Dear Diary: Confessions Of 3 Journal Devotees

From thegloss.ie 

Be inspired to put pen to paper …

A diary is more than a practical way of organising your time; it’s a repository for bright ideas, names you don’t want to forget and plans yet to be realised – each page a record of a life well lived.

For Lucinda Chambers, the co-founder of Collagerie and former Fashion Director of British Vogue, the act of keeping a diary has long been part of her daily routine. She calls them, and her selection of notebooks, constant companions. “They’re very representative of my life,” she reflects. “They keep it safe, purposeful and beautiful. For me, above all, they keep it colourful.” She has always kept a Smythson Soho diary, choosing a different colour to mark each year. This year’s colour is Cerulean.

It’s also an extension of her love of writing. “I’ve always enjoyed the physicality of pen and paper. I love to draw, one of my best Christmas presents was a set of over 100 brush felt tip pens. And, I love to write – letters, postcards – to receive something in the post with interesting stamps and writing on the envelope is always a delight.”

“When I look back at some of my old diaries, I love to see the way my life has evolved and changed through the years. You don’t think it has in the moments of hectic life, but it has and it’s good to be reminded of that sometimes. I don’t travel as much, which I love; I have a routine now that I didn’t have before. I have time to put in rituals and new habits that certainly weren’t there in my previous life!”

THE GLOSS Beauty Editor Sarah Halliwell says, “I’ve always been dedicated to paper diaries, and remain loyal to two types – Moleskine and Smythson. Smythson are luxurious, with wafer-thin paper that’s a pleasure to write on, but they’re pricey – sometimes you can get hold of a reduced-price one a few months into the year, though it does mean your life is chaos for several weeks. I judge it on a “cost per use” basis. Since it’s something that you use every single day, it’s worth having a good one.”

“I used to write a more personal diary throughout school, filling it with gig tickets (not cool ones), lengthy ramblings and angst, and even a plaster (from the time I trapped my finger in a door when drunk on cheap wine at a party, and a boy I was mad about kissed it better). Noel Coward I’m certainly not. While these teenage diaries are excruciating to read back, somehow I can’t quite throw them out. A reminder of another lifetime.”

“One constant throughout my life has been writing things down,” says THE GLOSS Contributing Editor Penny McCormick. “As a stationery addict from a very young age, I’ve accrued numerous diaries and notebooks, now locked in a trunk in the attic. I particularly like an A5 sized diary – Paperblank, Papier and Aspinal are favourites – and for 20 years I swapped to using red notebooks from Carolina Herrera as both a diary and journal. I used to carry them with me at all times, though unlike Oscar Wilde they did not fulfil his brief of ‘something sensational to read on the train!’”

“I went through a phase of writing gratitude lists each night (when processing a particularly bad break-up) in tandem with a brief synopsis of my day or quotes from films. Flicking through recent diaries I’ve found tickets, photos, postcards and the odd receipt of significant items I’ve bought – clutter to some, these often spark happy memories of people and places. This year, I’m using a much smaller leopard print Smythson pocket diary that I refer to throughout the day as it keeps me organised. I’m also trying to get back to writing in the evening, so I keep a Montblanc notebook by my bed to jot down more detailed notes.”

https://thegloss.ie/dear-diary-confessions-of-3-journal-devotees/