DO - write with a black ball point pen. Pencil and colored pens will fade or smudge over time.

DO - always date each entry with Month, Day and Year and sometimes even the time of day.

DO - number the pages.

DO - set aside a block of time either daily or weekly to write like a Sunday afternoon.

DO - keep your journal handy or take loose pieces of paper with you on trips that can be added later.

DON'T - ever, ever think, "I'll never forget this day, this person, this lesson, or talk" . . . 40 or 50 years is a long time and you might not be able to remember your phone number let alone who Bobby was in the third grade.

DO - always use a person's full name at least once. The best thing to do is make a list on the back page of your journal with the full name and a brief reminder description plus nick name used.

DO - write a couple of sentences about a special lesson, talk, or activity to help you remember it.

DO - take a note of medical history, both personal and family. When did you have your tonsils removed? When your sister had her baby .

DO - take a note of family events, vacations, weddings, deaths, special activities.

DO - write about good and bad days. It can be a source of inspiration and comfort for your descendants to see that "Grandma" was human too.

DO - talk about how you feel about what is going on in your life.

DO - tell about the funny or embarrassiing things that happen in your life, running oover the skunk and stinking out the car on a trip, having your skirt tucked into your panty hose at a church dance .

DO - collect and save important papers, poems, etc.

DO - make a record of music you listen to, movies you watch, books you read, and what you think of them.

DO - write a letter to yourself on your birthday examining what you did with yo ur past year and making goals and wishes for the coming year.

DO - take note of the prices of things, how much is a CD, a gallon of milk, stamps, a candy bar, ticket to the movies . .

DO - record typical outings with your family and friends. in 100 years they will think it quaint that you would spend Saturdays walking around the mall with your friends.

DO - be honest about yourself. DONT lie - even if someone reads your journal you will read it later and kick yourself for not telling the truth to yourself and your posterity.

DON'T - treat your journal as some kind of holy thing that you can only put deep thoughts in. This is about your REAL life.

DO - pick up and write each night. If you forget one night, don't give up, just catch up the next night.

DO - Be merciful to others. Don't write gossip or trash about others.

DO - add letters, cards, awards received etc to your journal.

DO - write about deaths, births, marriages, baptisms, and endowments; personal triumphs, failures and struggles and how they are met, personal counsel, promises, and blessings received and the circumstances surrounding them, important events, personal feelings, impressions, current local, national and world events that impress you or influence your life and last but not least simple occurrences in your daily life.