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saintanneshs
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 3:39pm | IP Logged
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Hi Ladies,
For some time now I've been wondering about the difference between blogging and journaling. Aside from the obvious public versus private, what are some of the other differences between the two? Did any of you used to journal? I can't imagine anyone finding the time to do both...? I love reading through everyone's blogs and wonder how you find time to DO all the wonderful things mentioned in the blogs and still find time to write it up and POST about it! 
I'm a faithful journaler, okay, semi-faithful. I love knowing that if anything were to happen to me, these journals I've kept would be a window into my life for my children. Same thing for you bloggers? Oddly enough, I love to read the blogs but have no desire to start one. I'd really just rather stick my thoughts, poems, photos, etc. in my journal. Am I missing out on something?
What's the difference? Are there any?
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Kristine
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 4:57pm | IP Logged
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I'm not sure what the difference is, but I have never been able to keep a journal (except the nature journal, but that is different) but I really enjoy my blog. Perhaps it's the feedback. I LOVE feedback!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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mumofsix
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 5:16pm | IP Logged
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Kristine, the only difference I can think of is the public versus private one. Like you I am a journaler and not a blogger, though I seriously considered starting one. At the moment, again like you, I do not have time to do both: maybe one day, when some of my children have left home, but not now, with three being homeschooled plus a toddler and two young adults still living at home.
I like journaling more because it is private, at least for now. I find that I can be more honest, both about myself and about the children, by journaling privately -perhaps I should say intimate, rather than honest, as I certainly would not want imply that blogs are not honest! My main aim is to provide a record both for myself to look back on when my children are grown, and for them to read eventually as a record of their own childhood. So I suppose it is not completely private. If I am writing about a dispute I had with one of my children, as I did recently, I am careful to reveal as much of myself as I do of them and to write only out of love. Maybe if it was a completely private journal, i.e. one that I would burn on my death bed unread by anyone else, I might use it to "vent" and be totally and wildly unfair to everyone but myself ... Hmmm, tempting! You could say then that my target audience is myself and my family.
A blog is public, and the target audience may be partly your own family, but of-course extends far beyond that to the (potentially) millions out there in cyberspace. In deference to your family's privacy you would have to edit much more carefully than you would a private journal and leave out a lot of topics altogether. It is bound to be a much more partial account of your lives together as a family and therefore worth less as a personal account for you to reminisce with when old and grey or for your children to recapture their childhood. On the other hand you have the opportunity to reach out to others with mutual support and information and that is very valuable. It can be more of a public service to others. I would imagine that most bloggers, knowing that their work will be public, will take the trouble to write as well as they can. It is easy to become sloppy when writing privately, though you can make a resolution, as I have, to write it as well as you can and to take real trouble with the writing, and it then becomes a more rewardingly creative pursuit.
If you were to feel as time goes on that your private journal really would benefit others, perhaps because of what you have discovered about homeschooling, family life, religious life, etc. you could always use it as the basis for making a book, either published privately for your own family and friends or even publicly if you felt you really had something more universal to offer, so you are not necessarily closing the door on making your journal more public one day if that seems like a good idea. The one exception to vanity publishing being generally a bad idea is the practice of writing memoirs for one's family, which has long been a common enough thing here. My sister has relatives by marriage whose mother wrote about her childhood as a Catholic convert brought up in a staunch Anglican landowner family, and her subsequent marriage, founding of a school, birth of 14 children and musical career - an extraordinary life. She paid for her book to be published and it was very nicely produced, and actually made quite a handsome profit so popular did it become. (I have a copy!)
I imagine that bloggers who keep private journals as well must be people who manage their time very well. I must say that I have planned out my time very carefully of late, having so much to do, and I absolutely could not maintain a blog at present, as well as keep up with my journal, so I sympathise with you. I struggle to keep up with reading them, and there are so many wonderful ones ...
Jane.
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Dawn
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 6:52pm | IP Logged
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mumofsix wrote:
| I imagine that bloggers who keep private journals as well must be people who manage their time very well. |
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I'm not sure I do that very well, but I do do both ~ a blog and a private journal. I wrote about it here.
I write compulsively - I always have and I find I need to in order to digest all that life hands my way.  It's how I think and process. My private journal is not very fancy - just a 5-subject notebook filled with *everything* from deep thoughts to newspaper clippings to ticket stubs to grocery lists and people to pray for. I'm highly visual so it's usually pretty colorful and chaotic ~ very messy, but meaningful to me.
My blog *has* taken time away from my journal,  but I find they both fill a need. Like Theresa said, I enjoy the feedback. I truly relish being part of the blogging community. I try to write as well as I can, but many's the time I just want to get my thoughts down, and out there.  I'm eager to read all the other blogs and keep the conversation going.
My journal is kept open on my counter at all times with a pencil by its side. I write in it through the day in bits and pieces. Sometimes I sit down and really write for a while (often on weekends). Yesterday I filled several pages with notes for the new school year.
I find it quick and easy to blog most of the time. Sometimes I have something deeper I want to post about and then I work on it for a few days - again, in bits and pieces.
As much as I enjoy blogging, I love my journal and would not give it up. I have stacks of them saved.
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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Meredith
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 7:08pm | IP Logged
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I think of my blog and the subsequent ones attached to it as my online journal, and like Dawn have a paper one that I jot in semi-regulary I seem to keep more notes journal style when I'm on a stricter school scehdule with the kids and keep our learning notes and my personal thoughts about the day in that, and it's usually a spiral notebook or a dated homeschool record.
I too enjoy the feedback! I hope you are able to discern what works for you!
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Meredith
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saintanneshs
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 7:09pm | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
| I'm not sure what the difference is, but I have never been able to keep a journal (except the nature journal, but that is different) but I really enjoy my blog. Perhaps it's the feedback. I LOVE feedback! |
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Oh man, my computer just lost my post...arrrgh! 
Well, here's the replacement version...
A similarity! I love feedback too and I think most of us here must be in the same boat, otherwise why would we bother to post on these boards, right? Anyway, I share what's in my journal with my mom and sisters and husband on occasion...so you're right, Jane, I guess even journaling isn't completely private unless you want it to be!
One of the things I like best about journaling is having the choice of who I share my writings with.  It's also one of the things that leads me to feel a bit of a one-way kinship with the moms who blog.  What I mean is, I read their blogs and get a glimpse into their lives and I can respond, but my response is just sort of one-dimesional, just words. Not like pictures (the kind I have in my journal!) which really bring someone or something to life. So it's kind of a one-way appreciation or understanding of a relationship. Someone is sharing more than someone else. KWIM?
Another similarity I thought of: if writers choose to share their work they sort-of evolve from vent-type writings to more focused, "themed" writing. Don't you think?
I wonder what it is that compells us all to put something on paper. Is is because we're all teachers? Is it all with the long-range hope of leaving something for posterity? What motivates us? Which do we write more for, to give or to get something from the experience?
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Kristine
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 8:44pm | IP Logged
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I agree that at least my writing has evolved from mostly random thoughts to more themed writing. And I do think it is the teacher in me and the human in me-the need for some connection, even if it is artificial in the end. I once wrote in my blog about why I blog and I compared it to the teacher's lounge in schools I used to work in. It is a place for sharing ideas, giving and taking with those who are (or have been) where I am in my life and understand what it is like. A private journal, though useful, just can't work that way. And that is where my need is right now. Perhaps some day I won't need it any more and will give it up, but for now, I really enjoy sharing what I can with who I can. I pray it is a blessing to some, as many of your blogs are a blessing to me.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Leonie
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I do both - and both sporadically. 
My journal is private - it is not for sharing.I sort out my thoughts, fave quotes, feelings, fears, prayers...
My homeschool journal is a tool for me and record keeping for the state.
My blog is a way of keeping in touch with friends, new and old.
I am always behind in journaling and blogging! 
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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JuliaT
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I have tried to journal so many times but it just doesn't work for me. I do not have good handwriting and it takes me a long time to write out what I want to say. Typing is much faster.
The main reason why I blog, though, is because most of our family live a long distance away. I try to give them a glimpse of what the children are doing for school.
Julia
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Dawn
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 9:59am | IP Logged
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Dawn wrote:
| I find it quick and easy to blog most of the time. |
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I wanted to clarify what I said here, as looking back at it, I feel embarassed at the way it came out. I didn't mean to make it sound like I find blogging effortless. What I meant to say is that when I am ready to post, Typepad is very easy to use to get a post pulled together quickly.
Before I blogged I couldn't imagine how I would find the time to do it, but I was glad to discover it doesn't take as much time as I thought.
I am still however, looking for a better balance for how much time I spend on the computer and attending to all the necessary matters of mothering (like laundry, cooking, lessons etc.).
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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Meredith
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 2:53pm | IP Logged
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Dawn wrote:
Dawn wrote:
| I find it quick and easy to blog most of the time. |
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I wanted to clarify what I said here, as looking back at it, I feel embarassed at the way it came out. I didn't mean to make it sound like I find blogging effortless. What I meant to say is that when I am ready to post, Typepad is very easy to use to get a post pulled together quickly.
Before I blogged I couldn't imagine how I would find the time to do it, but I was glad to discover it doesn't take as much time as I thought.
I am still however, looking for a better balance for how much time I spend on the computer and attending to all the necessary matters of mothering... |
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Dawn, you didn't come off in any negative way at all!! It is easy to use a medium like typepad, but like anything else "extra-curricular" for us mothers, it can be a time drain
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: To journal or blog?
