I love your reasons for journaling. I have been journaling for most of my life. But a strange thing happened recently. I am moving from one country to another and as I have been cleaning clutter, I found myself reading journals going back forty years.. What mostly struck me was how despondent most of the writing was. It dawned on me that this is not what I wanted my children to find after I'm gone, so, I had a little trashing ceremony and tore out a few pages here and there, so as to have a timeline to aid in memory, and have since then taken a new and different approach to journaling. I also agree with you that there is something very therapeutic, almost meditative about handwriting versus typing. And as yourself, I prefer a good fountain pen and nicely lined pages work best for me. Julia Cameron in her book, the Artists Way, suggests the "morning pages" as a way to get the creative juices flowing. But, as you say, just write write write.. Any time the muse strikes is good. Thank you for your well crafted suggestions, and here's to journaling!