I should keep a journal, but…
I can’t write…
Nothing happens in my life…

My answers to those concerns are:

You should?
I bet you can write a grocery list.
Are you sure?

A recent journal entry of mine:

August 3, 2025

A tree fell as I lay here last night. It was quiet, as usual, then a creaking, then popping sound, not loud like an explosion, just on the same level as the silence that preceded it, insinuated itself and the tree fell and landed unceremoniously as I watched, having turned my head in its direction. And there it was. It wasn’t, and then it was. And the night went on as usual.

(See how fun it is to be able to add a photo, in my Day One app!)

Sometimes I enjoy writing creatively, and sometimes things happen. Compare to an older entry:

December 5, 1976

I have been so lazy today. After I came home from Sunday School I didn’t do another thing the rest of the day. I didn’t go to Sacrament meeting, I didn’t fix a meal. I didn’t do anything but change my clothes and lay in front of the tv all day until now. Part of the time I slept, most of the time I just lay there watching tv.

Um, nothing happened. I wrote about it. And not in an interesting way. A couple more:

December 30, 1977

I don’t feel like writing today... But I am because it’s been ten days since I’ve written. Christmas was great but I’ve been completely worn out and depressed ever since.

September 15, 1978

I am so tired... I don’t know why but the last few days it’s just been creeping up on me. Right now I’m just lying in front of the tv. I just can’t do a thing. I wish I could have days like this without getting depressed. When the phone rings I turn the tv down because I don’t want anyone to know that I’m watching tv. I want some M&Ms.

Into every life some mundane must fall. Sometimes something interesting happens, like, a tree falls. Sometimes it’s something exciting, like when I went with my granddaughter to New York and she sang at Carnegie Hall. I don’t know why I write about all of them, and sometimes I don’t.

Now the other concern—I should keep a journal. I wonder, who made all of us think we should really be keeping a journal and beating ourselves up if we don’t? I can tell you all kinds of reasons why you might find keeping a journal rewarding. But it’s not something that we all must do, or we should feel very guilty about it. If you want to write in a journal, write! Write the mundane and the somewhat interesting and the truly meaningful. If you want to. But I will promise one thing—if you do write your everyday life, you will read back later and find gems. Truly valuable gems that you didn’t know the worth of when you wrote them. Like this:

March 15, 1978

Yesterday, after Primary Jason said to me, “Mama, you wrapped my merry-go-round, didn’t you?” I couldn’t figure out what on earth he was talking about. I kept questioning him about it but nothing made any sense to me. Finally, I found out that his Primary teacher had called while I was at the temple and left a message that I should wrap one of Jason’s toys and get it to her without him knowing about it. Well it got later and later and I hadn’t come home yet so Wade wrapped up Jason’s merry-go-round and took it to her.

This was my husband, who worked 12–18-hour days, ran his own pressure-filled business, and had a head full of numbers and completion dates and other obligations. I had no memory of this incident, until I read it recently in my journal. Jason would never have remembered or realized the significance of it without hearing it later, as an adult.

trying my best to keep a clean house and put meals on the table, wipe away tears and kiss skinned knees. I also worked seriously to write regularly, send stories and poems out to magazines, and enter contests. This was when I first learned how to really work for something that I wanted. With no computers or other devices, sending things to magazines was quite different than it is today. There were the large manila envelopes that I always kept on hand—this was how I sent my typed manuscripts out. I would include an SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) so that editors could return my precious words to me months later with the form rejection slip. It was a discouraging practice, but I was determined.

I like the conclusion that I came to at the end of this journal entry:

Friday, March 18, 1977

Hey! Surprise! Yesterday I went out to get the mail with my usual mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension. There was the large manila envelope and the familiar feeling of my spirits quickly dropping. “Darn it darn it darn it,” I thought. Then I opened it. “Awfully thin,” I thought. In it were 3 of my poems and a letter from Bucks Country Panorama saying that they would like to buy the fourth. It’s a poem called “Discovery.” It goes like this:

      Discovery

      “See Mama,” he said,
      His eyes wide with wonder.
      I looked at his pudgy hand,
      His short fingers curved gently.
      He opened them carefully
      To reveal something tiny,
      Something gray,
      With warm sides pulsing.
      Something never before seen
      In his two and a half years experience
      On God’s earth.
      And, gazing from his innocent eyes
      To the creature in his hand,
      I saw, not a disease bearing rodent,
      But something beautiful.

How about all this success I’m having!

Next time I fill out any kind of a form that asks for occupation, I’m going to say housewife and freelance writer!

While typing my old journals into my app I realized the value of the journals that I had kept faithfully for so many years. In those early journals I found so many priceless stories that had gone completely from my mind. I was reminded of good times and hard times. I saw how I got through those hard times, the lessons I learned, and how I grew from year to year. None of us remember how we felt, for example, on March 28, 1976. But now I remember because I wrote it down. It’s how I know that was the day that I, a young mother wanting so much to excel at being a mother and at the same time wanting desperately to develop the talent God had given me—that of putting words on a page—found success for the first time. And I will share that day with you because I can.

March 28, 1976

Oh Oh Oh Oh!!!

I can hardly control myself to get this written down!

Yesterday I was too depressed to even go out and get the mail so I didn’t get it till today. In it was a letter from “Teen Magazine” letting me know that my story “Spring Rain” has been accepted for publication, and a check for $150.00 will be on its way to me soon!!! I thought it would never happen! Really, many times I just wondered why I kept sending things out. The letter also said, “Thank you for making this excellent story available to us. If you have any other fiction pieces you feel might be right for us, we’d be delighted to review them.” Im so happy!!

I really had forgotten that day. Well, that is one reason for keeping a journal. But, you may say, it’s already too late for me to capture those moments, they are past. I have one thing to say to that—start today!

since I was in the sixth grade, almost non stop, but with a few breaks. I eventually typed up my handwritten journals from January 1, 1961 to August 13, 1970, created nice covers for them, and took them to the printer to be bound.

I had planned to continue that project, but I came across a journaling app called Day One. I started journaling in the Day One app in March of 2021. I liked that with Day One I could upload my work to them and have all of my writings come back to me in a nice hardback book.

Then I thought, why not type my old handwritten journals into the Day One app as well, then have each of them made into a lovely hardback book. So that is the journaling project I am now working on, along with continuing my writing of fiction.