my sister, erin, is two and a half years younger than i am. like most sisters, we are simeoutaneosuly both similar and different in an infinite amount of ways.
we both have red hair, mine curly, hers more straight.
we both went to the same art school, and had the same major.
im a capricorn, shes a gemini.
im left handed, shes right handed.
we are both funny and quick witted, but have different sense of humor and often time (to my dismay) taste in tiktoks.
we both love to read, but her more book of the month club/NYT best sellers, and me more essay collections, memoirs and books from small presses.
with both love beyonce, watching live trial footage, stickers, and animals.
erin makes gorgeous dog portraits, and i do whatever the fuck i do here.
she’s married, im super single.
we have both only lived in the same three milwaukee neighborhoods.
with both journal, but very differently.
i have been a journaler forever.
back in art school, I carried a sketchbook around with me wherever I went. It was pretty much required to have one on you at all times in art school. Years later I’d realize I wrote more in my sketchbooks than drew.
I’ve consistently journaled now throughout my 20s and thirties. I love it.
My sister also journals, but we both have VERY DIFFERENT STYLES OF JOURNALING.
i am a chaotic good journaler. I am particular about the type of journal I use (hardcover, blank pages.. i dont fuck with dots/grids/or lines, size a5.) from my sketchbook jounaling habit, i started with moleskines and then eventually switched to LEUCHTTURM1917’s because they have more pages, way more cover color options, and at the time i made the switch, were cheaper than moleskines.
i write so many things in my journal, and they have grown more chaotic (and more fun) as the years have gone by.
i cant recommend journaling enough, and not only because i write nonfiction and it’s helpful to my thoughts and feelings in real time when im trying to remember something for an essay. it helps me figure out my thoughts, helps me remember shit, plus its nice to look back at your past selves.
if you are looking to get started with a journaling practice…
CHAOTIC JOURNALING
What youll need
LEUCHTTURM1917 journal or the journal of your choosing (ok you dont have to have blank pages if you like grids or whatever, but like miley cyrus, i cant be tamed. wait i think ive made this joke here before. shut up. and i think a blank canvas is better for chaos journaling.
whatever writing utencil you are fond of.
a self inking date stamp (you dont actually need this, i just like it)
stickers and washi tape if you want
in the front of the journal i write the month and year i start the journal, my name, phone number, and email address in case it’s ever lost.
then i just use my one journal for everything. (i do use a hobonichi techno a6 as my planner, i use the monthly spread, and then for the daily pages i write down my plans and the details, then something im grateful for each day) I write notes for work meetings, to do lists for both home and personal use, thoughts of the day, what i am doing, i keep a list of what i am reading, essay ideas, an ongoing list of all the tv shows im watching (only shows im binging, not stuff i watch week to week unless its a docuseries), ditto for movies and books (though books is numbered and the countdown starts over every year) yearly goals, art projects i want to make, WHATEVER. i write what im spending each paycheck on, phone numbers, whatever. seriously, i write it all down.
sometimes i print shit out and then cut it and paste it in, if im writing about a text convo and dont want to constantly be like “so then i said, then they said”, i screen shot and print the convo and paste it in there. i keep little paper mementos during my travel and paste those bitches in. i take the sticker off priscription bottles and stick that in there. i put lots of stickers in there. stickers that i peel off other things, others that i buy for journaling. then i stick them on the pages and write around them.
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this is new, but since i have so many stickers now, ive started using them to cover my journal covers, so far in the color scheme of the cover, then i use shipping tape to cover the whole cover and protect my stickers since i can be rough on my journals so the stickers dont peel up.
when im done with a journal, i then write the month and year i finished it, then make a label of the same two dates (start and finish) to slap on the spine, then start a new one. i try and have at least 1 empty journal on hand so when i finish i dont have to wait for a new one.
since i have started using more stickers, and gluing shit in the pages the journals get chunky, but i like it.
my sister is a more ORGANIZED JOURNALER
she has multiple journals, and they each serve specific purposes. she plans and designs layouts and specific pages for things.
so far this year she has a book journal, a travel journal (though she busts out separate travel journals for big big trips, like the one she did for her trip to japan last year), a passion planner for her planner, and a recipe journal.
she’s previously bullet journaled, which im pretty sure has given her the frame and skillset for the journals she does now.
she has specific pens for set purposes, prints color pictures for memories and book covers etc, she plans her layouts, and adds notes and thoughts later (like she wasnt wokring on her japan journal while she was in japan, but she took notes on her phone instead of vomiting words via pen onto the page in real time).
they are BEAUTIFUL!
fwiw, she also uses stickers, the same kind of tape thing i do, and glue sticks to make all this happen.
so whether you chaos journal, or do something more organized and structured, there is NO WRONG WAY TO JOURNAL. WHO CARES! they are for you and you along, and whatever gets you most excited to journal and actually journaling is the right choice.
also some people have asked me recently if there will ever be a paid version of UNHINGED, and no, there won’t be. i cant ever charge for this because then ill feel like and have to treat it like a real thing and like, edit it and shit. and THATLL NEVER HAPPEN, but if youre damned and determined to send me money, and would like to contribute to my sticker and bedazzling fund, my venmo is at amanda-tx but PLEASE YOU NEVER HAVE TO SEND ME MONEY.
do you journal? whats your journal style/how do you journal?
THANKS FOR READING LOVE YOU BYE.
Erin does a better job on one page of her journal than i do with anything in my life
Loved the pics and the vids! You two together must have been a handful--your poor mom!