Book Journaling for Book Lovers

My goal here at Modern Mrs. Darcy is to help you get more out of your reading life—and the rest of your life, because around here, we believe one facilitates the other. That core belief drives the content here on the blog (including oodles of book lists), my weekly podcast dedicated to literary matchmaking, the books I write, and our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club.

In that spirit, I’ve created a new class to help you get more out of your (reading) life: Book Journaling for Book Lovers.

I encourage everyone who wants to get more out of their reading life to track what they read—to keep some kind of book journal. I don’t care what system you use, as long as you use one, but I can tell you this: learning how to use my own personal journal as a book lover is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my reading life.

If you’ve taken my 1 Hour to a Better #Bookstagram class, think of this new class as the analog version. In it, I take a very accessible tool (this time, a simple journal) and show you why and how to put it to work for your reading life.

This is an updated, more book-specific version of a class I first taught in January 2017.

Here’s what we cover:

1. Book journaling basics: I’ll explain journaling basics, including the one key that makes any book journal hold together. I’ll also share my own personal history with book journaling, including my past and current methods, with lots of photos.
2. Tools! I’ll share favorite journals, pens, and pencils, and the various extras journalers use to add flair and functionality to their journals.
3. Customization. I’ll show examples of simple and complex book journaling methods, and explore both the basic and over-the-top ways people design and decorate their journals, with an emphasis on the reading life. I’ll also do a deep dive into my current system, and show you how to create your own.
4. Real readers, real journals. I’ll share oodles of examples of how actual readers are using their book journals to organize, inspire, beautify, and maximize their reading lives. We’ll discuss more than a dozen ways to use your book journal to document and enhance your reading life.
5. A practical get-started guide. We won’t send you on your way without specific next steps to put into practice.

Want to join us?

• If you’re an MMD Book Club member, you don’t need to do anything. You can access the class whenever you’d like.
• Want to join the MMD Book Club? Do so right here. You’ll get the class for free, plus access to all Book Club benefits: private forums to discuss any title or bookish concern, monthly book picks to read as a community, monthly book chat, and author visits.
• Want the class, and only the class? Purchase the Book Journaling for Book Lovers class here for $15. If you want to go ahead and stock up on some of the tools we talk about in the class, you can use code BOJO50 to save 50% off the class when you buy the class and a journal, journal kit, or deluxe kit (pictured below).

I hope this class gives you the information you need to get more out of your reading life—and your book journal—in the years to come. Happy journaling, and happy reading!