Here's a post that I'd really like some comments on. I'm seeking advice from you fellow record-keepers out there.
Keeping a record of life is important to me. So I've kept a private journal for many years. I still write in it now and then if I have something to record that is more private or sacred in nature. But now I also have this blog where I take time to write more polished "pieces" on things I've been pondering, or where I post descriptions of recent events to keep family and friends up to date. And then there's all the physical things like cards and programs and awards that "someday" I hope to put in scrapbooks...not to mention all the photos I've taken that could potentially be put in photo books!
So - journal, blog, scrapbook, photo book. I'm wondering, should I continue to keep all these methods of record-keeping separate and distinct? I like to document and record things - does it matter if the documentation isn't all in one spot? Or is there a way to combine everything in a simple way? Part of me would like to have things kind of combined, but maybe that's not necessary. I like to feel like there's some method to my madness, so as long as I can explain why I have things organized or documented in a certain way I think I'll be able to feel at peace.
So that's where you come in. I'd like your advice on how to combine everything OR how to keep everything logically distinct. What have you done (or seen done) that's worked?
All advice welcome. Ready, go!
I say, keep it up! I've never been very good at journal-keeping. You should definitely keep that going along with your blog. My sister used make her blog into a photobook every year. (I'm not sure if she does that still) It might have just been through blurb or something like that. You could try that to keep things a little simpler.
ReplyDeleteSince, you are a photographer, you can sign up with an account through Miller's (http://www.millerslab.com/) and be able to order higher quality books than blurb or shutterfly (at some incredible prices, too.) -FYI.
It depends on what you're keeping it for. If you want your kids to inherit it all, then you will have to take that into account. If it's just so you can look back and have a good time looking at them later, then whatever you like best is fine. Most likely, there will be a mix of both. There are several ways to do it, all of them valid, but pick and choose what works for you. Some ways go chronological, others by topic. Some are separate, some are combined.
ReplyDeleteThe most important things are accessibility and your reasons for keeping it around. Can you find what you are looking for easily? Could your kids easily identify the most important items without you there to tell them where to look? Remember - you can't keep everything. Even letters from special people - I usually keep a few of the best ones and I don't keep the rest.
My experience as a genealogist is that I've never had a problem with records kept separately. When looking for important information, there's nothing worse than a special collection title called "TCD Howell papers 1830-1880". Unless there is a DETAILED table of contents for each folder, it means rifling through 40 years of receipts to find out that his 1/2 page autobiography is in the next to the last folder, in between totally unimportant papers... oh gah...
My personal taste leans toward keeping things by category, then chronologically. It works pretty good.
I keep a journal on my computer--I print it out and put it in a binder every fifty pages or so--and I copy and paste things from my journal onto my blog when they are appropriate. If I want to post something on my blog, it always goes in my journal first. Then I have a photo/scrap album that, right now, is a box of stuff because I haven't been super organized in a couple of years, but it is there! Neither the journal or the scrap books are pretty, but that wasn't my goal--I like putting my time into writing and memory-keeping. I don't know if that helps.
ReplyDeleteI do a bit of all of the above. I hang on to things like play programs, ticket stubs, etc. Once I made them into a collage with a poster frame I got at Michaels. That way I could keep adding to it, and I look at it more than I would if it was in a book on my shelf. That's one thing I don't like about scrapbooks - they're kept out of the way so I never wind up looking at them.
ReplyDelete