I just started my dream journal, well, its more of an introduction but still, ld4all.com/forum/viewtopic.p … iew=newest <— READ IT!
and i was wondering what would be a more effective way of putting your dreams into media, a hand written dream journal, a typed dream journal, or a voice recorder.
I am asking this from the standpoint of not waking yourself up too much (for WBTB etc.), reciprocity with computers (to publish for others) , and ease of use. I would love to hear your opinions and ideas.
What I do is when I first wake up I write down keywords as to what happened in every dream. I go through each dream based on the keywords and replay them in my head as I go back to sleep. When I finally get up for the day, I look at the keywords, remember the dreams, and write down everything in as much detail as I can. When I still had my DJ online, I would then post the dreams as they were in the final, detailed form.
it all depends on the individual. for me, if I were to speak, I would wake up more, PLUS, my dream recall works better with writing. and if you use a computer you’d have to wait for it to start up, or wake up, plus the biggest thing is the light from the screen. what I do is just use a flash light and a notepad/pen. works fine and doesn’t wake me up much. plus I keep one eye closed and squint the other
I like to do it handwritten in a little journal. That way I don’t have to risk waking anyone up by making noise (or sharing the contents of my dream with anyone awake within earshot ). This also lets me sketch maps, symbols, or other visual information that’s important to remember. If I were using the computer, it’d be harder to do that sketching, and I’d feel more pressure to type it up with proper grammar and spelling and everything. Besides, the computer screen is too bright in the middle of the night.
So I just put a little flashlight, my journal, and a pen next to my bed, and when I wake up after a dream, I scribble down a detailed but messy description. (If I just write keywords, I forget too much by the time I get up.) Seems to work quite well.
On a side note…I’m finally getting back into dreams after, like, three years. Started up a new DJ last night, working on my dream recall, doing RCs during the day again, hopefully going to achieve lucidity from time to time…sorry, just had to share!
I’ve tried using a computer as my DJ. The problem with that, though, is that I have to get completely out of bed, go over to my desk, wake up the computer from sleep mode, unlock the screensaver, possibly open a text-editing program if I didn’t remember to do it the night before, and finally start typing. That’s like a full minute of prep time. Plus the screen is really bright. >.>
I’ve also tried using a little tape recorder next to the bed, so that when I wake up I can just reach over, pick it up, and start recording with minimal movement. This would have been great, except that I found I couldn’t always understand myself when I played back my recording. Often I would be too mumbly to be audible, or I’d say things which probably made sense to my brain at 3 AM while half-asleep, but would make no sense later on.
So I’ve settled on a little black bound journal that I really like. I still have to get up and turn on the light, but it’s less movement than the computer, and I can keep the journal by my bed for easy access. I’ve found that I have decent handwriting even when I’m sleepy. (The light’s gotta be on, though. If it’s not, I’ll think I’m writing in a straight line, but then I’ll discover later on that I’ve written up and down the page haphazardly, sometimes writing over other lines. D: )
I’ve found that I can’t just write a list of keywords and go back to sleep, because the list may very well make no sense when I look at it again. On the other hand, if I try to write every little thing down, it can take a while (depending on how much I remember) and my hand gets tired. So I try for a happy medium.
Well I, personally, find that I can type much, much faster then I can write, especially in the morning. That’s about the only upside to using the computer as I have to get up and walk all through the house and blind myself once there. The only problem I really have with writing my dreams is that my while I’ll be writing one part of the dream, I end up forgetting other stuff in the dream, usually around the ending.
I’d have to go with the physical DJ as the best choice as it is convenient and not likely to randomly delete itself. My only problem is not being able to write fast enough in the morning to remember everything. >_<
I write my dreams down in a notebook, but I find it helpful to also lip-say the words. I’m a talkative person, so moving my lips without the sounds helps me to remember.
I forgot to mention one thing about the keywords vs. full descriptions issue. It doesn’t have to be one or the other - you can do both! I’ll often start writing down a dream, realize it was longer than I initially remembered, and write down some keywords above the entry just so I can jog my memory about what else happened in the dream. Once I finish writing the part I’m working on, I refer to the keywords to remember what else happened, and then I write down that part, repeating this for each keyword. This helps me avoid forgetting major chunks while still getting in all the detail. This might help you, Kirbypowered.
my personal opinion, i just type my dreams down when i get back from school since i usually wake up late for school and dont have the time to finish my dream in the car so in school all i keep thinking about is the dream (while paying attention to what is being taught of course) so when i get home i would still kind of have the memory fresh
if however i dont really remember the dream/dreams when im in school, i would write it down in a book or on a piece of paper to copy it later. hope this helps.
). This also lets me sketch maps, symbols, or other visual information that’s important to remember. If I were using the computer, it’d be harder to do that sketching, and I’d feel more pressure to type it up with proper grammar and spelling and everything. Besides, the computer screen is too bright in the middle of the night. 
I’ll often start writing down a dream, realize it was longer than I initially remembered, and write down some keywords above the entry just so I can jog my memory about what else happened in the dream. Once I finish writing the part I’m working on, I refer to the keywords to remember what else happened, and then I write down that part, repeating this for each keyword. This helps me avoid forgetting major chunks while still getting in all the detail. This might help you, Kirbypowered.