Since December 20, 2001, I have been keepinga personal job-oriented journal using the MacJournal software. I have saved to my journal notebooks ideas, text clippings, pictures, and web addresses. Several published texts were drafted using MacJournal.

MacJournal uses the reverse cronological sorting of entries, which is used in weblogs also. However, I didn't know about blogging then, and I did not use MacJournal for publishing my notebook. (This is possible using HTML export.)

Before using MacJournal, I have been using plain text files, Word, and bound paper notebooks for storing ideas. I think the MacJournal (and weblog) way of archiving information is rather nice. The reverse chronological order tends to emphasize the most current information, but makes it possible to search entries using various search criteria.

What is the difference between a personal journal and a weblog? I'm not quite sure about this. Perhaps it is the difference for writing to your desk drawer vs. writing for a publisher. But here the publishing is a sure thing, although finding readers is far from sure.