Quick Tip #10:
Find your
favorite way to journal

Maybe you enjoy journaling — kudos to you, especially you bloggers! But some of us get that English-class pressure and labor over every word, slowing the creative process and finding little joy. When you face a page that needs journaling, are you tempted to turn off the layer and just leave the headline and captions? Let's change that!

Your images are probably the main reason you have an album at all. Our images stimulate memories in amazing ways, even bringing back the emotions of the original event. But words are powerful, too, and bring a depth of emotion and detail that magnify the power of our images. As the years go by, you'll treasure your words almost as much as your photos.

SET TIME APART. To start, here's a journaling tip that works for me. I believe we use different parts of the brain for visual and verbal creation, so I generally create several digital layouts at a time, but I leave off the journaling for awhile. When I'm feeling relaxed, I open the layout, launch Microsoft Word and type the journaling as I enjoy the photos. I then copy and paste the text into each layout.

This process is especially fun and effective if you have notes from the event (see below). But it applies to pages you're making just relying on your memory, as well.

JUST 80 WORDS. I designed Clean Sheets Page Templates to have an airy look, so the text size and spacing preset into the Journaling block has lots of "breathing room." On a typical square layout, the entire journaling block runs about 80 words. To compare, the first two paragraphs of this Quick Tip contain 86 words.

Even in this small space, your page will be greatly improved if journaling includes two things: unseen details, and personal insights.

UNSEEN DETAILS. Every event has hundreds of details that aren't captured on your camera. These could include the sensory details (sounds and smells) and the moments that weren't "important" enough to capture. What music did you listen to on the radio? What did you talk about? What did you laugh about? What did you have for lunch? You'll treasure these details in years to come.

PERSONAL INSIGHTS. Every event, even on "ordinary" days, evokes a multitude of emotions. And there is something to be learned from every experience. When you scrapbook a page, pause and reflect on how you felt then, how you feel about the experience now, and what you learned from it. Not only will your journaling be richer, if you do this every time you scrapbook, you'll begin to sense more meaning in the simplest of events. And this will bring you more joy and gratitude!

Eighty words aren't much, so if you want to devote more space to your journaling, use Personal History page templates and add these prints to your Fusion Album. They are Microsoft Word documents that give you unlimited room to write. You'll find the templates and complete instructions in the Studio Boutique.

However long your journaling, if you want to get maximum impact and fun from those 80 words ... here are a few more easy tips.

TAKE NOTE. Just as you carry your camera with you most of the time, you should carry a notebook as well. When you have a photo opportunity, your notes will provide the basis for future journaling.

I like to take a tip from David Letterman and list the top ten details from an event in my notebook. I can either use this as the basis for lengthier journaling, or I can just list the bullet points on my layout. Simple!

GO WITH THE FLOW. Did you have an assignment in high school to "free write" in an uncensored way for a few minutes at a time? Look at your layout, open Word, and do just that. Don't compose sentences or worry about spelling. Just express all of your impressions of the event (or people) portrayed in the photos.

THEN EDIT COMPASSIONATELY. Go back to your journaling and organize it into coherent sentences, but don't worry about making it into timeless prose. Your pages are primarily for you and those that know you. Future generations won't care one iota if your grammar's not perfect; they'll just be glad you created a page.

TELL A FRIEND. Your could try writing as if you were telling a friend about the photos. It is livelier to use a conversational tone, rather than writing as if it were for an anonymous audience.

TALK TO THE SUBJECT. It is fun to write your journaling as an expression to the person in the photos. For example, the journaling for a high school graduation page could be a heartfelt expression directly to the graduate. If 80 words just won't do it, do a separate Personal History entry and just let it flow.

FIRST PERSON IS FINE. Chances are you will be more comfortable writing in the first person (I am, as you can see!). Don't worry about this being too personal. Family albums are personal by nature, and it is actually an asset to hear your "voice."