Get Started Journaling: Day One

Welcome to Day One of the Get Started Journaling Mini-Class! This is a work in progress, so sit tight and Days 2 and 3 will be coming soon!

Physical Journals

The physical journaling supplies shown in the video are linked below. These are affiliate links, so I receive a commission on qualifying purchases. See my affiliates page for more details.

• Journal Books
  • Recommended for smaller journals or general note-taking: Moleskine Classic Soft Cover 7.5″ x 9.5″ Dotted Notebook
  • Recommended for ballpoint: Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 Dotted Hardcover Notebook
  • Recommended for Fountain Pens and bolder inks: Scribbles That Matter Dotted Journal A5 Hardcover Notebook
• Recommended Pens (these are narrowed down to my favorites from what you saw in the video)
  • My favorite: Inkjoy Gel 0.5 mm (Fine Point): These also come in large packs for a good price, in all black.
    • They offer their 0.7 mm point (medium) in a wider variety of colors than the Uniball.
  • Uniball Signo 207 0.7 mm (Medium Point). Comes in large packs for a reasonable price in all black or colors.
  • Copic Drawing Pen (Fountain Pen Nib)
  • Sharpie Ultra-Fine Point: This pack contains black plus a bunch of different colors.
• Highlighters
  • In day 2, as we start making pages, I realized we needed some highlighters! The ones I will use in that video are Zebra Double-Ended Mildliner Highlighters. I got the 15 pack, but they do come in larger and smaller packs.

Digital Journals

As mentioned in the introduction, there are three digital platforms I’ve tried and found helpful for digital journaling. Digital journaling may be for you if you don’t need the creativity lent by a physical journal, and if you want features such as searching, copying, pasting, and inserting digital pictures. They are also useful for keeping your journal within easy reach on your phone or tablet. EverNote and OneNote will also sync your content between your mobile device and your laptop or computer. An introduction to each is below, along with instructions on how to get started in the format of your choice.

Here’s a great comparison of OneNote to EverNote 2019, if you’re having a hard time deciding between the two.

EverNote

The video intro to Evernote is coming soon!

To create an EverNote account, go to https://evernote.com.

You’ll need to create a free EverNote account, and you can create up to 60 MB per month of content for free. More than that will require a monthly or yearly subscription, which is priced fairly reasonably.

OneNote

To create a free Microsoft OneNote account, go to https://www.onenote.com.

The account is free unless you sign up for an Office subscription. Incidentally, if you have an Office 365 subscription, you already have access to OneNote, with 6 TB OneDrive storage which should be more than you’d ever need for a bullet journal. If you don’t have and don’t want an Office 360 subscription, you can sign up for their free plan and get a more modest 5 GB storage. It also comes pre-installed with Windows 10. If you don’t have Windows 10, you can download OneNote from the site linked above.

GoodNotes

GoodNotes is only available on iOS devices (iPhones and iPads). I have it on both, but only ever use it on my iPad with Apple pencil. This is my go-to app for taking handwritten notes, and is where I currently keep my bullet journal. Although as part of our journaling theme, I’m starting up a physical journal to see if I like it better! GoodNotes 5 (the newest version) costs $7.99 on the App Store as of the time of this article. To learn more about GoodNotes and download it through the App Store, visit https://www.goodnotes.com.