Inspiring Bullet Journal Ideas You Can Use For Reading And Writing

Love your bullet journal? Whether you decorate your journal, or not, a bullet journal is an amazing tool both for your reading, and writing.

But should you have one journal, or more?

Your bullet journal: should you have one, or several?

We discussed this at a recent writers’ group meeting. Our group has several BuJo enthusiasts, and opinions were divided. Several authors maintained that the point of a bullet journal is that you keep everything together, in one notebook.

I’ve found however that I prefer to keep an additional A6 notebook (Field Notes size) for my Collections. Since I fill up bullet journals at a rapid rate, it takes an hour or more to transfer my Collections from a filled notebook to a new one. I also keep a lightweight, cahier-style notebook for each novel I write.

What’s important of course is that you do what works for you.

Now let’s look at some ideas.

Ideas for study and reading notes

Studying? Try these ideas:

• Create a future log-style assignment calendar;
• Keep vital notes for classes in your daily log, then transfer them to a Collection;
• Use trackers as needed. You can create trackers for books read, study, assignments completed, your grades; it’s up to you.

Whether you’re studying or not, a bullet journal is the perfect place to track your reading.

You might track:

• Your ever-growing To Be Read pile;
• Quotations and notes;
• Any books you’ve borrowed;
• Books you’ve read, with a sentence or two about what you enjoyed, and what you didn’t…

Ideas for writing

Consider creating a bullet journal for your novel:

When you’re writing a novel, there’s a lot to keep in your mind. Plot, characters, timeline — when you start tinkering with these elements, while you’re writing, the temptation is to go back, and write new scenes, and eliminate scenes. The impulse to fix it NOW is almost irresistible, yet resist it you must.

I keep an A5 cahier-style notebook for each novel. Since these notebooks are so slim, they take up little space in my bag. It means that I can outline a scene, or brainstorm, anytime I have a few spare minutes.

Some bullet journal ideas for writing:

• Track your writing goals, ideas, and daily word counts;
• Use Collections for longterm planning of your writing, as well as works in progress;
• Use your future log to set publication dates…

Your journal is endlessly customizable to the way you like to work

There aren’t any rules for bullet journals — use one journal or several, create trackers and Collections or don’t — you can use your journal in any way which makes sense for you.

Heard about the benefits of a bullet journal and aren’t sure whether one will work for you? Try the process. Visit Ryder Carroll’s site, and create a basic bullet journal today.