Let The Journal Begin...

New Year’s resolutions have always felt doomed, but after a year of frustrations and too few wins, I’m stepping into 2025 with a deeply personal plan: to write my life, one day at a time.

I will write about my other, more expansive, world-dominating “Pinky and The Brain” style plans elsewhere for the year we formally call 2025. You can judge whether it will be a “Paul summer” this year instead of 2024’s “Brat Summer.”

Every Journal Starts With a Single Page

I intend to write a journal this year.

I have never written a journal. I have never written an entire year’s worth of a diary. I am not sure how it will go. But, as I will be the decidedly over-ripe age of 45 by the end of this 'ere month at the start of this year, no person should be on their planet for as long as me without attempting journaling. Not least, someone like me who claims to be a fantastic and prolific poet and writer. Yeah, I put the poet part first when usually I'd put the poet part last. Anyway, I fear I am getting waylaid and distracted.

I had planned to get myself together with a physical notebook/journal before the 1st, but I haven't, so my first entry will be this. When I procure the journal, I shall transcribe it and whatever other day’s entries I have written in my eligible handwriting.

Have you ever thought about documenting your life for a year? Not for anyone else—just for you? That’s what I’m trying, and who knows? Maybe you’ll join me.

Why Journal, Paul?

One of my problems with diaries was that I got bored very quickly. After a three-day streak of "Dear diary, I went to school today, and at least someone called me four-eyes" or "Dear diary, I think Irn Bru is pure dead brilliant," I would stop. Those are not actual entries. However, I am sure you get the point I am trying to make.

After writing consistently almost daily for several years now and given that my poetry and even much of my fictional output includes a heavy dose of Paul, it no longer feels like a solid argument to say, "I wouldn't know what to write!" or “I don’t think I want to share my thoughts and feelings on paper, even with myself!” It’s hard to argue that point when you’ve already shared so much of yourself with a small village of people.

That is why journaling feels more like "me." I envision my journaling as being very loose regarding any rigid format. I will jot down whatever's on my mind and what's happening in my life. There will be doodles and many ideas for writing, poems, stories, lists for life, house, and Paul stuff, and titbits related to that as I soon begin looking for work.

What’s The End Goal?

What is the end goal for this? As is often the case, my brain runs at about 29,000 miles per hour, so when I combine ideas, little thought is given to the end goal unless it is directly related to the concept.

However, the win would be to reach the end of the year and have a journal full of (give or take a day or two here and there) 365 days' worth of Paul's thoughts, feelings, scribblings, etchings, doodlings, mumblings, and inanities.

The question on everyone's pouty lips is, "What will you do with your yearlong 2025 journal?"

I haven't a clue. It depends on how the year goes. If it's interesting enough, though I doubt it, I might self-publish it in 2026. Then, people will be able to experience my year in journal form. Bestseller list, here we come.

As the year progresses, though, and as I fill the journal, bearing my soul on paper, I’m sure it will feed into future poems and stories, thought pieces and satire.

Journaling, in a funny covert way, has always been the skeleton around which my ideas take shape. Even if I have never outright called it journaling. This year, I’m giving myself a richer framework to build on.

So, along with self-reflection and insight into my psyche, I guarantee many usable fiction, poetry, and other pieces will emerge from journaling.

I am submitting this first journal entry into the Vocal challenge.

So that’s something.

What Will I Learn?

Initially, I saw it as a nice excuse to write and try something different. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I realised it might help me better organise my thoughts, formulate plans for my life, and generally relax my mind.

I fully expect that the same issues, particularly mental and personal issues, will make repeated appearances, and I may get bored with the repetitive nature of that. But, with that boredom will come the impetus to sort through those issues.

By December 31st 2025, I hope to be stronger and more confident.

I want to feel like a more rounded Paul, a Paul that meets my vision of who I could be.

How Will I Go About It?

Aside from just getting down to it and doing it, the most crucial part of having a goal is planning or thinking about how you will do it. How will I go about writing this 2025 journal?

It’s simple: I will write daily, as I have done, and keep it open and unfiltered. That sounds simple, but that’s because it is simple—in theory.

The great thing is that I don’t need to worry about people getting to know my innermost and most profound, most terrible thoughts if I don’t want them to. It can sometimes be a roadblock if it is a more public writing goal.

However, anyone who has read anything I’ve written will know I don’t often care too much about people knowing that much about me.

Ultimately, this journal is for me—no audience, no performance, just Paul. Typically, when I write, it is for others' consumption. Even if I don’t write pandering to an audience, the result or goal is to share it with the world, or Vocal at least. My 2025 journal is different, and it thrills me.

I am not going to put restrictions on word counts and what constitutes a journal entry. It can be as short as a word and as long as a five-page essay, as far as I am concerned. It is as much about doing it consistently as it is about what it contains.

Here’s to 2025: the year I stop writing just for the world and start writing for me. Whether it changes my life or just gives me something to laugh at in 2026, I’m ready to find out.

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: I have a few things planned for 2025, but my journal felt big and significant enough to warrant a piece focused on it. As highlighted above, I will delve into my other plans in other entries to this challenge.

Here are some other things I have written and published recently: