Pandemic journaling has become a bit of a fad these days. There’s no reason that you just have to write about your life during the pandemic, though! You could draw. Perhaps write about how nature is reacting to people running around less. (I for one recently found out that I had raccoons living in the storm drain near my home during a particularly hard rain.) Or maybe dive into Bullet Journaling to get more organized. I’ve included the description from the publishers for each of the listed books.

Creative Journal Writing: The Art and Heart of Reflection by Stephanie Dowrick

“In this exceptionally positive and encouraging book, Dr Stephanie Dowrick frees the journal writer she believes is in virtually everyone, showing through stories and highly engaging examples that a genuine sense of possibility can be revived on every page.

Creative journal writing goes way beyond just recording events on paper. Without needing any rigid formula to gain success, it is the companion that supports but does not judge. It can be a place of unparalleled discovery and a creative playground where the everyday rules no longer count. Proven benefits of journal writing include reduced stress and anxiety, increased self-awareness, sharpened mental skills, genuine psychological insight, creative inspiration and motivation, strengthened ability to cope during difficult times, and overall physical and emotional well-being.

Combining a rich choice of ideas with wonderful stories, quotes, and her refreshingly intimate thoughts gained through a lifetime of professional and creative writing, Dowrick’s insights and confidence in the process make journal writing irresistible. She also makes your own experiences and life far more enchanting. Included in Creative Journal Writing are:

True stories of how people have used journal writing to transform their lives;

· inspirational instructions, guidelines, and quotes;
· key principles, practical suggestions, and helpful hints;
· 125 starter topics, designed to help even the most reluctant journal writer;
· more than forty powerful exercises;
· and much more!”

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future by Ryder Carroll

“For years Ryder Carroll tried countless organizing systems, online and off, but none of them fit the way his mind worked. Out of sheer necessity, he developed a method called the Bullet Journal that helped him become consistently focused and effective. When he started sharing his system with friends who faced similar challenges, it went viral. Just a few years later, to his astonishment, Bullet Journaling is a global movement.

The Bullet Journal Method is about much more than organizing your notes and to-do lists. It’s about what Carroll calls “intentional living”: weeding out distractions and focusing your time and energy in pursuit of what’s truly meaningful, in both your work and your personal life. It’s about spending more time with what you care about, by working on fewer things. His new book shows you how to…

*Track the past: Using nothing more than a pen and paper, create a clear and comprehensive record of your thoughts.

*Order the present: Find daily calm by tackling your to-do list in a more mindful, systematic, and productive way.

*Design the future: Transform your vague curiosities into meaningful goals, and then break those goals into manageable action steps that lead to big change.

Carroll wrote this book for frustrated list-makers, overwhelmed multitaskers, and creatives who need some structure. Whether you’ve used a Bullet Journal for years or have never seen one before, The Bullet Journal Method will help you go from passenger to pilot of your own life.”

Note to Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Samara O’Shea

“Much like she did with correspondence in her first book, For the Love of Letters, in Note to Self Samara O’Shea shows why journal-writing is fun and effective. In a hip and accessible voice, O’Shea shows how the journal is a great tool to help readers learn and grow, uncover their motivations, and come face to face with their own realities.

Each chapter includes one of O’Shea’s journal entries from throughout her life, which are alternately moving, edgy, and hilarious; suggestions on writing techniques (including blogging); exercises and tips on how to enrich the journal-writing experience, and the journal entry of a notorious diarist, including some from Tennessee Williams, Anaïs Nin, and model Gia Carangi, whose life was the inspiration for the HBO movie Gia starring Angelina Jolie.”

Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth

“Experience the splendor of nature with fresh eyes! Featuring an inspiring portfolio from Clare Walker Leslie’s nature journals, this guide offers easy-to-learn techniques for capturing the world around you in pictures and words. Encouraging you to make journaling a part of your daily routine, Keeping a Nature Journal is full of engaging exercises and stimulating prompts that will help you hone your powers of observation and appreciate new aspects of nature’s endlessly varied beauty.”

Drawing Your Life: Learn to See, Record, and Appreciate Life’s Small Joys by Michael Nobbs

“Observe. Record. Reflect. Create a visual record of your days. Informed by the author’s personal philosophy of “Sustainable Creativity,” this guided journal encourages creative people-from doodlers and sketchers to fine artists and graphic designers-to develop their artistic impulses and discover their own inspirations through observing and recording-in pictures and words-the ordinary objects in their lives. The book comprises prompts and ideas for things to draw, books to read, items and ideas to collect, and adventures and encounters to pursue. Illustrated with the author’s own colorful artwork and observations, Drawing Your Life provides plenty of space for readers to include their own drawings and ruminations so that it becomes not only a record of the reader’s journey but also a means for each reader to gain true insight into their own lives and motivations.”