#End-of-year journaling

[365momme]

12 Days of Christmas Personal Development Journal Prompts

Looking to reflect on your personal development and set goals for the upcoming year? Look no further! We’ve curated 12 days of Christmas-themed personal development journal prompts just for you. These prompts will guide you through gratitude, skill development, goal setting, self-care, overcoming limiting beliefs, and much more. Each day, you’ll explore different aspects of your life and discover…

[tea-tuesday]

(belated) new pen alert + updating my 5-year hobonichi ! a few months ago, i got a lamy safari in the piña colada colorway. unfortunately, the EF nib was SO scratchy and awful, but i got a replacement nib and switched to a different ink, and it flows much better! it is not my favorite fountain pen but i do love how colorful the body is. i'm also behind on my 5-year hobonichi so i have been filling in past missing entries, such as my trip to copenhagen and stockholm last month 💆‍♀️ although not being a student anymore feels strange, i have so much time to catch up on my previously neglected journals :))

[sleepinglionhearts]

Hobonichi updates 🖊 📖

[otaku553]

My brother recently got into Demon Slayer so I wanted to make a kny oc for him since I did it before with both me and my sister and never got around to my brother :)

But I started by refreshing my own design because wow?? It’s been 4 years since I first made my kny insert character and a lot of things are now outdated! Not to mention my art has improved a lot, I hope. More details under the cut!

Meet Ebisu Koharu: youngest of the Ebisu family and physically the weakest. They only barely passed Final Selection by hiding for the entire week and surviving off tips from their older siblings. Nonetheless, they still want to contribute, which is why they hold onto a thick, leather bound book that records every demon they’ve ever met in precise detail, with labeled diagrams and scribbled calculations in the margins of different strengths and weaknesses.

After spending a few years on the job, and properly seeing their data contribute to the successes of other demon slayers, they’ve come a bit more into their own as a competent researcher and fighter, though they still do tend to request paired missions with friends and family to act more as a support role rather than a fighter.

The Ebisu family is one of scholars. The eldest daughter Kaoru is a doctor, and the eldest son Shougen is a chemist. By nature, fighting is not necessarily their strong suit, which is why their family breathing style and techniques are all poison-assisted. Of the three, Koharu is the weakest and most averse to combat— they wield a short half-length blade, with more of a smooth ceremonial hilt and sheath than any practical weapon.

[the---hermit]

To do list to stop the procrastination anxiety:

Book dentist appointment

Email b&b for weekend trip with mom

For the love of the gods clean the garden of all the weeds that have grown in the past few weeks

Text tattoo artist to get appointment

Find the courage to check if there's revelent infos for this year's uni classes and at least get an idea of when classes start

Reorganize bookshelves

[gayofthefae]

I JUST LAUGHED OUT LOUD.

I WAS TRYING TO FIND THE NAME OF THE OLD COUPLE WHO TAUGHT BUCK ABOUT THE BEAUTY OF QUEER LOVE IN 208 AND YES I PROBABLY TYPED IT TOO VAGUELY BUT

THEY'RE THE FIRST RESULT FOR 911 GAYS PFTHAHA

[and the fact that it's them filming their son - right after Eddie apologizes to Buck for getting back with his wife and Buck tells him it's not like he's having an affair, and right before Buck doesn't correct the lady who assumes they're together. Great scene all around. They were like "what's the most coupley photo/scene we can possibly pick to really nail it home for the people who haven't seen it. Camcorder parents. Done.]

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Tumblr isn't letting me find again @fictionadventurer's and my own posts on epistolary novels, but I have been thinking about it again, because I fell down a Goodreads review rabbit hall and I have thoughts again.

So many people dislike the style, and honestly, I don't blame them, because it's so often done... not well. It is in some aspects, a deceptively easy one, and in others, deceptively hard. And because I'm trying to write a novel with this format myself, I have been thinking about what makes or breaks an epistolary novel.

I talked yesterday about TGLPPS, because it is an interesting case to analyze. I have thought many times about it, and cannot think of a single non-merely-aesthetic reason for it to be told in an epistolary style. A lot of it depends on -British- people who have survived some terrible war conditions willingly opening up to a stranger about their experiences, and that's made... even more difficult if the medium is letters? typically writers will appeal to tropes like making the reserved character drunk, or have them share an extreme experience in isolation with the stranger to create sudden intimacy. None of this is possible in writing; if anything, one is much more self-conscious about the things one writes than the things one says; verba volant, scripta manent.

It seems to me the story would have flowed much more naturally if Juliet had been stranded on Guernsey for some reason -like the first author herself!- suddenly Dawsey commenting that he got a book from her library makes so much more sense! Yes, certainly, if you met a stranger out there, and they introduce themselves and you realize you have a book that once belonged to them, you would tell them so! And it is in this way that the epistolary format does violence to a story that would otherwise sound much less contrived.

Another problem is the large cast of characters and multiple settings. For all I complain about Dracula, Stoker manages this pretty well (of course he has the model of The Woman in White, but TWiW has fewer povs), at least on the first half, because structurally the storylines of the characters are converging, and that does a lot to guide the reader in the understanding of the character's relationships. TGLPPS's relationship structure is more of a multidirectional flow chart, and that becomes confusing really fast.

Another novel I read reviews for recently is one set in WWI, composed of back and forth letters between two lovers torn apart by war, and one common complaint was... that the climactic scenes, the times they meet, etc all happen... off-camera. It is a fair complaint, but also one I cannot really blame the author for, because that's what usually happens with real life compilations of letters of that kind. Sure, usually the editor/compiler will fill in the blanks sometimes and add an epilogue of sorts explaining what happened afterwards, and that is possible if you are writing it fictionally too, but some may think it spoils the effect of immediacy and whatnot, which, fair too.

But it makes me think of how aware Jean Webster was of these difficulties, and how deftly she managed them in both Daddy Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. Both novels have aged badly in terms of content and message, but they are very interesting stylistically.

DLL is a bildungsroman with a dash of romance; through Judy's letters to daddy long-legs we can see how she grows as a person, gaining independence intellectually and economically, and as a writer, as her grammar and vocabulary change and grow. Between making Judy an orphan who hates the orphanage where she has lived her whole life, and one where she lived past the usual age of being thrown into the world, Webster does away with the need for letters between Judy and her friends and family: all her friends and family are her college roommates and her benefactor, who is the person she writes to. The benefactor scheme also makes it so that she doesn't have to write dll's replies, which in turns makes it much more natural and acceptable for the reader when Judy writes him the ending's love letter describing the feelings and impressions of their finally meeting in person and in truth; Judy has become a writer, and she is so used to write to him as another person all the time, that it just makes sense for her to write to him one more letter at the point where her benefactor and her lover become one and the same person. She has written a novel where the core is the correspondence between lovers AND managed to include as well all the moments of their meetings that we would otherwise miss.

Dear Enemy is a similar, but longer and more ambitious story. Instead of one relationship-connection (Judy and Daddy's), we have Sallie as a nod of connections: she's Judy's friend, Jarvis' "employee", the boss of several characters, has a tense colleague-boss relationship with the visiting doctor, a boyfriend of sorts in Washington, and a family we have met before. It is, in that way, a similar setup to TGLPPS: a urban girl of means becomes a fish out of water in a different setting till she ends up assimilating to it, and settling definitely through marriage. But Webster does a few things differently to make it click.

For starters, it is clear to her that this is the story of Sallie's maturation -I have sometimes talked of Dear Enemy as a novel where a Mary Crawford-like character undergoes a transformation arc. The happenings and stories she meets and tells Judy about along the way serve this arc, besides standing on their own as case studies to illustrate the problems, ideology and solutions proposed to the secondary themes of the story (education and social reform). I feel like TGLPPS is much more interested in Guernsey's survival through the war, in which case Juliet's story is already a frame, which, again, makes the epistolary format cumbersome rather than complementary.

Dear Enemy adds more correspondents, but it is very austere/economical with them, and narrows the letters we see to only those Sallie sends. YMMV regarding if it was too much cutting or not, but the undeniable effect is structural soundness; you are never confused by what is happening or who is writing to whom. We can guess the Honorable Cyrus Wykoff probably wrote some indignant letters to Jervis, and those would be funny to read, but... would they be worth the break in the flow of the narrative? I don't think so. To this effect, just having Sallie write a line to the effect of "I expect at this point you have at hand an irate letter from the Hon. Cyrus" is enough to paint a picture for the reader. Perhaps a letter or two from Dr. MacRae would have helped develop his character more -definitely a first read of the story obscures how much misdirection there is in Sallie's narration to Judy, which in turns tends to create an impression of suddenness to the closing letter that doesn't come across well to the reader.

The choice of Sallie mainly writing to Judy is, IMO, a really good one too. It not only establishes a connection with DLL, but it also allows for the intimacy that makes disclosure believable (something TGLPPS struggles with, as I mentioned above). When you add a few letters to the doctor and Gordon and Jervis, you also get a better perspective of Sallie's personality, how she deals not only with a friend, but with acquaintances, romantic partners and coworkers.

From all this it is pretty evident that for Webster the main function of epistolarity as format is aiding in showing psychological and moral development. But that's not the only thing the format can be really good for: perspective is another, and Austen uses it to great effect in both Lady Susan and Lesley Castle.

Both stories deal with mainly static characters, but who have very strong perspectives of the same situation, and it is this singularity of setting and story that anchors the narrative to avoid confusion, while the variety of perspective brings interest. In Lady Susan, we are dealing mainly with the marrying off of Frederica and seduction of Mrs. Vernon's brother, Reginald. There where Lady Susan paints Frederica as an undisciplined, irrational and ungrateful daughter, her sister in law, Mrs. Vernon, paints her as a sweet girl and a victim of her mother's ruthlessness and lack of love. Both agree that Reginald is being seduced, but, of course, with opposite goals: Lady Susan wants him to succumb, Mrs. Vernon, to escape, and this is a delicious struggle for the reader to follow!*

Lesley Castle being an earlier effort, and unfinished, does show some of the defects I have mentioned before (mainly, the relative confusion of having several correspondents in separate storylines), but illustrates well this same perspective effect: Margaret writes to Charlotte about the new Lady Lesley, and the new Lady Lesley writes to Charlotte about about Margaret and her sister... and in these contrasts lies the main interest of the narrative.

Some conclusions to these musings, then:

Not every story is suited to the epistolary format.

The epistolary format seems to work the best when it is used for either A) showcase psychological and moral development B) to play with perspective on people and/or events.

One of the main difficulties of the format is finding a narrative element to anchor and structure the letters around.

It must have a core couple of correspondents, or at most, two. More than that will make it confusing (unless, perhaps, the story is very short and about a single event or two).

A delicate balance must be found so that the secondary correspondence doesn't cut the flow of the main one, and if possible it must feed into it.

*It is interesting how Love and Friendship, being such a delightful -and I sustain one of the best ever- Austen adaptation, is by force of the perspective switch towards a more impersonal third person, more about a love story between Frederica and Reginald than a struggle between Lady Susan and Mrs. Vernon. Which isn't dissimilar to how adaptations of DLL end up being more about the romance between the leads than Judy's coming of age in college; tropes aside, I feel like if the epistolary format is well embedded in the story, it's going to be nearly impossible to reproduce the effect in adaptation.

[evergardenwall]

me re-reading my old journals from 2020-2021 and feeling like i haven't made any progress and am stuck in the same place vs. me reminding myself i passed last year and now am in L2 which i couldn't have imagined back in 2021... why is celebrating small achievements so hard

[raiiny-bay]

more outtakes

[oreoambitions]

Sometimes I contemplate taking a day and purging my Tumblr of things that make me cringe but then I figure what's the point of any of us pretending we never had anything to grow out of ykwim

[cadaverousdecay]

i’m so overwhelmed by things that shouldn’t be overwhelming...

[ohyespotatous]

(Weekly Review 🌻)

Potato’s Year-End Sprint 2024 - Phase 1: Planting Seeds 🌱

Week 1 (Oct 1-7)

🌱 Wins & Highlights

Though I didn’t reach my weekly goals, I’ve built some momentum! I’ve gotten valuable insights to help adjust my approach for the coming weeks.

🌧️ Challenges & Setbacks

I woke up late every day, and it threw me off. With my schedule already messed up, I only managed to do one or two small things each day.

My period hit hard, and I had mood swings, crying almost every night. I couldn’t sleep until 2-3 AM.

I planned to catch up on my Buffer Day, but I ended up being lazy. Lots of overdue tasks remain.

Progress Breakdown

👼🏻 Personal Development

Japanese: Reviewed 10 mini-lessons, no new progress

3 CBT journal entries (+1 therapy session)

Learning about self & social dynamics from different resources

💻 Professional Growth

No UX writing progress :”)

Read some career-related articles daily

☪️ Spiritual

Murajaah: 2 pages

Attended 1 Quran study session

🕰️ Morning & Nightly Routines

Morning: I don't think I have a morning routine atp :v I only stare at nothing the first thing in the morning and ask "what should I do now (that I woke up late)?"

Night: Nailed 4/7 days of my routine—floss, brush teeth, wash up, skin care, and lights out.

🍃 Health & Fitness

Appetite and energy levels were low

Didn’t track water consumption, but I think I drank less

Slept too much, yet still felt tired

Strategy for Next Week

📝Backup Calendar & Reverse Log

Implement a backup calendar so I can adjust on late-start days

Identify 2-3 key tasks to complete, no matter when I wake up

Log what I’ve accomplished as I go

💻⚓Anchor Task & Morning Routine

Set UX writing as my “anchor task”—do it first! Even if I wake up late, I’ll reduce time but still prioritize it

Start mornings with small wins like 5-minute journaling or stretching

Mentally rehearse the night before what I'll do first when I wake up late

💪🏻 Health

Track water intake using a water bottle with measurement lines

Prioritize eating at least one meal before starting the day

[fadeintolight]

starting a new life tomorrow goodnight!!!!!

[pink-lemonadefairy]

[choking-on-roses]

Colleague called me a Luddite today because I wrote the abstract for a book chapter submission by hand without using ChatGPT

[dano-locket]

you inspired me

the riddler year one: issue three | the batman (2022)