There's a great deal of satisfaction that comes from sharing words and art with others from around the world. These days we have friends on every continent sharing what is meaningful in their lives via brush-tip or pen-point. The age of the misunderstood garret dweller is over. There are others - tens of thousands or more - who are traveling the same road, asking the same questions, cherishing the same Microns and Moleskines. By sharing a glimpse of ourselves and appreciating the writing and drawing of each other, we create a more richly textured and friendlier world. I recently attended a celebration for someone I met through blogging - someone whose path I most likely would not have crossed otherwise. Who can't be thrilled with a medium that brings more love and more joy into our lives?

I journal because it gives me a way to make sense of me and my surroundings. It acts as my spiritual practice, a kind of meditation, where I can communicate without judgement or without my inner critic taking over. Not that my inner critic doesn't have a voice in my journal, but that there is always the counterpart. Blogging has added a new dimension to my journaling that I am experimenting with and find interesting but it isn't enough as I frequently speak through images and it is just too damn much trouble to scan those into a blog on a regular basis. I have journaled for over 20 years now and do wonder what my children will do with them when I'm gone, what they will make of those unspoken dreams and frustrations. So glad you brought up the subject...I believe, I believe.

Checking in on weblogs is like paying that person a visit. Depending on the content, it's like sitting down and having a conversation. I always try to leave a comment rather than lurk, just because it seems like the polite thing to do!

It's about time someone started a creativity/art/drawing based podcast. I've searched all over for something like that. Glad to hear you're going to give it a go. Looking forward to it.

I agree with Ryan about the podcast. Am lso looking forward to it.
Why do I journal, draw and "blog"? It slows me down... completely slows me down. Makes me look and see and think and hear and appreciate all those "so-called ordinary people" on this planet. Makes me aware of the value we all have and the contributions we all make to the existence of others and the effects we all have on others, be it animal, plant or human. Blogging, creativity art work, thought-writing and thought-expressing (:-)) is so interactive....
MD

You're starting a podcast? When? Where?

Just started journalling again for the umpteenth time - never managed to keep it up before but am hoping that "Everyday Matters' will give me the determination and inspiration I need. I love being able to look back ona record of what I have done - and, especially, seen - but I am too easily discouraged by drawings that don't somehow work.
I love the idea of a podcast - how fantastic to be able to listen to a little inspiration as well as turning to the book whenever I am falling off the journalling wagon!

Lovely piece, Danny. Journaling is a personal adventure into oneself. Looking within is a way to see universally. Journaling and sketching is a way of purging and reflection. The more we journal, the more we see the truth. It opens up a part of the soul that otherwise would be forgotten in everyday living. This brings us back to our source, to spirit. I also think it's a way of communicating through all dimensions. People who see the journal can understand it's sognificance, and the person journaling learns more about themselves by opening up the their minds to other worldly possibilities. It's meditative and freeing at the same time, allowing to live in the moment where the real source of life is.

It's always a dangerous area to write online about online writing--"blog" about "blogging." I think you've handled the subject quite well, and I'm glad you treat it with the same validity as physical journaling, even though they're often put in almost opposite catagories of merit.

Journalling has been, for me, a way to release pressure, create beauty and put in concrete form, some of the things that rattle around inside me. Posting some of my work on a blog has given me a great deal of satisfaction and support. Modern life is bruising and so fast and journalling is a way to slow down and connect with others of like mind. That said, internet relationshipss are not the same as face to face relationships and so I really have to think about what I want to share. I occasionally suffer from information overload and have to disconnect for awhile. Danny, I suggested this "media" fast to my class (as you mentioned in your book) and my students gasped in indignation. But all the same, I bet some of them try it.

Danny, I forgot to ask you if the recent Jaguar commercials are yours. They are really well put together.

Danny, Journaling came to me while I was taking care of my Mothers lastday's hear with me at night when we had a bad day the pen paper and learning to draw brought me peace from the worry and watching your'e only family member slip away. Then after her passing and all alone I journal to help me through my won illness and knowing that it will take me away for awhile and center me. There have been wonderful people I have met through my Art adventure also Youreself Danny with youre words of just do it ,youre work to help a self taught person and the many others from there art blogs that have been so kind to help when I ask. I havent placed any of my ventures on the EDM group there is no scanner and Im not sure about my work yet. The few groups I belong to though are wonderful,some that I've tried to join I've been turned down but that doesn't stop me I stick now to the wonderful Artist that have a wonderful gift and share with there Heart. So Danny this is why I Journal and why its a peace of my soul and the love in my Heart. And I'm so blessed to have you and your'e wonderful Art and words to have come into my life.
Your'e friend from Pittsburgh,
Linda

podcast will be cool..you could interview al those creative folk you seem to have swirling around your life....

I began journaling in the seventies, as a way to parse my crazy world, to make some sense of it. What I found is that I am an artist and that the most important part of me was wriiten into those pages. I love that I can go back now and find the girl I was in those long gone days. And it is a gift to others as well when you can go back and show them what you were thinking of them before they were ven born.

...and about blogging..you must admit it is a marketing tool too....a nice, friendly one...everyone loves a story that goes with a "product"

Podcast! Podcast! I look forward to hearing your voice and your insights on creativity. Please speak out!

This old dog resist new tricks, i.e. Ipods. Guess I'll have to break down and get one so I can tune into your podcast.

I don't watch reality TV, but I guess Net blogs and published journals are pretty much the same. We are all voyeurs. You have to have a real talent to do them, though. Not to go into the morbid details of your daily toilettes. Know when to "stop." I borrowed that idea, you know.

Danny, I'm a long time viewer, first time commenting.
I journal about 3 or 4 times a week, what this does for me, is that it's my "ROAD MAP" It tells me if I'm doing what I need to do to reach my goals. Whather it be Personal goals or Professional.
Drawing, I just love doing it. It keeps me focused and it helps me to calm down from a stressful day. Coming from an architectural & engineering background that spent my early professional years drawing on the drafting board and all of a sudden I was forced to leave my drafting table to the side in favor of Autocad. But I try to SKETCH EVERY DAY while I'm sitting in front of the TV watching my Yankkes. :-) Keep up the Great inspirational work you're doing.

Danny, please provide podcast details. It will be great to hear your voice . . . in addition to seeing your sketches and reading your books. Thanks in advance for jumping into a new medium.

Another thoughtful post, Danny, and I agree with every point you make. I would only add that in addition to the factors contributing to this phenom you list, there seems to me to be another humanity connectivity sea change currently taking place before our eyes. I liken it to the changes after the printing press in terms of how it altered the way we think and interact from that point forward. So too do blogs/journals. I just started my own after reading them, yours for one, for a few years. This medium is providing a whole new way to share our lives, not just our self-absorbed thoughts. My online imaginary friends are every bit as valuable to me as people I know through proximity.

I journal at the same rate and for the same reason that I laugh. At myself mostly. And others too sometimes. I have added drawing very recently. The reason for that was fairly unusual: both my children, aged 3.5 and 5, are mildly autistic. They use a picture-exchange communication system. We have customized traditional PECs into our own system which I named PicturePefect. I was really dissatisfied with the images that came with traditional PECs. I thought they were dull, boring, unimaginative and perpetuated the terrible habit of "rubber-stamping" (what you call "drawing with symbols" in one of your books). Instead of using pre-made images, we draw the pictures on the spot on a dry-erase board,or on a Magna-Doodle. I was amazed at my son's ability to produce recognizable objects. And it gave him a sense of control and autonomy. His speech improved tremendously too.

The whole process proved strangely addictive. I started drawing regularly every day. Not that I am very good:-) But it helps me to align my perspective with my children's outlook. Also, the process of drawing magically breaks the dreadful writer's block. When I draw, I write better. I hope it makes sense.

I have recently picked up both "Creative License" and "Everyday Matters". They are wonderfully inspiring. The drawings are magical. Thank you for sharing, Danny.

De-lurking finally to comment on this post. I started a blog a few months ago, because I enjoyed reading the art blogs but wanted to add my personal experiences as a working artist/mother into the mix. Although it takes a lot of time away from my studio, it has also has unexpected benefits, such as contact with like minded people, something that is lacking in my daily, real life. It has also become a great way to document what I have going on in my career, which that I wasn't doing before, and it has forced me to actually discuss my work more formally, which I also tend not to do much in real life. Plus, you know, I get to talk about me, me, me!

Good post, Danny.

I started a blog after joining EDM simply as a way to show my drawings but it developed from there. I find it gives me discipline to keep drawing (I know I would have longer periods of not drawing without it)but also knowing that what I say can be read by anyone, I question myself more. I think it has fast forwarded my development as an artist and a person. The most important aspect about blogging is that now that so called ordinary people have a voice, the media no longer has the power to manipulate it once had. Ordinary people are extraordinary!

I've been journaling for 37 years and only recently has it become "artful." My reasons for doing have ranged from needing to vent about some crappy situation in my life, bemoaning some relationship issue or now mostly, just my private thoughts about various people, places, work, books read,etc. I've never shared them with anyone and that's likely the way it'll be. Blogging holds no interest for me. If I want to share my inner thoughts, I'll either talk to a friend or write in my journal. No offense but, blogging seems to me to be even more self-absorbed than the journaling I do! Imagine thinking that complete strangers out in the ether would want to read about my mundanities and/or profundities! I dunno - maybe I'll change at some point - I like reading your blog!

Hej--and having just joined today would like to explain why I journal.

I have many great passions, 2 of which are:- making people laugh at everyday simple/stupid situations, and words and their meaning.
So good luck to all us "journalers" --we don´t need a reason!

I've had the great fortune to meet a couple of people who have deeply impacted my outlook on life. Hopefully, others can see them through my handling of life and experiences.

As a log for my children. I am a recent immigrant to France from the US and the experience can be summed up as fascinating - both good and bad. I wish I could read the mind of my parents when they immigrated to the US when I was 3.

For sharing, learning, and emoting in a medium when it's sometimes difficult to do it in real life, though I still don't share my deepest secrets or thoughts. Reaching out.