There are now fewer pages left in my journal than there are in this year.
   Perfect timing, really, for a new decade is approaching and I will begin the New Year with a brand new journal.
   I’ve been keeping a journal with solid regularity for about 20 years.
   I had tried before, at different points in my life, to maintain some sort of journal, diary, or account of my life, but those attempts always ended up incomplete. The books got lost, or I got lost (or lost interest), or couldn’t really find the time.
   Life is often like that, you find it hard to find the time to do things you really want to do.
   It takes more than commitment; it takes continued commitment.
   My journals are full of life, as it happens. Trips, trials and tribulations, events attended, tales about people I’ve met; people who have died, people who left, and those who are still with me.
   It becomes personal history. For me.
   It is important to me.
   I write every day, but not always in my journal. I’ve got a several manuscripts on the go, in varying stages of undress, and there is something on this site every day. Then there is poetry, and letters to friends and family scattered across this amazing planet.
   I write every damn day.
   The journaling is different, always by hand, always by pencil, I write both the consequential and inconsequential in my journal, as it happens and usually when it happens.
   Sometimes I will glue in an article from the newspaper, other times a postage stamp or concert ticket, or include a quote from somebody that has inspired me.
It’s pretty random, at times it is messy (like life), at times my thoughts are not complete, but the journal has a purpose.
   This current journal is the second book I have filled this year. It began with a trip to Winnipeg on father’s day, to visit my daughter (that’s always something to write about), and continues to describe weekends out and about in Toronto on my bike, my concerns over gun violence and public safety in this city, and memories of people, places, and music.
   You learn a lot about yourself as you write, and you continue learning as you write. That is the value of a journal.
   Journaling is sort of like the quote I jotted down in my journal on August 24:
     “Learn from yesterday, live
      for today, look to tomorrow,
      rest this afternoon.”
                         -Charles Schultz

Do you keep a journal? Are you ready to start?
2020 is almost here, a new year and a new decade.
There’s no better time to start than a new year.
soultalk is offering its annual free online journaling program to get you going in the new year an beyond.
Normally the program is 10 writing prompts over 10 days, but this year (and the reason seems obvious to me) it will be 20/20.
It begins January 1 in a closed Facebook group.
In addition to a daily prompt, there are hints on maintaining a healthy journaling practice, and the support of a group that are going through the same thing with you.
The program is open to, pretty much, everyone.
Come write your way into 2020.
For more details, and to sign up, send an email to soultalk@mythosandmarginalia.com
Come and write with us.
Write on.