An Introvert’s Starter Pack

Reading journal - (also called a book journal) the perfect way for students and book lovers to keep a record of the insights, observations, and lessons they've learned from reading.

A reading journal can also double as a book log—including a list of books and relevant summaries—to help readers stay on top of their reading goals.

You don't need anything fancy to start a reading journal.

A simple lined, blank, or dotted journal will do just fine.

Just be sure you have the right number of pages to last you all year.

How to Keep a Reading Journal

Consider these reading journal ideas for keeping your own reading journal.

Use a small journal for easy transport. Instead of opting for a larger journal, opt for a small, pocket-size journal that you can easily stash in a pocket or handbag for on-the-go journaling.

Track the types of books you’ve read. Keeping a book tracker or reading log is helpful for keeping track of your reading habits, revealing whether you’re more into mysteries, thrillers, historical non-fiction, or novels.

Stay on top of reading goals. Keeping a reading tracker is all about being able to measure your progress and keep yourself accountable to a reading challenge. Keeping a list of the books you've read will help you gauge whether or not you're on track to beat last year's goals.

Keep notes to write book reviews. When you finish a new book, consider writing a review. Whether it be a short synopsis, star rating, or lengthy critique, writing down notes as you read the book is a helpful method for remembering how it struck you. This is especially helpful for members of a book club who may be pressed later to give their opinion of the book.

Keep a list of your favorite books. Avid readers could benefit from keeping a section of their reading journal devoted to listing their favorite books of the year. This way, at the end of the year, you'll have a convenient way to find more books that you’ll likely be interested in exploring.

Leave room for doodles. Sometimes inspiration is more easily captured by drawings than words. Leave some room in your reading journal for drawing doodles to help you process the reading in a new and unexpected way.

Personalize your journal. When starting a reading journal, add some personal touches to keep your journal interesting to you. Washi tape comes in a wide variety of colors and patterns, and it won't damage your journal pages. Adorning the front of your journal with stickers is a great way to add a little color to your bookshelf.

How to Organize a Reading Bullet Journal

A bullet journal (BUJO) - a journal specifically formatted to suit your unique journaling goals.

As such, it will take some effort on your part to set up your bullet journal spread.

Purchase a blank page or dotted journal, and use markers or pens to organize it to your liking.

Consider organizing it by month and creating checkboxes for each book you wish to read in a particular week.

Create a section at the end of each week to jot down your impressions of the book, leave a review, or assign it a star rating.

Unlike planners, BUJOs are not dependent on the calendar year and can be started at any time.

spock who hasn’t seen jim kirk in almost 100 years.

spock who has resigned himself to never seeing his friends again, either because they’ve disappeared or they’ve died.

spock who attempts to carry on by devoting his life to diplomacy.

spock who attempts to aid the romulan empire and gets transported to another universe, who gets captured by a vengeful romulan mining crew who blames him for their planet’s destruction.

spock who gets stranded on Delta Vega and FORCED TO WATCH HIS PLANET GET DESTROYED. BY HIS INVENTION. a planet that assumedly he believes is his Vulcan. stranded on an ice planet destined to freeze to death. alone.

spock, who, by some sort of strange luck, sees jim kirk again. except it’s not luck, he knows that whenever he is in trouble, james t. kirk will find him. when hope is gone, when the last vestige of optimism dwindles, there he is. “James T. Kirk. How did you find me?” reunited at last . Except it’s not him - it’s not his kirk. His eyes are not warm brown but bright, blinding blue. This jim kirk is missing the softness, the warmth of his jim kirk. This jim kirk is so much younger and somehow that makes it all the more tragic.

spock who has to watch as this younger version of himself and jim kirk navigate onto their own journey, forever in orbit around each other, while he remains, a lost planet drifting through a universe that isn’t even his.

spock who is still alone, now in a universe that is not his universe, in a home that is not his home, rebuilding a Vulcan that is not his Vulcan.

spock, who spent the rest of his life alone, in a world that was his but not quite his, haunted yet comforted by the ghosts in the photo that crossed over with him.

spock who deemed his time aboard the uss enterprise so vital to who he was a person to leave that photo to the spock of this universe- as a reminder, as an prophecy, as a promise.

spock who wakes up in a room, once again, that’s not quite his room. but it feels so familiar at this point- a Vulcan without a home, a ship without a port. A planet without a guiding star.

spock who has resigned himself to this when he feels a weight next to him on his bed.

spock whose vision is filled with softness and smiles and warm brown eyes oh so familiar to him. Hope and happiness replace resigned patience as warm hands grip his tightly.

spock, who watches the sunset with his best friend, his soulmate, his t’hy’la, his captain.

“Instant prose” can come from being forced to write papers of a particular length or being told that a paragraph must always contain exactly five sentences. This habit leads to the opposite of conciseness—wordiness in sentences and redundancy in paragraphs, which can confuse the reader and cloud your ideas.

Write what you mean—nothing more and nothing less.

Trust and respect yourself as a writer enough to not overstate what you mean.

Study sentences in your first draft to see what you can delete without losing meaning.

Read each paragraph aloud. Be sure that all sentences support the topic sentence.

Keep concrete, specific examples. Cut out extra words, empty phrases, weak qualifiers, negative constructions, and unnecessary “to be” verbs.

Also, watch for sentences and clauses beginning with it is, this is, and there are.

EXAMPLE 1

Wordy: The economic situation of Anne Moody was also a crucial factor in the formation of her character.

Concise: Anne Moody’s poverty also helped form her character.

EXAMPLE 2

Wordy: Frequently, a chapter in a book reveals to the reader the main point that the author desires to bring out during the course of the chapter.

Concise: A chapter’s title often reveals its thesis.

WEAK INTENSIFIERS & QUALIFIERS

Sentences are more forceful without them.

Notice how much clearer the following sentences are without the words in brackets:

We found the proposal [quite] feasible.

The remark, though unkind, was [entirely] accurate.

The scene was [extremely] typical.

That behavior is [fairly] unique for such an intelligent animal.

The first line [definitely] establishes that the father had been drinking.

SPECIFIC & CONCRETE Make sure that sentences are specific and concrete in their conclusions instead of raising more questions:

Wordy: In both Orwell’s and Baldwin’s essays, the feeling of white supremacy is very important. (This raises the questions: How is it important? Why?)

Concise: Both Orwell and Baldwin trace the consequences of white supremacy. (This revision states its point conclusively.)

"TO BE" Avoid unnecessary use of “to be” verbs:

Wordy: There are two pine trees which are growing behind this house.

Concise: Two pine trees grow behind this house.

REDUNDANT WORDS/PHRASES

Wordy: Any student could randomly sit anywhere.

Concise: Students could sit anywhere. (If they could sit “anywhere,” seating was clearly “random.”)

NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS TO POSITIVE

Wordy: Housing for married students is not unworthy of consideration.

Concise: Housing for married students is worthy of consideration.

SIMPLIFY

Wordy: This is a quote from Black Elk’s autobiography that discloses his prophetic powers.

Concise: This quote from Black Elk’s autobiography discloses his prophetic powers.

- Usagi Tsukino, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

tos spock is Not Much Better. i think that he feels more clueless around kids than kirk does, but kids also like him more. he doesn't have it in him to be mean to a child ever, so all the awkward kids adore him, and he spends the whole time with them sending desperate looks to other crew members, being like, 'help, i am ill equipped for childcare' and everyone around him is like, 'nooo, you're doing great!!!' while the child has a blast and he is wishing desperately to be Anywhere Else. however, he does refuse care of babies. somehow, he is even worse with babies than jim is.

The lighting under the bridge makes it look like a crescent moon in the water ♡

Yongqing Fang, Guangzhou, China

It takes skill to write an immersive & emotional sex scene. Consider the following tips.

Thank you, Gene L. Coon. I had this impression that his name usually popped up in my favorite episodes. Now I know what could be one of the reasons.

I already knew this about the real theme of Star Trek V, but it's always nice having the writer confirm it.

and we will say "When I was YOUR age, fruits and vegetables came from a supermarket and they were bred to get shipped 1000 miles in a truck and sit on shelves for weeks, and they tasted so sour and watery it was like eating paper compared to these ones. It wasn't even legal in some places to grow your own food"

and they will roll their eyes like yeah yeah just because everything was miserable in the 20s doesn't mean I have to have a smile on my face standing in the hot sun while you listen to that one guy talk about his bees FOREVER

And many other people have been just spitting, foaming at the mouth fucking FURIOUS. How dare I have the audacity to imagine a future where things get better?

Don't I know how BAD things are? Am I not aware of the TERROR and DEVASTATION of climate change and fascism and biodiversity loss? How dare someone be so bold, so callous, as to imagine something other than misery and suicide. How dare someone suggest it will get better. How dare a person propose that there is a future where we will be okay, in the face of so much terror. Hasn't she seen the abyss opening its jaws before us?

Well? What do you think?