Journaling/Blurb Review

I have been blogging for about six months now and have been reflecting on why I do it. There are a lot of reasons. It has been fun to catch up with family and friends, as well as make some new friends. I am not a fantastic writer, but I do enjoy it. I like taking photos and using them to help chronicle events. I enjoy connecting to other blogs and laughing and crying with others. But when I start to feel overwhelmed with it all, I fall back on the main reason why I started a blog: it is an enjoyable way for me to keep a journal and I believe that keeping a journal is an important thing to do.

My father is a wonderful writer and has published more than a score of books, ranging from religiously doctrinal, to family humor, to a wonderful biographical account of a WWII Kamikaze Pilot. My mother is also a very good writer, and if not dedicated to publishing, she certainly is a great believer in record keeping. Both of my parents have instilled in me an importance of writing for expression and, more importantly, to keep a record. Journaling has been urged in my family for many reasons, not the least of which is because we have constantly been counseled by our church leaders to do so. I would like to share a couple of reason why I believe that journaling is important.

Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of my church, felt very strongly that keeping a journal was something that everybody should do. One thing he said, which I thought was put very beautifully, in a meeting was: “While walking in a rapid stream we cannot tread twice in the same water. Neither can we spend twice the same time. When we pass out of that door, the work of this meeting will be closed to us forever. We shall never spend the time of this evening again. Then should we not keep a record of our work, teachings, and counsel which we give in this meeting? We should.” I like the analogy of our lives being like walking through a rapid stream and that we can never experience the same moment twice.

President Kimball, also reminded us that since Old Testament times, the Lord has always commanded us to be a record keeping people. He said, “Those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives”.

Another leader, Elder L. Edward Brown said, “There is something about journal writing that causes us to meditate, to recommit, and to receive spiritual impressions in the process of such pondering. Frequently, you will have cause to rejoice at how the Lord has been sensitively involved in guiding and watching over you and those you love and care about”.

I have found these things to be true since I began blogging. When I write about my family and the things we are going through, the blessings of my life are brought to light. I have found that I have more confidence in myself and I feel more peace. Of course, the majority of my blog posts are not spiritual in nature, simply the comings and goings of day-to-day life. But that is what a journal is.Today I received my first Blog Book (aka my Journal) in the mail! I must tell you, I was much happier and more excited than I ever imagined I could be! I used blurb.com to do it. I was completely satisfied with the results and am so excited to think of having these books saved for my children to read in the future, as well as for me to reflect back on this period of my life. Many of you have asked about the book being finished and how it turned out. A couple of things that I would suggest:
1. Start your book ASAP. Although downloading the BookSmart program and importing your blog is very easy and is outlined step-by-step, it probably won't look just how you want it immediately. It takes a lot of time, so don't wait! You can keep adding to it.
2. Don't publish your book until you have at least 100 pages. The bigger your book, the more money you will save. What I mean is that three different 50-page books is MUCH more expensive than one 150-page book.
3. Take advantage of printing your photos in the book. There is no price difference between a full-page photo and a b&w typed page. I added some extra photos to my book (you can import any photos you want) and had a fun time using different lay outs to go with each post.

Well, that is all I can think of for now. Let me know if you have questions. I'm sure there is even a lot more cool stuff that you can do to your book than what I did. You can probably import your own backgrounds. I don't know. But they have a lot to choose from and I had a fun time choosing the right background for each post. So, get to it! And if you have already published a blog book and have found some place that you like better than blurb, please let me know! And sorry these photos are blurry but at least they give you an idea of some of the things you can do: