Make Your Own Capsule Journal

Capsule journals are my love letter to a joyful, fulfilling journal practice.

They combine the benefits of journaling — seeing and understanding who we are, recognizing what’s important to us, and taking action that makes a difference — with playful moments of papercraft and creative making.

These tiny, handmade treats keep me coming back to journaling, even when I feel like I have nothing new to say, when I’ve been away for a time, and especially when I need a little inspiration and encouragement in the middle of a busy life.

Here are three delightful reasons to give capsule journaling a try:

1. Capsule journals are tiny — in both size and time commitment.

These journals measure 2.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall and use only one sheet of paper printed front and back! They can be made — and journaled — in just minutes.

This is why their name feels perfect to me. Capsule journals explore one idea from beginning to end in the tiniest of packages. And, as you cut, sew, and write, each one becomes its own rewarding, handmade object of self-expression and discovery.

2. Capsule journals put your creative and reflective energies to good use.

When you’re craving a few moments of creative rejuvenation, crafting a capsule journal gives you something to focus on: a tiny book you’ve made with your own two hands and a collection of lighthearted journal prompts to tickle your imagination and inspire your next steps forward.

And, since they’re printables, you can make new capsule journals to write about your days and explore your bright ideas again and again.

3. Each capsule journal becomes part of a growing library of your life story.

As it grows, your collection of tiny volumes tells the story of your days, your experiences, your memories, and the meaningful steps you’re taking toward the things that matter most to you.

If you’d like to try one for yourself, the printable template for my Your Day in Moments capsule journal and step-by-step instructions for putting it together are below! You’ll also find an ever-growing collection of quick and colourful capsule journals in my shop.

Your Day in Moments

This cheerful little journal is all about noticing the meaningful details of your day and the insights you gathered along the way. It ends with an invitation to choose one moment from your day that you want to remember.

Step 1 - Download your capsule journal template

I’ve created two different files depending on which size paper you’re using:

• Your Day in Moments Capsule Journal Template - For Letter-Sized Paper

• Your Day in Moments Capsule Journal Template - For A4 Paper

Step 2 - Printing

Print just the first page of the template. Then, turn your printed page over, put it back into your printer’s paper drawer or feeder, and print page 2 on the other side.

The images below show the front and back of the single-page template.

Step 3 - Gather your other supplies

You’ll need:

• scissors (or a paper trimmer)

• something pointy for poking holes (I use my little red sewing awl)

• a sewing needle

• a 10-12 inch length of thread (I use embroidery floss)

• a pen, pencil, marker, or colourful pencil for journaling!

Step 4 - Check to make sure your pages are aligned

After you’ve printed your template, you’ll notice a blue dot in the upper right-hand corner on the cover side. When you turn your page over, there should also be a blue dot in the upper left corner. If you hold them up to the light, they should be back to back so you know your pages are correctly positioned. (Don’t worry if the dots aren’t perfectly aligned. Mine never are! The dots just make sure your pages are all facing the same direction when you put your journal together.)

Step 5 - Cut out your pages

Using the edge of the cover page and the grey boxes around the remaining pages as guidelines, cut out all four page sections. I like to cut just inside the edges of the cover page and grey outlines.

Step 6 - Fold and place your pages

Fold your page sections in half so the front cover and pages 1, 3, and 5 are on the top half of the fold (as shown below). Then, place the pages inside the cover.

Step 7 - Make three holes for sewing

Use your awl to make three holes in the middle fold of your stacked pages. I start by estimating the centre of the fold and poking the hole there first, then adding one hole below and one above.

Step 8 - Bind your journal

To sew the binding:

1. Holding the journal open in front of you, pass your needle and thread through the front middle hole, leaving a tail you’ll use later to tie a small knot and bow. (Image below, top left).

2. From the back of the journal, pass the needle through the bottom hole to the front of the journal. (Image below, top right).

3. Pass the needle through the top hole to the back of the journal. Ensure your tail is to one side of the long stitch you’ve just made (Image below, bottom left).

4. From the back, pass your needle back through the middle hole, this time coming through the front on the side of your long stitch opposite to the tail (image below, bottom right).

Step 9 - Complete your binding with a bow

Separate your needle from the thread and tie a knot in your thread on top of the long stitch in your journal’s binding. Tie a lovely little bow and snip the ends of the thread. As an extra step to keep the bow from loosening, you can add a tiny dab of glue to the knot.

Your journal is now completely assembled and ready for journaling! I hope you fill it with oodles of observations, reflections, and memorable moments from your days.

Happy journal-making!

P.S. If you’d like to make more capsule journals, visit my printables shop for more tiny templates!

How One Quick Journal Prompt Can Inspire Three Surprising Results

I thought I had today’s And Other Things journal page all figured out.

It was filled with all the things you’d expect, including colourful prompts about things that go together and afternoon treats, and a playful twist in the word search list.

Little did I know that one sneaky prompt held a triple surprise. I can’t wait to tell you all about it — and in a brand new way!

But first, if you’d like to download this page for yourself, you’ll find it right here.*

Okay. Now that you have your page, let’s chat about that sneaky prompt!

I recorded my first ever voice memo on that very subject and sent it out with my newsletter, where I first shared this page.

It's unscripted and off the cuff – a peek at the joy and inspiration that can emerge while discovering new things in your journal.

Click below to listen!

P.S. If you have any difficulty playing the audio file or would prefer to read my message, I've included a transcript of the voice memo below.

P.P.S. If you missed the first three pages in my And Other Things series and would like to try them, you'll find them here, here, and here!

* The pdf file includes two versions of this journal page (colourful and greyscale) and two page sizes (letter and A4). For instructions on printing one or more pages, visit my shop welcome page and scroll to the bottom.

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Voice Memo Transcript

Hi there, it's Christie.

Welcome to my first ever Newsletter Voice Memo!

Today I'm sharing a few thoughts about the newest page in my And Other Things printable journal page series where I'm taking a playful approach to the serious reflective work we do in our journals.

I hope when you see this page for the first time the playful part will jump right out at you. It's super colourful and filled with hand-lettered prompts that explore lots of different ways we can reflect on our days and get to know ourselves better in our journals.

If you'd like to download a copy of this page for yourself, you can! It's available right here in the newsletter. You just need to click the link above the image.

I wanted to chat with you today about one of the prompts on this journal page that really surprised me. And, of course, it wasn't the one that I thought was going to surprise me.

There were two prompts I was super excited about sharing. The first is at the top of the page. It's a new prompt called things that go together and I was excited to share it with you because it's one I haven't used before. I haven't used anything like it before in my other journal pages, so I was really excited to share it in this page.

There's also a word search. There are other word searches in this series, but this one has a bit of a twist. I've mixed up some of the words in the word list, so you'll have to put them back together before you can find the words in the puzzle.

But neither of those two prompts is the one that surprised me!

For a little bit of background: in each of the pages in this series, I've tried to include at least one prompt that reminds us how strong and capable we are, how much we do every day, what our strengths are. I try to do it in a way that's super specific because I think it can be really difficult – for example, if someone asks you, “hey, what are you good at?” – it's hard, on the spot, to come up with an answer. But if someone asks you something very specific about one of your skills, sometimes it's a little bit easier to reflect on the question.

The prompt that surprised me in this page is: When your day is super busy, one thing you're good at.

The prompt looks for you to imagine one of those super busy days where there are a million things happening at once and you're running in all sorts of different directions. And on those days, you know, what are the parts you're really good at?

When I answered this prompt, I came up with two answers. One was calming myself down when I get a little bit flustered during a busy day and the other one was finding perspective, finding perspective in terms of, what are my priorities for the day? What do I really need to get done? And making sure that at least those things get done even if the rest of the day is very difficult to navigate.

I wrote those two answers down in the prompt and finished the rest of the page. Then I sat back to kind of reflect on the page, review it, and think about what my takeaways might be. And when I looked back on this one prompt, it dawned on me that, yes, these are the things that I think that I'm pretty good at in the middle of a busy busy day, but they're also the things I need in the in the middle of a busy day.

When it's super busy, I need to find ways to calm myself down, I need to be calm in order to navigate it well. And I need to know what my priorities are. I need to have a good perspective on what I want to accomplish on that day. That was part of the surprise of this prompt. It turned out that it wasn't just a prompt about what I'm good at. It turned out to be a prompt about what I need as well.

And then when I took another look at it, I realized there's a third aspect to this prompt. It's kind of a how-to. I've kind of given myself, with those two answers, a little bit of a how-to on a busy day – how to make the most, how to get the most out of a busy day. One is to make sure that I'm calm, that I go into that day calmly and continue calmly through it as much as I can and the other is to make sure I have a good perspective on what I want to accomplish.

So, you know, when I started answering this prompt, it was super simple. It was just trying to reflect on the things that I'm good at. But when I saw it on the page, when I sat back and really looked at it, I saw there was so much more to it.

It reminded me what I need so that I can remember that on busy days and it gave me a little bit of a an action list of things that I can do when I'm in the middle of a busy day and find myself flustered or overwhelmed. 

I wanted to share that with you. I'd love for you to journal this page for yourself and see which prompts surprise you. I hope you'll love journaling this page, and I hope you'll let me know how it goes for you!

How Changing One Word Can Make a Huge Difference in Your Journal

Let's talk about the difference a single word can make in your journal.

One changed word or turn of phrase can transform how you see an experience, how you remember it, and, ultimately, what it means to you. (Needless to say, this is what I absolutely adore about journaling!)

With that in mind, I'm experimenting with a new, two-part prompt in today's And Other Things journal page. It begins with one thing about your day, then asks you to change one word or phrase and write your answer again.

Can one word really make a difference?

Let's try it right now!

Here's one thing about my day so far:

This morning, I took my pup for a lovely walk in the cool air.

Okay. Let's change one word.

After reflecting on our meandering journey through the woods, here's my new answer:

This morning, I took my pup for a lovely wander in the cool air.

You know what? This is much more accurate! She's always wandering off the trail and into the brush, following her nose and ears. (Plus, I loved using wander as a noun!)

Now that I think about it, there's one more change I can make that truly describes our experience this morning:

This morning, my pup took me for a lovely wander in the cool air.

This is such a fun way to remember our walk – I mean, our wander! I know it will make me smile when we head out together again. Maybe I'll even have a little more patience for her inevitable detours.

Want to try another one?

I do!

Here's another thing about my day so far:

While I was out and about, I ran into someone I hadn't seen in years, and we had a wonderful chat.

This entry is a little more complicated than the morning walk because it was such a surprise, and it evoked forgotten memories and emotions.

Here's my answer again with a change of phrase:

While I was out and about, I ran into a person I hadn't seen since before Covid, and we had a wonderful chat.

Here's one more change I made after thinking a little more about our chance meeting.

While I was out and about, I ran into a person I hadn't seen since before Covid, and our wonderful chat brought back precious memories and sparked new ideas about future adventures together.

I love how this prompt gave me a second chance to look at two small parts of my day. I pulled out my journal to write more about the unexpected meetup and my feelings around the slow return of some extracurricular activities that used to be a huge part of our lives. In the end, I felt an enormous wave of gratitude for the chance to reconnect!

Overall, it felt like a playful approach to serious work. :)

Now it's your turn!

Here's a peek at today's page, the third in the series, with our “change one word” prompt in blue toward the bottom:

If you'd like to play with this page, click here to download it now.*

And if you're keen to share your thoughts, I'd love to hear them in the comments below! Let me know what you think about the page, or share how changing one word made a difference in your journaling.

P.S. If you missed the first two pages in my And Other Things series and would like to give them a try, you'll find them here and here!

* The pdf file includes two versions of this journal page (colourful and greyscale) and two page sizes (letter and A4). For instructions on printing one or more pages, visit my shop welcome page and scroll to the bottom.

Using Your Journal to Bring Your Days and Intentions into Focus

A few weeks ago, while brainstorming the good stuff of journaling, I jotted down a quick list:

• noticing the rarely noticed

• celebrating the rarely celebrated

• remembering the rarely remembered

• defining the rarely defined

I came across my entry again while writing this note and realized it captures much of my thinking around the title of my new series And Other Things.

What are the Other Things?

They're the sights, sounds, thoughts, and feelings we capture in our journals that we might not have noticed if we weren't paying attention.

They're the little joys – the tiny things that go exactly as planned, the parts we get right and do well, the good stuff happening around us – that are easy to overlook in the rush of a day but wonderful to savour with a few lines in our notebooks.

They're the meaningful details of the moments that matter that are easily lost to time and distraction when they're not documented.

They're in our understanding of the words we use every day – like purpose and friendship and success and love – that we can thoughtfully explore so we know what we mean when we use them.

The Other Things are important parts of our everyday lives, but sometimes they're slightly out of focus or pushed to the sidelines of our attention.

Why journal the Other Things?

Because in your journal, they help to bring your days and your intentions into focus. They complete the picture.

And with the focus your journaling brings, you can make a practice of:

• noticing wonderfully new details in familiar scenes,

• finding joy right there in your everyday life on a regular basis,

• recognizing how much you do every day and how very well you do it,

• remembering the moments filled with love or deep meaning,

• being able to say precisely what you mean exactly when you mean it.

Oodles of aha moments and insights are waiting for you in your journal!

That's what fires me up every time I sit down to write: the surprises, the discoveries, the pure awe in seeing my regular, everyday life in a kaleidoscope of colours and perspectives. That's what I hope to share with you in my journal pages. :)

Today, I'm thrilled to share the second page in the series. It's just bursting with colourful details!

If you'd like to play with this page, click here to download it now.*

And if you're keen to share your thoughts, I'd love to hear them! Let me know what you think about the page, or share one of the colourful details of your day in the comments!

* The pdf file includes two versions of this page (colourful and greyscale) and two page sizes (letter and A4). For instructions on printing one or more pages, visit my shop welcome page and scroll to the bottom.

How to turn colourful prompts and puzzles into meaningful journaling

I like to think of my journal work lately as a playful approach to serious work.

Playfulness in journaling, for me, means colourful layouts, lots of free association in my prompts and writing, and following my curiosity and intuition wherever they lead.

The serious work is what happens along the way, including:

• Knowing ourselves better.

• Thinking, dreaming, and discovering what works and what doesn't.

• Capturing important moments, figuring out what they mean, and taking purposeful action.

• Connecting the good stuff out there to our everyday lives – so we can access it easily and often.

• Seeing challenges and their solutions from new perspectives. (Because if we always reflect the same way, we'll always see the same things.)

• Developing our voices so we can advocate for ourselves, others, and the issues we care about.

I've made three hand-lettered pages so far. (You might notice that they look a little different from my usual printables!)

Each page is filled with prompts and puzzles inspired by meaningful reflective practice. Some sections are quicker than others, but they all count.

I hope they'll show you that there are as many ways to reflect as there are words to reflect with!

I'm sharing the first page with you today and will follow up with the next two in future posts. Before I do, if you're wondering where they might fit in your day, here are a few thoughts.

When to use these pages:

• When you want to journal but need a place to start.

• When you're in a journal rut and want to shake up your practice a little.

• When you need a quick pick-me-up in the midst of it all.

• When you want to play with the words and ideas around you.

• When you want to joyfully connect with the things that matter to you.

How to use them:

• Just print and write. I keep my pages in my favourite binder. When it fills up, I move the older entries to bound folders.

• If printing isn't an option, try typing or writing your reflections onto the page on your tablet or in your PDF reader.

• When you have more to say about a prompt or when it leads to new ideas, you can write on the back of the page or start a new page in your notebook or note-taking app. But don't stop there! Share your ideas, follow up on your discoveries, and, where you can, delight in the serious work of embracing a full life with all its gifts and challenges.

If you'd like to play with this page, click here to download it now.*

Next time, I'll share more of my thinking behind this little project – including its title! Until then, I wish you oodles of colourful inspiration in your journaling!

* The pdf file includes two versions of this page (colourful and greyscale) and two page sizes (letter and A4).

One Simple Journal Prompt, So Many Reasons to Try it For Yourself

A journal prompt can be a lot like Mary Poppins' carpet bag: on first inspection, it seems pretty ordinary, but when you rummage around inside, you can pull out all sorts of things, like hat stands, potted plants, and magic measuring tapes.

Within every journal prompt, even the most ordinary ones, there are untold possibilities! I'd like to take you on a guided tour of one of my all-time favourites and show you all the good stuff you can find inside.

Here's the prompt:

Three things you can do to turn a bad day into a good day.

Let's start with three neat features within the structure of the prompt:

1. A list. Why three things?

• Lists of three are lovely. Not too long, not too short. We can usually come up with three things on most subjects reasonably easily and quickly, which makes for a fun and rewarding journal session.

• And once you have your list, it's a sweet reminder that there's more than one way to turn your day around.

• You've got backups! If your first attempt doesn't work, you have two more ideas already teed up and ready to go.

2. A mid-prompt confidence booster: “… you can do …”

• This is another sweet reminder within the prompt: you can turn your day around.

• Put another way, you can make a difference in your own day.

3. Your vision: turning a bad day into a good day

• What does a good day look like to you? This is your chance to take a moment and picture what you want from your day. Because the more clearly you can envision it, the more likely you are to get there.

And that's just the wording! There's still more to this prompt.

There are several ways to get your thoughts onto the page.

• You can keep it super simple and use one big, meaningful word per item in your list of three. For example, my three words would be "walk, bake, and journal."

• Alternatively, you can use an oodles-of-words approach and fill your journal with lengthy paragraphs describing step-by-step how each of the things on your list can be accomplished.

• Or, you can forego words altogether and doodle or draw your answers onto the page. You can tape in photos or inspiration pics. Anything that illustrates your vision of a good day.

They all count.

And here's why:

• When you commit your ideas to the page, in whichever form you choose, they become an action plan for turning your day around (with backups!). It's right there, in your journal, not just for today, but whenever you need it going forward.

• And it's not just any action plan for any person experiencing a rough patch. It's your plan, based on the things you know work best for you and your vision of a good day. It's tailor-made just for you.

• Your list of three also creates a record of your good-day strategies for this moment in your life. You can repeat this page every so often and see how your answers develop and change over time. You can celebrate all the ways you're getting better and better at turning bad days into good days.

All of this – your list, your vision, your way – comes from one tiny prompt.

Imagine what you can do with a journal full of thoughtful questions and heartfelt responses!

I hope this quick tour inspires you to see your journal as a tool for meaningful action that makes a difference in your days – and your life.

P.S. I first wrote about this fun little prompt in my newsletter. If you’d like more journal inspiration and new printables before they’re available anywhere else, sign up right here!

6 Quick New Prompts to Inspire Your Journaling: Letter Z

At first glance, you might not think the letter z has much to offer in terms of journal inspiration.

After all, Chapter Z in the average dictionary is exceptionally short and mostly filled with words like zoonosis and zygomorphic, which don’t play a huge role in daily conversation.

But that’s the exciting thing about a rewarding journal practice: it often involves seeking out new ideas in unexpected places.

Today, we take on the last letter of the alphabet!

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Here are 6 new journal prompts inspired by the letter z:

1. One awesome thing you do that’s very much inside your comfort zone.

• We all know how important it is to step outside our comfort zones to grow and develop new skills, but there's plenty of good stuff inside our comfort zones too! What’s one thing you do well precisely because it feels practised, second nature, and, yes, comfortable?

2. Two (or more!) things you do when you need to add a little zing to your day.

• This prompt is an action plan in disguise. Think about the things that add excitement to your day – like switching things up, trying something new, or treating yourself to something special -- and add them to the list! Then, when you’re low on zing, you won’t have to look far for ideas that you already know you’ll love.

3. One thing you notice when you zoom in on one lovely thing that’s within your view right now.

• Take a moment to engage your senses. Find a lovely thing within view. What’s one interesting detail about it that you can see, hear, touch, remember, or imagine? Challenge yourself to notice something you haven’t noticed before.

4. One person you admire for their zest for adventure.

• Who is one person you know – or know of – who never says no to a new adventure? Maybe it’s someone who accompanies you on your adventures or someone out in the world who’s always up for a good challenge. Maybe they’re out there doing things you’d like to do or perhaps they simply approach their adventures differently from you. Whose sense of adventure do you admire?

5. One thing you admire about their zestiness.

• This is a quick follow-up to Prompt #4. Let’s explore a little further. How does your person embrace adventure? Is it something you could try too?

6. One simple, yet delightful thing you’ve done a zillion times.

• What’s one little thing you do all the time, but it still makes you smile? Include an extra detail or two and see if it makes you smile writing about it.

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Would you like more alphabet-inspired prompts? I’ve created prompts for each letter of the alphabet. You’ll find them all right here.

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How to journal your letter-z prompts:

Here are a few different ideas for reflecting on these letter-z-inspired prompts:

• Choose one prompt to start with and write your answer in your journal. Be specific and include lots of details. Aha moments are often found in the tiniest details.

• Share your answer to one of the prompts in the comments below. I promise to reply and cheer you on in your journaling!

• Send one (or more!) of these prompts to a friend and compare answers.

• Print my quick and colourful letter-z journal page. It’s part of my alphabet-inspired ebook and includes every single alphabet-inspired prompt.

• Come back to these prompts again and again, to look for patterns and themes and notice what changes over time.

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Looking for more journal inspiration? Join my newsletter to get my free ebook 10 Good Reasons to Journal. It includes 10 journal pages for celebrating your successes, nurturing your voice, sparking your creativity, and more!

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Journaling the Rhythm of the Seasons: A New Collaboration with Jenn Begin

I think it's fair to say, before meeting Jenn Begin, I only ever thought about the seasons from the most fleeting perspective: spring is rainy, summer is hot, fall offers the best walks in the woods, and even though I love a good snowfall, winter always lasts a little too long.

I never wondered what the seasons in my little corner of Southern Ontario could teach me. I never appreciated their guiding energies or recognized I was missing out on a huge opportunity to experience my surroundings in more meaningful ways.

Jenn and me on a walk in the woods.

Over the past two years, Jenn has been sharing a different view of the seasons with me, an Indigenous view, based on her experience and those of her teachers. As a passionate music educator, multifaceted journaler, and creator of gorgeous, one-of-a-kind junk journals, she has patiently imparted her knowledge over long email threads and winding walks through one of the many conservation areas between our two homes.

Our resulting collaboration has been one in which I've taken a step back to listen, learn, and explore. I've loved thinking about how the wind carries me in fall, how I find light during the darkness of winter, and which ideas I can breathe life into in spring.

Today, I'm proud to share a set of four journal pages in which Jenn invites us all to attune ourselves to the rhythms of the seasons.

Jenn writes:

When we journal into the seasons, which signal the everchanging energy of Mother Earth or Ahkikwe (Anishinaabemowin), we become more aware of natural changes and perhaps can begin to connect to those changes in ourselves.

My family is Anishinaabe, Scottish and French. My teachings lead me to shift my life to attune with "all my relations": Nokomis Giizis, Grandmother the Moon and her monthly cycle, Mishimis Giizis, Grandfather Sun and his reliable shining light and Ahkikwe, and her changing seasons. As I became more aware of the changes in Ahkikwe, each season, I started to lean into the energy of that season and see the changes in myself as well.

I hope you can see possibilities of how you can attune your life to grounding and rooting in the spring, blooming in the summer, harvest and gratitude in the fall and then deep rest in the winter.

If you'd like to explore your connection to the seasons, you'll find these new pages right here.

To learn more about Jenn – and see her amazing junk journals! – visit her on Instagram and Linktree.

As always, I'd love to hear from you! In the comments below, let me know: How do you incorporate elements of the seasons into your own routines and practices?

Say Yes to 7 Quick New Prompts to Energize Your Journaling: Letter Y

Saying yes can be the simplest thing in the world.

Did you schedule that appointment? Yes. Is this your hat? Yes. Would you like dessert? An enthusiastic yes!

But sometimes, saying yes is like leaping into the unknown. We can't know what we're saying yes to until we dive in and we can't be sure we have what it takes to follow through with the commitment we've made until long after saying yes.

So, to put yourself out there, say yes to something big, and feel glad to have done so – that's worth journaling about!

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Here are 7 journal prompts, including three big yeses, inspired by the letter y:

1. One huge responsibility you’re glad you said yes to.

• This prompt is bursting with opportunities for deeper reflection.

• After you’ve proudly written about one huge responsibility you’re glad you said yes to, follow up with one way you’re managing your huge responsibility and one huge thing you’ve learned along the way.

2. One complicated challenge you’re glad you said yes to.

• Ditto to the ideas above!

• As follow-ups, think about three important steps you’re taking to overcome this challenge and one thing you’ve learned about yourself along the way.

3. One new idea you’re glad you said yes to.

• Cheering you on as you go out there and try new things!

• For quick follow-ups, what made this new idea appealing to you and what’s one reason you’re glad you said yes?

4. Yummy things.

• Make a list of treats and flavours you love. Everyday things and special things. Are they sweet, spicy, sour, salty, or savoury?

• Add to your list from time to time as you discover new yummy things.

5. One thing about you that’s difficult to understand.

• This prompt is pure curiosity, shining a light on the unknown parts of ourselves.

• What’s one thing you’re still trying to understand about yourself? Alternatively, what’s one thing about yourself you have a hard time explaining to others?

6. One thing about you that’s easy to understand.

• And now an easy one. What’s one thing about you that makes complete sense?

7. One thing that’s going well this year.

• Regardless of what time of year it is, think back from January 1st to this moment right now. What’s one thing that’s working for you?

• This could be the beginning of a lovely little list of good stuff in your world. Add one reason each thing is going well and you’ll have another list of tips and tricks for how to keep the good stuff going!

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Looking for more alphabet-inspired prompts? I’ve created prompts for every letter of the alphabet. All of them! You’ll find them right here.

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How to journal your letter-y prompts:

Here are a few different ideas for reflecting on these letter-y-inspired prompts:

• Choose one prompt to start with and write your answer in your journal. Be specific and include lots of details. Aha moments are often found in the tiniest details.

• Share your answer to one of the prompts in the comments below.

• Send one (or more!) of these prompts to a friend and compare answers.

• Print my quick and colourful letter-y journal page. It’s part of my alphabet-inspired ebook and includes every single alphabet-inspired prompt.

• Come back to these prompts again and again in your journal. Look for patterns and themes in your answers and notice what changes over time.

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Your Best (and Worst) Reading Rules: A Delightful Chat with Stephanie Affinito

How do you make your reading experiences your own?

This is the question Stephanie Affinito and I set out to answer at the outset of our new journal page collaboration. To our surprise, we ended up breaking a few rules along the way!

Stephanie is a literacy educator, author, podcaster, reader, journaler, and notebook keeper. She believes in the power of books and reading to transform lives and she brings the promise of discovery and growth through reading to her podcast, teaching, writing, and community building.

We began our first collaboration conversation with some of the questions we've encountered — and asked of ourselves — around personalizing a practice like reading or journaling: What if I don't do it right? What if I make mistakes? What if I end up doing it differently from everyone else?

We wondered, who makes the rules we read by?

Together, we created two colourful pages dedicated to exploring the rules that encourage us toward the best possible experience and the ones that are standing in the way of rewarding reading. Then, last week, Stephanie invited me to return to her podcast to discuss the final result.

I loved this conversation.

Sharing our rules — like reading one book at a time or reading from beginning to end without skipping ahead — and asking about each other's hows and whys led me to discoveries I'm not sure I would have encountered on my own. It also made me feel so supported in the process of re-thinking long-held ideas and beliefs. I want to have more conversations like this!

If you'd like to explore your reading rules – the ones you make and the ones you might consider breaking, you'll find our new pages right here.* This is a perfect set for sharing. Why not start your own conversation about rules with someone you know and trust!

To learn more about Stephanie and all the ways she can help you grow and enrich your reading life, and your life beyond reading, visit her podcast, website, and Patreon community.

As always, I'd love to hear from you! What's one rule that enriches your reading life? What's one rule that needs some tweaking? You can leave a comment below or reach me through my contact page anytime. Can't wait to chat!

*In order to fit a variety of binders and journals, these pages are offered in four different page sizes: letter, half letter, A4 and A5.