It’s been another year of seasonal bullet journaling, and the longer I keep it up, the more questions I get. I answered a ton of journaling system questions a year ago, but since then, I have received even more curiosity from others. No one else I know keeps a seasonal journal, so I’m here to answer any questions you have about my process — especially since I recently added a new addition to my lineup.
Q: Who do you think should try seasonal journaling vs. regular journaling?
I recommend trying seasonal journaling if your life, job, and/or activities tend to revolve around the seasons. Mine does. In addition to being an author, I’m a Copywriting Manager for two apparel brands, and we plan for projects and campaigns seasonally. My activities, goals, and hobbies tend to vary by season depending on how warm it is outside or what holidays are coming up. I personally think in terms of seasons rather than months, which gives me more time to sit with projects. Three months to fill a book might be intimidating to others, but if you write as much as I do and combine your planner with your diary, or even use smaller book inserts, it can fill up pretty quickly.
Q: Do you fill your seasonal book?
I fill about 90% of my seasonal notebooks. I write a lot in them, but always have several pages left over in both the front (bullet journal) and back (diary) section of my notebook. I’m not at all precious about filling every single page. There is no rule that says you have to fill a notebook entirely to move on from it. What’s most important to me is using the notebook as much as I need. Since I use seasonal books, I just move into a new book every three months, no matter how many pages are left over (which are never very many—and certainly not enough to start a new month in).
Q: What is your current favorite spread?
Currently, my weekly dashboard is my favorite spread. This is where I list my habits and tasks for the week, so I spend most of my time there. I fold the second page in half to use as a bookmark, then list my weekly focus and my content calendar on the front, and my Menu (what I’m playing, reading, watching, creating, and trying) on the back. I seriously don’t know what I would do without this spread. It’s one I built piece by piece and months of trying to figure out what works best for me.
Q: How do you use your Paper Republic notebook?
Currently, I’m using my A6 Grand Voyageur as my inbox. Essentially, it replaces my Notes app on my phone. I currently have three inserts inside: a folio that holds stickers and ephemera, a dot-grid book for Notes & thoughts, and a dot-gridnotebook refill for content ideas and drafts. I’m not too precious with them because I don’t intend to archive or looking back on these in the future. They’re just a capture method. Notes get migrated into my bullet journal, commonplace book, or Year Book where they belong. And content ideas/drafts get typed up and turned into final content.
Q: Have you ever considered switching to rings or something like Traveler’s Notebooks (multi inserts) for your seasonal journal?
No—I love a bound book! I’ve been keeping seasonal bullet journals for 3 years now, and I love being able to take one book off my shelf and having everything from the season inside—all my diary entries, tasks, projects, collections, and logs. The trouble with inserts is having to shuffle through a few different little books to find what I’m looking for. I like having everything seasonal in one place.
Q: Where do your other notebooks fit into your seasonal journal?
For those of you who don’t know, my entire notebook ecosystem consists of the following: my seasonal bullet journal & diary, my Year Book, my commonplace book, my Reading Journal, and my Pocket notes. Since I have four separate seasonal notebooks for the year, my Year Book is where I keep an overview of the entire year. In it, I keep yearly logs rather than seasonal ones and track both work and personal events in a single calendar. It’s a high-level overview of my personal and work books, plus a dumping ground for taking mental inventory and monthly reviews.
I update my commonplace book only when I have the time. I update my Reading Journal only after I finish reading a book (which, at this current rate, is about 1-2 books a month). And, again, my Pocket notes is my inboxing system. Together, they all work in harmony. But my main book is my seasonal bullet journal. It is the only one I write in daily.
Once a week, I set aside time I call Archive Hour when I update my Year Book with the week’s events and migrate ideas from my Pocket notes where they belong. It’s so fun and relaxing, and it helps ground me at the end of a week.
Do you have a journaling question I didn’t answer here? Please ask in the comments or send me a DM on Instagram or Threads @meganportorreal. And if you missed Part 1 of this series, read it here.
