Thread: Handwritten vs. typed dream journal?

Handwritten, all the way. It has a much more personal feeling to it.

Ooo, that's pretty nice. Is it easy to color stuff too?

I actually do both. When I awake during the night I sketch notes on my dreams. Once I fully awake I right a draft of my dreams and then I head online and type all that I have dreamed in complete detail. Let's just say my online journal is A LOT more organized then my handwritten one.

I use both. I write it to preserve memory of the dream immediately after I wake up. Typing is more of an organization tool for me, because I otherwise would have notebooks full and I know I would lose them.

I type it up on my iPod touch, straight to DV. That way I don't have to worry about losing the journal or having the entries deleted. Also, I can keep my iPod on right by my bed with my DJ page loaded so I can quickly write it down.

I have the best of both worlds....I write notes down in my paper journal immediately after waking, and then write up the dreams in detail on the computer when I have time. It helps because I can get a lot of stuff I'd normally forget after falling back asleep or going through the day. The paper journal jogs my memory. The downside is, sometimes if I don't put enough detail in the paper journal I'll forget a lot, especially if I don't have the time to type it up in detail for a few days.

I actually find this a problem. Luckily, the 1-2 dreams I remember per night are full of details, but writing it in paper at high speed makes my arm really tired. I also intend to put them in DV's DJ later, but I'm already behind in like 2 weeks of dreams.

@Theskies that seems a great way to include in your DJ. I wish there was a program that was really simple and fast to use to describe something. I normally just use pictures from google, as I think they really help me later recalling the dream (1 month later I can still, thanks to the picture, remember what image I dreamed with), but that kind of tool would be much more accurate, especially if we dream with familiar places

Well I find I can use technology to more accurately convey my ideas. I am able to recall lots of very accurately (not quite eidetically) so even if it does take a longer time to describe things, that's okay, and if I have the time, I will 'photoshop' who or what I saw. Maybe it's not the best for everyone, but it's great for me. I suppose that mine is less typed, and more hybrid.

It may be possible to get (or make) a word processing program/app where you type up your dream and it searches for key terms on google automatically, or translates shorthand into proper text...

Much like what IAmCoder had said, I collect fresh notes immediately after waking up. And later in the day I will handwrite my dream journal entries, or on occasions I will bust out the mechanical type writer.
PEEYAHHH!

But because I have mad recall skills from amazing memory, a selection of words or a single sentence will bring visuals and details of the dream back.

For the OP...
Not sure if this will work, but a good way to possibly build your recall abilities is to periodically recall activities or milestones you have experienced during the day, or a movie you recently seen I guess. Rebuild the movie going backwards from scene to scene.
Just a thought.

Originally Posted by TheSkies

I do mine on the computer.

Interesting.

I do a combination of techniques. I hit the record button on my voice recorder, then start writing and drawing while speaking. Sometimes the recording has the content and the paper has mostly drawings and gibberish. Other times, the paper has the content and the recording is me describing the images and scenery in detail. ...and there are those odd times I push the record button and fall back asleep, only to record a couple hours of snoring.