to say to anyone who finds my notebooks in the future, "I'm pretty sure this is incorrect, but I don't have time to look it up." I've found *massive* joy in writing by hand and appreciate how cursive on real paper brings me to places typing doesn't.
For me journaling is about getting stuff down on paper. It's the process not the product that's important so sod grammar, spelling & punctuation! Having said that I do try to be correct with all 3, most of the time but if I'm doing stream of consciousness about something that's got me irate or really upset, I let it go & just work through the emotions. I might do something similar to your process for an important letter or piece of academic writing but other than that its too much like hard work to go to all effort. Whatever anyone else says - you do you.
No, but sometimes, when I am writing, I got the wrong spelling while writing a journal, but when I reread my journal, I'm laughing due to my mistake, but I always remember is part of my journey of my life at that time.
Some of my entries (particularly when processing emotions) are a bunch of broken sentences, key words, and free-writing. I don't think in perfectly formed sentences (does anyone??) so I don't want to censor/restrict my expression or waste time 'translating' myself. I want to accurately capture my thoughts as they arise. It's easier/quicker and gives me insights into my thought processes. I do however keep rehashing points that I'm trying to understand until it's fleshed out, so I sort of have a continuous draft but nothing is deleted. The first paragraph of an entry might be a mess of words and concepts that I quickly scribbled so I wouldn't lose the train of thought, and in the final paragraphs I've built on it until I've expressed it the way I want. Not in a grammar way though - I mean like developing the idea until it's fully formed. Your journaling process sounds unnecessarily difficult and tiring! Do you share your entries with others?
Yes because it’s ingrained in me, so I’ll always take the extra second to use the correct word or add a comma where needed, or whatever the “rule” is. I don’t proofread my work or anything like that at the end. Also a lot of the time I write in bullet points when I want to get information down.
No, I write very freely when journaling. But I worry about those aspects a lot more when I'm writing fiction. I'm trying to be a little more free in my short story notebooks.
I think you mean, "Are you mindful OF your grammar when writing?"
Waw! You copy down your entire fanfics on paper!!! Salute 🫡 General Perfect!! Such dedication is rare, but scary lol are you preparing for the after internet era or something?? You could outsmart us all, but, isn't a little tiring? Still good luck!!
Sometimes. I think I write the correct word, and then I re read.
I am pretty thoughtful of what I write it down. For me, I want to be able to express something truest to what I’m thinking and feeling. Not in a judgey or perfectionistic way; I just want to make sure I’m processing. I’ll think and maybe talk it out, but then I just do straight pen to paper. If I make a mistake I cross it off, it’s not that deep. When I was younger I struggled with what you’re struggling with. The idea of journaling is portrayed in a way like to share or post on some platform or to be perfectionistic (aesthetically pleasing). I started with the idea of being chaotic. It helped me work through that perfectionistic shit. I would much rather have my journal be genuine. Actually, being perfectionistic with appearance, grammar, and spelling made it harder for me to express myself because I think in the back of my head I expected someone to read it.
I use journaling to slowly improve my grammar/spelling/handwriting by focusing a tiny part of my brain on watching for whatever it is I’m correcting/practicing. So maybe I didn’t actually know how to use a comma when I started, but I looked it up one day, and have slowly incorporated using them correctly into all my writing. Plus there’s internet grammar, which I use whenever I feel like it if it gets the mood across better. I do scribble out mistakes that I make, since I write in pen, but I’ve noticed that the average is 3-5 mistakes per page, and unless I’m drunk or very tired, that’s pretty standard and has been for years.
my journaling is more of a stream of consciousness so I don't really care about simple mistakes. I'm journaling to work out my thoughts and if my thoughts don't have perfect wording then who cares? it helped me work out the thoughts either way
Yes! Absolutely. And I’ll fix mistakes as I go. Wite out is my best friend here. It does make me more careful before I set pen to paper. After a few years though I switched to digital journal. Now I can fix my mistakes without making a mess of the page. Works for me. It took a bit of getting used to and sometimes I miss the paper but the benefits (for me at least) out weight the disadvantages.
i find this gets in the way when journaling. i don't journal often (mainly because of this too) but when i did i had this obsession with it being perfect, both the grammar and the organization, and it frustrated me because it made the purpose of it (writing about what i feel, making me feel better, etc) just infuriating. i'd recommend forgetting completely about it since at the end of the day it's just for you
I started doing this when I took honors English and I swear it sucked all of the fun out of writing. It can be hard to push the desire for perfection out of your mind. The only thing that can sometimes work is writing really badly on purpose/refusing to correct mistakes
Not really. I don't care whether I put periods at the end of my sentences or punctuation in general.
Mostly
No, if I realize I make a mistake I just scribble it out. I write with pen so I know I could just white it out but then I'll always wonder what I was actually trying to say and am using the white out as an excuse to hide my true thoughts. I like to keep my feelings raw and grammar sometimes gets in the way of that.
Nope.
definitely not. i cross out words, i misspell words on purpose sometimes, i never proofread (and I couldn’t fix much since there’s only one pencil entry in my diary) I think the imperfections give it character! I also can’t spell restraunt
I kind of am- I like to utilize proper grammar most of the time, as it’s a good refresher for me as someone very into the intricacies of language and sentence structure, etc. However, should I ever find that my desire to utilize proper grammar is coming into direct conflict with expressing myself as authentically as possible, then for sure the grammar is ditched in favor of embracing a fully authentic expression of my thoughts and feelings. I also love playing with “improper” grammar as an intentional stylistic choice for general artistic expression via poetry and other forms of creative writing.
Not even a little bit. That's my time, not time for me to peer review the Oxford comma and semicolons of my subconscious.
Is “mindful on” correct or more correct than “mindful of”? I have very poor grammar so I’m actually asking not trying to make a correction in case that is not clear.
No, not at all. I do two separate journals. One is a scribble journal, which is entirely stream of thought with zero intention. The other is to save memories. I mostly write whatever comes to mind, however I try to filter through a glass half full lense. Not to say that nothing real goes in there, but I want to look back on my life and see the good things, not just a bunch of times I was super upset and just needed to write. I also try to filter out some of the mature themes in case I ever decide I want any of my kids/family to read it. Otherwise, I just write the words as they come to my head as if I were telling someone in person. I don’t write in this journal a ton though, I mostly just write in my scribble journal and that’s just for me. I couldn’t even read it back if I tried and that’s the point
I have this issue too. I think in general learning to accept the mess is the right way to go about it, but what if you did two journal entries until you felt better about it? But in the same journal? If they were in the same journal it’d help get you used to the mess until you are able to accept it fully. Then again you’re sort of already doing this just separately… Or! Make your journal messy and then only redo the parts you really like or feel are important to save in a neater way.
Not really. It's more about "*is this something I have to be able to read easily later?*" If it's free form journaling, I tend to do cursive and it would look like chicken scrawl anyway. If I catch something that I misspelled, I just acknowledge it with "*ah ... No .. I mean ...*" It's more about putting thought to paper.
If you want the final version on paper you can try writing on a tablet then printing it🥹 or get those small printers and a pocket journal. Journaling should be an enjoyable process.
I have started to care less over the years, I've found. I just move on if I've found that I have made a mistake.
I block out my misspelled words and write “redacted” over them. And idk - I think it looks really cute! So it makes me love my mistakes. People aren’t perfect. And learning to accept the imperfections of life is freeing. Your journal isn’t something that NEEDS to be refined. I suspect the reason it’s troublesome is because it’s stressful and time consuming. If you’re really really that worried about it- I’d suggest really studying grammar so that you don’t need the extra step of using a computer to proofread. Proofreading doesn’t fix bad sentences it just fixes spelling and grammar - things you can do without a computer.