Pages 1 & 2 from Haley.
Last month we asked you guys a really rude question—we requested access to your personal journal pages. We were quickly overwhelmed not just by the sheer number of contributions we received, but even more, by how BRILLIANT all of them are. Are Rookies the best or what?
Pages 3-5 from Ashlee.
Holly
Josie, Toronto
8 & 9 from Kimberley.
10 & 11 from Tuva, Sweden.
Izumi
Lisa
14-17 from Megan in Purchase, New York.
18-29 from Becca.
30-33 from Ella.
34 & 35 from Daria, Russia.
Işıl, Istanbul
Georgia
38-41 from Alia.
Lauren, College Park, Maryland
Heather
44 & 45 from Kate.
Hannah’s third-grade diary.
47-49 from Leah, Australia.
Jamie, San Francisco
Lauren’s diary from 2009.
52-59 from Becky.
60-63 from Julianne, Brooklyn.
Maia, Bath, UK
65-75 from Rocío.
76 & 77 from Jill.
Rosie
79 & 80 from Sarah.
81-84 from Kathryn, Minnesota.
Madeleine, West Covina, California
Maia
J.
Morgan
89-96 from Claire.
Elizabeth
Christian
Elise, Paris
100-104 from Anna.
105-112 from Margaux.
Jasmine
Alanna, Ottawa, Canada
Jenny
116-126 from Mariella.
Molly, Norfolk, UK
Jenny
Nina
130 & 131 from Bethany.
132-138 from Bronte.
From Cléo in San Francisco, who helpfully transcribed the first few paragraphs of this entry:
Mali had heard the headlining band—Ewert and the two Dragons—open for another band she saw in Switzerland. She really liked them, and they happened to be in S.F. while she was. Pretty big coincidence. She played them for us the night before and told us we should join them.
Juliette, Mom and I had seen the Family Crest open for OK Go at the free Stern Grove festival and liked them a lot. And they were opening for Ewert and the Dragons! Huge coincidence! And I was with Juliette, and she could come! “We should totally go!” “No, we have to go!” “Yes, we have to go.” “We have to go!” “We are going!”
And we went. Bottom of the Hill, at 7. We had just the time to have a bite of pizza and put on tights before heading back out. We arrived before the doors opened, and waited in the cold a while, listening to the bands sound check, before being let in. The carder gave us a look and smiled: “You girls aren’t event close to 21.” She drew a big black Xs in Sharpie on both of our hands. (It was an all-ages show, we just weren’t allowed to drink. And we were with Mom, so…) There I was, there we were, at my first “show,” at a club. And it was so great!!
140-144 from Alice, Melbourne, Australia.
145-147 from Sophie.
Camille
149 & 150 from Emily.
G.N., Australia
152-155 from Maisie, North Carolina.
156 & 157 from Molly.
158-161 from Leah Jean.
162-164 from Lara, Bermuda.
165 & 166 from Katharine.
Anna
Claudia
Frida
Lydia
Maegan, Louisiana
174-179 from Caitlin.
180-182 from Hillary.
183 & 184 from Lila, Melbourne.
185-191 from Caroline’s 1998 journal.
Bene, Australia
193 & 194 from Kerry.
196-205 from Kim, New York.
Hannah, South Wales, UK: “Doodle using watercolour and wax crayons, inspired by Frida Kahlo’s diary.”
Iona, Australia
Kelsey
Carla
Sawa
210-214 from Sophie.
215-217 from Kelsey.
Virginia
219-223 from Kat.
224 & 225 from Hanna-Mae.
226-229 from Alia.
Summer
231-235 from Gita.
236-249 from Sarah, Knoxville, Tennessee.
250-252 from Jessica.
253-255 from Katharine.
Amber
257-264 from Vanessa, in Toronto, through the years. This one is from 1991.
1992
1993
1994
1995
And these last three are from Vanessa’s current journal.
Thanks so much to everyone who sent in your journal pages. We are floored by your talent and creativity and your generosity. A few contributions were too small, or illegible, or of poor image quality, so we couldn’t include them in this gallery. If yours was one of those, we’re so sorry we didn’t have time to hunt down a better image from you. But we’ll have a lot more reader galleries in the future, because damn, you guys are inspiring.
125 Comments
Such a great idea– I love this!
WOW. Okay, I haven’t looked at all of them yet (seeing as there are like A BAZZILLLLION) but wow.
Wowowowowowowowowowowoowowow.
My journal is like super-boring compared to some of these. But I TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE SENT IN ONE OF MY PAGES.
Rookie, you guys should do one of these every month or something.
I agree!! This should be every month! I would definitely submit some of my journal entries :)
…Wow. I feel like that’s all I can really say. I feel like I’m peering into the souls and little intimate pieces of sadness and happiness from all of you. This is was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
This. Is. Perfect.
76. you and i are alike. that sounds like something i would write in my diary.
omg thank you for noticing mine when there are so many other entries, this comment actually just made my day and you are a wonderful soul :)
these are amazing, you should do thi severy month!
UGH this is amazing!!!! I’ve just started a new diary myself, and now I’ve got a lot of inspiration to make it prettier (I always just write texts and nothing else). Anyway, almost all of these pieces are really well-written and the American/English handwriting always looks so cute to me.
Picture 130 (Nina) – I feel exactly the same way, omg!! I’ve written something of that kind last month or so. And I laughed so hard at the MAO/ LMAO doodle.
Right now I’m being torn between the urge to write in my own journal and to keep clicking the images.
Ah! I just saw my name and writing on Rookie!! I’m so glad to be included with all these other gorgeous crafty beautiful entries. Thank you
Cléo
wonderful! if only i’d known about this :-(
Ohh, Artemis Fowl, I see what you did there.
Seriously you guys are so brave for sending all these pages.
I have only written two diary entries in my life and I’m pretty sure I’ll die before letting anyone else read them, haha
I about died when I saw that entry written in Gnommish. One of my friends and I used to write in Tolkein’s Dwarvish, but I still wouldn’t be brave enough to send in the pages.
oh my god i thought i was the only one who recognised it haha!
WOW, omg, rookies are so amazingly talented and creative! I’ve never kept a journal but i’ve been meaning to get one and drawing supplies and you’ve inspired me so much! 2013 will be the year i’ll start drawing and collaging and it’s all because of you, thanks.
41: ha ha.
I like 54. The women are really pretty.
61! Cool.
These are neat and varied. I like some of the handwriting. It’s difficult to look through all of these though because you can’t skip ahead or back.
And @Rosie (78) I’m still waiting for my PSAT scores too! grr
Rosie here! I just got mine back a week ago*sigh of relief*
Hi Maddy! 54 is one of mine, so happy you like it. :) I made it after watching Ondine and was feeling inspired by the movie.
this is so cool, i saw some entries from megan at purchase, ny and i used to go to SUNY purchase. when i read ‘saturday night: fall fest’ my heart sunk. i miss that place!
you should make this a monthly feature! like, your FEELINGS about this month/your FEElINGS in general…this month.
I got really excited when I see my own journal page in here. I am really happy right know. Number 36 is mine.
And I want to thank you all, people. You are such a honest and beautiful people that you share your journals with us. To show a person your journal means you open your heart to them without question. Thank you all. Thanks Rookiemag for being the best website of the world.
WOAH this is so perfect for christmas eve
Aww it’s so great to see inside the minds of such awesome people!
I’m sad none of mine made it though D:
Oh my god i love love love this! I have a personal art journal and it feels so good to see other people’s work as well. It inspires me so much!
wish i sent mine in, i was totally planning too! mine are hilar because i write them write before i sleep, so i’m basically half asleep, this means I can’t get embarrassed about what i write because i’m not really conscious of what i’m doing, but also that i write the most ridic stuff its great
Ashlee, your journal entry is so rad and I am incredibly jealous of your journaling skills! Teach me your ways!
– Morgan
People are so creative oh my god!
Totally gorgeous!
OMG OMG wow I don’t know what to say, I want to cry, this is so beautiful. So much of it is remarkably inspiring and gorgeous and so much of it is relateable. Thank you for doing this Rookie… I absolutely adore it. So beautiful.
so beautiful and inspiring, this would be cool to see again, or something like this on a more regular basis. my favorite thing ever posted.
I agree!
so beautiful
this is beautiful.
♡♡♡
So charming, so perfect!
♡♡♡
So beautiful!
It’s such a great idea and I love seeing all the different forms of expression. Wish I could have sent a page of my own journal.
Kim I hope you have a website or a blog or a book or something because you have THE SKILLZ! Seriously all of these are really good. I wish I submitted something.
AWWWWWWWN
This is super!!!!!
And 18/29 Becca, ur so great!!
This is so amazing!! i wish a page from one of my journals was in there.
Writing and drawing in notebooks and journals is something i love and value.
i love to think about when i’m older and i have all these old notebooks filled with old memories, emotions, dreams and thoughts. i think it’s so important.
Halfway through I decided to stop looking and make my own because I couldn’t handle the amount of inspiration haha, this is perfect x
This is amazinnnng! I wish my pages had made it. I’m especially in love with Becca (18-29), Rocío (65-75), Christian (99), Caitlin (173-180), Lila (184-185) and Kim (196-205), and wondering if any of them have websites or something I can follow. Next time I have some free time I’ll read more texts instead of only looking at the pictures! haha.
I’m glad you liked mine! I have a Tumblr; I literally only started it like 2 weeks ago or something, but I’m trying :) I think the link is – let me know if it’s not working and I’ll try and sort it out (I’m total crap at computer stuff!).
Rocío 65/75 here!. Do you have a blog we can follow? :)
only just saw your comment, but oh my gosh, thank you so much for mentioning mine (I am Caitlin haha!), that made my day!!
I have a blogspot that you can look at if you like :)
there’s also a link through to my flickr.
Thank you soooo much for mentioning mine!! :)
This is awesome and so inspirational!!! I also wish I submitted my journals and drawings. Rookie should do this more often!
Woooow I LOVE ALL OF THEM<3
Happy whatever you celebrate Rookies~
My heart skipped a beat, when I saw 86. I literally thought it was my old diary entry, and that I forgot that I submitted it. I used to have a handwriting identical of Madeleine’s and scribble down similar things in a very similar language. Freaky!
Beautiful work, everyone! You’re all intense and I love it.
Can Rookie do this more often?
These are all beautiful! This has inspired me to start journaling again, and incorporate my newfound love for collage!! Thanks, Rookie!
These are all so amazing!
Holy Shit. These are all infinitely inspiring and hella comforting. (I’m #6 yo.)
These are so incredibly beautiful, I wish I hadn’t missed it!
I wish I’d contributed but a mixture of zomg everyone’s will be better than mine and missing the deadline stopped me :((((( really interesting to look at anyone elses though!
it would be really groool if there was a reader submitting bedroom pictures post because i love looking at other peoples’ bedrooms is so fascinating <3 <3 <3
i second this!!! i love looking at other people’s rooms as well; bedrooms tell a lot about a person. i would also love to submit my room because it is my pride and joy. (:
i…cant even handle the…..the feels???? #6 i’m actually crying KHDSJUFHSU i must do the same,being by myself all the time is hard….I’m homeschooled and being around kids is hard for me now.i rarely even GET the opportunity to be around kids my age.i guess i just have to speak up IDK but i could really relate to that
I’m homeschooled, too, and in the same predicament so YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN YOUR FEELS.
Ahh I just want to give you both giant hugs right now! Btw wrote that a year ago and I actually have made lots of great friends now and life is much happier, so I know it’s hard but realize that like, no matter how sucky the FEELS are now things will get better. Believe me. Man, I wish ROOKIE had some sort of social media thing where it was easier to communicate with all these rad humans…
i’m really glad eveything worked out for you~~!! <3333
I am in love with #43! I want to frame it or something. So beautiful
eeek thank you bby! that means a lot :) i wish i could make you a collage <3
dahudge.tumblr.com
xoxo
Elise quoted my favourite piece of writing ever.
Damn. You guys are some magical human beings.
117! Oh my goodness!
Wow Bronte, your pages are so amazing, I wish I was your friend, haha
awh, thank you! :’) I wish we could be friends too! they’re only pages from my ideas notebook for my A Level Art course; the last one is supposed to be my interpretation of Tracey Emin’s quilts, but it’s on canvas and is based on one of my pages, :)
so many of these are inspiring or haunting or beautiful or all of the above, and it’s things like this that just make me really love people
Wow this is really great and I agree that this should be a regular feature!!
really digging the beautiful jam packed visual/word explosion of Ashlee page 3-5
loving the talented Kim from New York page 196-205 soo good
Marc Jacob Ad spoof made me lol
All the writing is so refreshing to see and reminds me of how very different real physical diary writing is from online
I am Becca page 18-29, thanks for showing my pages Rookie and for the nice comments ^^
this is truly beautiful. it’s all these girls coming together and sharing who they are for each other and it makes me feel so happy and like i’m not alone. thank you so much to rookie and to all these amazing girls.
page 102,
totally amazing!!!!!!!! I feel like this all the time. I do believe in God ( and he is absolutely incredible :) ) and an afterlife, and I think that’s why I get even more frustrated that I am so obsessed with the things of this world, things that I know don’t even really matter to me . . . ugh soo frustrating! I don’t believe I have ever been suicidal, but I often question why I was created, and sometimes I wish I wasn’t .
The best! I love this, why aren’t I this good at journalling?
Ashlee’s, Becca’s, Daria’s (Oh my god your NAME I LOVE YOU LET’S BE FRIENDSSS), Heather’s, Kate’s, Jamie’s– Oh, whatever. They’re all awesome.
This is so personal and universal and so wonderfully wonderful! Please, please do it again!
Thank you for being such an inspiration, Rookie and Rookies! you make me feel good about being a teenage girl!
Xoxo
oh, look, i’m in here! 184 and 185. i thought this was a really great project and i am super impressed with the people who’ve decorated their journals and diaries, they look so good you guys! i’m proud of myself and i’m proud of everyone else too for sharing something so personal. well done girls :)
THIS IS KILLER!
Please please please Rookie, make this one a monthly feature! Please!
I am sad my pages didn’t make it there. Anyways, this is superduper great, and Carla, look, your one’s there! (:
well, this is all perfection.
Yeah!!! I was so excited! And I would love to see some of your pages. Make it monthly rookie!!!!!
This is so amazing! I tried to look through them all, but I only got up to 124 – I will finish trawling through these amazing journals later with a cup of tea. :D By the way, Merry Christmas to everyone!
Number 209 BABY!!!!!!
super wow. this is so super awesome. one of my favourite things i’ve seen on here to date.
i agree that this would make an awesome monthly feature too!
ASDFGHJKLKAJAJDJGJFKSKFJG CAN I JUST BE BEST FRIENDS WITH ALL OF YOU
i really like claire’s (90-97)
posts like these are my favorites because it makes me so happy to see that i’m somehow similar to people with such beautiful minds, even if the only thing that connects us is reading rookie
Uhg I’m back again to say that this may be my favorite feature ever.
THAT’S RIGHT.
The ~feelings~ & INSPIRATION
Ohjikgbwganbab
I need to like * borrow* my dad’s iPad and then go read like ALL OF THESE in my room and journal some, too.
Rookies are the best <3
love this so much! wish I had sent mine in now, rookie should do this every month :)
i love this! this might be my favorite article EVER. diaries are valuable.
These are all so awesome!!!!
I wish mine had gotten in though :(
you guys are all such wonderful artists.
Gwen
Kat, 224
You drew Mousekat/Party Poison/ Gerard from MCR, awesome!
OMG I know right!
Those were amazing. I loved Kim-from-New-York (hey KIM DO YOU HAVE A BLOG please say yes) because that’s my preferred style, but I want to look through again and again and appreciate each and every one of them. Rookie readers are amazing!
I just read that there are “Rookie News Alerts” that pop up once in a while, but It never appears on my computer. Where can I find it?
You don’t see a yellow box on the upper right telling you what next month’s theme is?
Rocio: thank you.
omg so this is totally by far my favorite post, its so cool to see all these little drawings and entry’s of such awesome ppl , my cousin gave me a journal for my bday a couple months back and i’m inspired to write more stuff even drawings of the way that i feel in the moment of feeling that way, gahhh thank u rookie (and submitters of course) :)
wow. that’s incredible. Reading them all and listening to Arcade Fire has been a great end to my day, but i’m really sad i missed out on submitting a page :/ i really hope you do this again sometime, rookie!
@Jessica (251-253) do you have a blog? ‘CAUSE I AM IN AWE OF YOU AND WE HAVE LIKE THE SAME SENSE OF HUMOR.
Was there any reason why some submissions weren’t included? I was rather disappointed not to see mine because I sent it in quite early and the image was at a good resolution.
The submissions that made it were still really great though; I enjoyed this post a lot.
The last page explains why some submissions weren’t included. It’s also possible that your email included a file that was too large to make it here, or that the subject line wasn’t Journal Gallery, or that you sent it somewhere other than , or that it just didn’t get to us for some other mysterious reason.
where did it say we had to mark them ‘journal gallery’? i looked in my outbox, i marked mine with ‘diary submission’ and am confused as to why i did that
I let out the weirdest yelp/cry when i was going through these and saw mine (225-226)! All of these are so amazing and beautiful I feel so privileged to have my scrappy hand writing and Raf Simons crying photo included in these :) You girls are amaze xxxx
195: that’s amazing. Watercolor? It’s beautiful. In another life, we’d be friends.
alovearmy.tumblr.com
Love #37, about vulnerability. Reminds me of this AMAZING TED talk:
this is possibly the best Christmas surprise ever! I can’t believe my pages (133-139) have been published on Rookie, it’s crazy! this is such a beautiful collection though, and it’s lovely to see the work Rookie readers have created, :’) Ashlee’s pages (3-5) are probably my favourite, but honestly they’re all so wonderful!
117- 127 <3 LOVE!
Haha and 191/192 is too cute!
And omg all of them are awesoooome!
So inspiring!
You guys should definitely do this again sometime!
OMG These are so gorgeous X I got this cute new diary for Christmas, and you guys inspired me to be more creative. x
waaat y didn’t I hear about thiiiiiis ;_;
This is absolutely delightful. Thank you to everyone who shared, for letting us in to the art of … well, daily life, I suppose!
wow I’m in shock this is absolutely amazing. reading the secret pages of people’s journals is quite powerful. I relate so much to the confusion of being a teen. the artwork people have done is also stunning! you are all so amazing.
These are SO COOL!!! I am literally going to make a journal right now … or sometime tonight. :)
<3 <3 <3 126! I feel stuck too.
Sarah’s handwriting 237-250 <3
Oh wow, these are all so incredible! I am going to create a post on journal inspiration and use some of these (linking back, of course!). Thanks for the inspiration to everyone who submitted!
<3 Melissa
46 is mine from 3rd grade :)
all of these are so inspiring and beautiful!!! you guys are amazing <3
These were amazing and so inspiring. It’s always a sacred and wondrously intimate thing to read/view something of someone’s that the never intended anyone else to see — not something that you get to experience very often. What a gift this was, Rookie! I would love if this was a monthly thing; I’d totally post pages from my own journal!
wow they’re very pretty, I specially liked the ones from Rocío (65-75) I am from Argentina that’s why I understood the spanish, rocio, si lees esto, de donde sos vos? muy lindo tu diario!
HI-5!!! Gracias, soy argentina también! Vivo en Buenos Aires. Tenés tumblr o algo así para seguirte? :)
These are all so beautiful! I totally agree with everyone saying this should be a regular feature, I’d really love to see more of these (this really just my horrendously un-subtle way of hinting that I want to submit pages from my journal, mainly because I got all the inspiration on how to write it from reading Rookie).
fsagbgsfhdbbbd ergh wish I had the time to be more committed and interesting in my diary. They’re all absolutely gorgeous, but I especially love 59, 83 and 94.
gosh they really are lovely! Now that I have seen them all my favourites are: Izumi (12), Rocío (65-75), Claire (90-97), Caitlin (173-180), Kim (196-205), and Gita (232-236), but seriourly all of them are so so pretty!
Thank you sooooo much for mentioning me (Caitlin), it means so much and has made my day :)
Honestly cannot believe the talent and creativity of everyone. I am so inspired and feel silly that my notebook doodles and narcissistic haircut documentations (81-85) are among such beautiful collages and words.
These are all so lovely! There really has to be another one of these diary/journal things and I’m so sad I missed it! Wow, everyone is super talented or have so much to say and it’s wonderful!
I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS, i wish i’d been more aware and sent one in! this is perfect, everyone seems so lovely and creative
this inspired me to write my own journal! i’m so excited that i just did three pages filled with writing, watercolor, and pictures.
thanks so much!
made me feel so much less alone <3 <3 <3
Number 64, may I ask what your is written on? So pretty! I would love to sent something in next time!
finally finished looking through them all and every single one is beautiful and amazing. i can relate to SO many of these and even though i don’t know any of these girls i feel like i know something about them just from these secret slices of their minds. even the stuff about daily minutiae was very touching. i totally agree that this should be a regular feature
Tavi should’ve participated!:’) i remember her journal post in stylerookie called Hang In There and that inspired me a lot too *_*