The Divergent Journaler

Who I am

Hey! My name is Sarah. I am a mom, wife, and artist. I am also a dedicated journaler. Journaling feeds my soul. I have spent the last few days working on a bio. Here’s what I have decided you probably want to know.

I was born in a tiny town in Oklahoma called Antlers. I do not call it home; it is where I was born. My home is with my husband and daughter, wherever we happen to be at any given time. We travel with my husband’s work as an inspector from refinery to refinery around the United States. Most of our work is on the West Coast, and that makes me happy because the northwestern Washington coastline is my favorite place to be, with southern California coming in second.

My Creative Life

I am a creator through and through. I have three main areas of creativity: digital, day-to-day, and a combination of both. In life, I create journals and travelers’ notebooks, stickers, printables, jewelry, clothing, home decor, and more. Because I love seeing what other people make, I have long been an avid tutorial reader and collector.

Online, I create digital journals, stickers, wallpapers, backgrounds, websites, articles, and more in my digital life. These items are my favorite. It is so rewarding to make something beautiful on the computer and then be able to carry it around with you and use it no matter where you are.Â

That feeling of reward pushed me into creating journals on Amazon. Amazon allowed me to combine my digital art and actual journal-making with ease. At the present time, I have six journal designs available for sale on SarahGanaway.Com.

My Journaling

I began journaling when I was very young, possibly ten or so. I had a dark blue, five-year diary with a little lock on the side. My parents could not have known that gift would be the gift to keep on giving for the rest of my life. When I last looked through it, I was amused to see the bits of information written dutifully in the spaces provided daily. I was not surprised, in the least, to notice that structure left to the wayside part of the way through the diary. I began writing what I wanted, where I wanted. Structure and I have never gotten along overly well.

I journaled regularly until I was in my late 20’s. A guy I was dating read my journal, and that destroyed me for a long while. I could still write in my journal, but not freely. I felt exposed, and my journal was no longer my safe place. Several years passed, and then I met my husband. I rediscovered trust and, by proxy, discovered my safe place in my journal again.

My Journals

At one point, I had more than nine different books at one time.

1. Morning Pages : I do not consider this a journal, and to this day, I keep it separate from my journal. Julia Cameron’s method is writing a stream of consciousness first thing in the morning. Somedays, the writing is in line with regular journaling, but most often, it isn’t.
2. Bullet Journal : I followed Ryder Carrol’s method for a long while before branching off and trying different things. I even tried this digitally for a few years.
3. Reflective/Daily Journal : Old faithful here has always been the main source of my calmness.
4. Travel Journal : A book to keep an active log of our travels that includes each trip from job to job, the location we stayed at, the expenses, etc.
5. Gratitude Journal
6. Manifestation Journal : There are many views on what manifestation is. However, I use it to guide my thoughts. Intentions and affirmations are very powerful.
7. Commonplace Book : A collection of essential things, such as recipes, birthdates, auto maintenance, random stuff I need to keep up with, and much more.
8. Art Journals
   • Mixed Media Art Journal
   • Watercolor Journal
   • Doodle Journal

Keeping so many active journals at once was overwhelming. Each journal had its own ‘rules’ and structure. If I failed to write in one as often as I felt I should, I felt like a failure. On the other hand, if I wrote in them all daily, I felt I had no time to breathe. All of this created more pressure.

My Journey

One by one, I began letting them go. I would pull the parts of them that I liked into one leading journal. Until now, I have just three books. I have ONE journal. The commonplace book and the morning pages are still separate, but only because I need them to be that way. The morning pages process is simple: write a stream of consciousness for three pages. Do not reread or share those writings. Because of this, I keep this writing practice separate.

After all these years of journal explorations, bullet journaling, daily journaling, various art journals, and more, I have figured out precisely what my journal is. It is divergent. I am divergent. I am the divergent journaler.

My Workspace

My workspace changes depending on the time of year. I have a small desk in a cabin at my mom’s place in Antlers, a small desk in our travel trailer, and a table I take outside to work. The one thing that remains the same is the three-tier art cart that travels with me. My cart contains pens, various inks, watercolor, acrylic paints, brushes, tapes, stickers, photo printers, etc. These are the essentials of my everyday creative process.Â

Because much of my work is digital, I can also take my bag and head to the nearest coffee shop. Traveling throughout the years has taught me that it doesn’t matter where I am if I have my laptop and art supplies with me.

DivergentJournaler.Com

This website is here to help you learn about the different journaling methods and, hopefully, inspire you to feel free to adjust and diverge from the norm as you see fit in your journals. I want you to know that you are not alone when you do not feel like the rules apply to your journal. I spent many years believing there were journaling rules to be followed. An art journal was for art, while a planner was for planning.

Now, I understand that is not true. A journal is meant for you. In fact, it is intended to be used exactly as you need it to be at any given moment. It can be neat and clean or messy. Your journal is yours and yours alone. Overall, this website is just a place to learn about journaling. To explore the different methods, try new techniques, and hopefully free yourself from the belief that you should be following the rules ‘or else.’