Q&A a Day: 5-Year Journal Diary – Day to Day Calendar, November 23, 2010

I received this journal as a gift. I've never been interested in journaling BUT this little book is great! Each page asks a question that you can answer with as little as a few words or more if you desire. Love that.

If you are hesitant to buy this journal due to negative reviews about space - please hear me out before skipping this purchase. As someone who has tried to start journaling at least five separate times over the years, and failed to stick with it every time, this is PERFECT! I started back in December of 2015, and I have been pretty good about filling this out every day, or every other day. Putting short and thoughtful answers is really helping me make a habit out of journaling. I can see how some people might be disappointed by how little space there is for each entry, but I love it. I put short and very specific entries in so that I can really compare year over year thoughts, feelings, and events. For example, if it asks "what's the last thing you ate?" I don't just put "questionably old cold spaghetti" I'll include details like "cooked last Saturday when we had XYZ friends over. They announced they are pregnant with their second baby!" (Just an example, since my spaghetti is never questionable)My point is, there is space to include meaningful details. Sure, you cannot fully pour your heart out, but it is meant to be more of a tool for reflection and it gives you a wonderful timeline-view of a 5-year snapshot. Honestly I'm more likely to go back and read this later in life than I would be with a normal journal. It's fun to use that daily space in a meaningful and creative way :)Also, the book is gorgeous and well made. I'll be buying it as a gift for people this year.

In a book I read recently, the author said she liked to ask herself questions and write the answers to them. If you like to write and like to think about diverse topics, you might enjoy the exercise to stretch your mind. It's said that 90% of the thought we have are repetitive. So, to get ourselves out of the repetitive rut, it's good to be asked questions.This Q&A a Day: 5 Year Journal does that. There are 365 questions for you to answer over the next 5 years. It will be fun to look back and see what you are thinking on any day on particular topics. Some questions are profound such as what is your mission? Some questions are light and frothy such as What's the most expensive thing you're wearing now? I sometimes tailor the question if I don't feel like answering the one asked to something similar. For example, instead of what's the most expensive think you're wearing, asked what items of clothes do you hanker for now?The appearance of this journal is attractive--love the gold-tipped pages and lovely cover. Like other reviewers would have LOVED a ribbon to hold your place.I like the small size of this as it's big enough to record 3-5 short sentences per day and fits on my side table with other books--bought it along with The Happiness Project One-Sentence Journal: A Five-Year Record and they're both about the same size. My grandmother kept a 5-year journal. It is fun to look back and see what you were thinking about and doing several years ago in the different chapters of your life.This is a great original gift to give to another for people who like to write, think, be creative and read.

I like it! Honestly, I feel like people are being dramatic when they say it’s “so stiff” and “hard to write in”. I almost didn’t buy it because of those reviews, but I’m on day 12 and I haven’t had any issues. I don’t see it becoming a problem further in, either. I think it’s a really fun little 2 minute break from life. The questions so far have been relatively thought provoking and I’m excited to see how I’ll answer them in a year (and in 5). My only qualm is that the book is VERY small. See my pictures, with a regular size hardcover book for comparison. I don’t really get why it’s so tiny and I wish it were a normal sized book so you had more space to write! I do find my self wishing there were like double the space and having to shorten things down a lot more than I’d like. Otherwise, it’s a cool thing and I recommend it! Especially for the price. Also a great gift. Gave one away for Christmas and the recipient seemed excited about it. :)

This is a great LITTLE journal. It measures 4.3 x 1.3 x 6.3 inches. Even though it's small in size, it's really a beautiful journal. The cover is thick and the edges are gilded which makes it a very striking little book. On the inside you'll find one page for every day of the year. Each page has a question at the top and about 4 lines for each of the 5 years. Each lined section starts with 20__ so you can enter the year you are doing. You only get 4 lines for each year to answer, but honestly, I haven't needed more than 4 lines because the questions are pretty basic. For instance, yesterday it asked "What's the last movie you rented?". Really don't need very much room to answer the questions, even the more thought provoking ones.So why didn't I give it 5 stars?Well, two small reasons really. Both reasons have been stated in other reviews. It does not lay flat so it makes it a bit difficult to write neatly. And the other reason being it doesn't have a ribbon to hold your place. I didn't think it would really bother me, but the book really is pretty and a place holding ribbon really would have made it even better! I feel like I'm doing it a disservice to have to rustle through the pages to find my current date and an even bigger disservice to use a sticky note or even a bookmark!Overall I really adore this little journal! It would make a great gift for a loved one or even for yourself!