The Journal Newsletter
Introduction
Welcome to May! Traditional month of Days, Flowers, Fourths, and Cincos! I hope you’re enjoying it all. =)
There is a new update of The Journal 7 available. Check out “The Journal News” below for the details.
This month’s tip shows you how to customize the “Insert Date” and “Insert Time” commands, and we have a new selection of writing exercises to hone your scribbling skills.
Thank you for choosing The Journal!
The Journal News
The Journal 7 is the current release.
To see if you have the latest version of The Journal:
- Click on the “Help” menu in The Journal.
- Choose “Check for Update of The Journal”.
If you are using The Journal 6 (or an earlier version):
Tips & Tricks
TIP: How to Customize “Insert Date” and “Insert Time”
“Insert Date” (hot-key: Ctrl+D) and “Insert Time” (hot-key: Ctrl+T) can be customized to use any date or time format. Both commands are on the main “Insert” menu, and the “Insert” sub-menu of the right-click context menu in the editor.
To do this:
1. Click on the User menu and choose “User Preferences…”
2. Bring up the “Date/Time” tab.
3. Edit “Insert Date Format” and/or “Insert Time Format”.
Date Formatting Codes
- yyyy – 4 digit year (1996)
- yy – 2 digit year (96)
- mmmm – full month name (August)
- mmm – three-letter abbreviation of month (Aug)
- mm – 2 digit month (08)
- m – 1-2 digit month (8)
- dddd – full day name (Friday)
- ddd – three-letter abbreviation of day (Fri)
- dd – 2 digit day (09)
- d – 1-2 digit day (9)
Time Formatting Codes
- hh – 2 digit hour (02:00)
- h – 1 digit hour (2:00)
- nn – 2 digit minute (2:03)
- n – 1 digit minute (2:3)
- ampm – 12-hour clock, AM/PM (2:00 PM)
- am/pm – 12-hour clock, am/pm (2:00 pm)
- a/p – 12-hour clock, a/p (2:00 p)
Despite their names, the two commands aren’t limited to just inserting the date or the time, respectively. You can have the current 24-hour time appended to your inserted date (“yyyy-mm-dd hh:nn”), or include the date in your inserted am/pm time (“h:nn am/pm mm/d/yyyy”). All of the date and time formatting codes can be used in either command. So you can create two custom timestamps.
Writing Prompts
Free Writing Prompt – Write for 20 minutes using the following as your starter: “Feral Cats”
Journaling Prompt – Do you light a candle? Or do you curse the darkness? I’m not saying either one is the right or correct choice (because sometimes the darkness has it coming, and some candles really stink), but every so often we need to pause and consider how we’re handling life’s little ups and downs. Maybe, with a bit of review, we can do better next time.
Memoir Prompt – Do you own a watch? Do you still wear it? Is your watch a timepiece? Or has it become an accessory? Make a list of the watches you’ve been given or purchased over the years.
Submission Information
If you would like to contribute to the “How I Use The Journal”, “Writing Exercises”, or “Tips & Tricks” sections, or would like to submit an article about journaling, writing, or another The Journal-related topic, we would love to hear from you.
Submissions for the newsletter should be sent to: support@davidrm.com
If you are submitting for a particular section, please indicate which one. Try to limit your submissions to 500-1000 words. Submissions may be edited for length and content.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, please state this in the email. Otherwise your name (but not your email) will be used in the article heading.
As always, if you have any suggestions for, or bug reports about, The Journal, please feel free to email them. Both are always welcome.