If you have a blog, then you don't need me to tell you that you aren't able to write posts about everything that is happening in your life. Some topics are too just personal. And some topics—especially those about people you know—are often off limits. But writing can be great therapy and a way of making sense out of jumbled thoughts and confused emotions. Journaling is a great way to capture your thoughts about taboo topics, but some people don't like to journal by hand, or even in a word processor.
Not long ago, I found a free software program called Advanced Diary and the cool thing is—it sort of looks and feels like a blog. Your entries won't be displayed like they are on a blog, but you can see a calendar in the upper left hand side and you can click on any date in which you've recorded an entry and it'll take you straight to it. You can even record multiple entries in one day if you so choose. It also comes with a spell-checker and the ability to password-protect your entries.
I like to use the program while I'm watching movies on my laptop. I can do a "screen capture" of a scene that prompts a thought I want to explore and then I can drop the picture right into one of the entries. Then I write about the scene below the picture. You can't (legally) do this with movies on a blog, but with your own personal journal, you can. It's a blast to look back at old entries and to see the thoughts that particular scenes provoked within me.
I also like to drop snapshots of family and/or friends into entries as I relive moments I've shared with them. You can probably think of a dozen other things you can do with the program. And sometimes my entries even lead to blogging material. But even if it doesn't, it's still worth the freeing feeling that comes from spilling my guts all over the page.
