  In trying to figure out what to write for a first entry in a new journal I thought about metaphors relating to such ideas as "an empty book waiting to be filled", "a blank page ready to be laden with words," and so forth. Years ago I kept a daily journal -- you know, the good old pen and paper kind. The kind with no "backspace" key, except for the pink rubber kind that came standard on most No. 2 pencils -- I always used a medium point ball pen -- and no "undo" function, aside from being able to just rip the page out of the book -- something that I refused to do.
I figured if I wrote it, then it belongs there so I never erased and as far as I can remember never ripped out a page. When starting a new journal I usually bought a spiral notebook with just about 250 pages in it. I preferred the ones with yellow paper as I usually found them easier on the eyes especially late at night sitting, talking and writing with my friends at Ike's Great American.
I also found the 250-page size easy to handle and carry as it went practically anywhere I did ready to capture the thought of the moment. This digital journal is certainly quite different in so many respects. I cannot doodle in it like I could my old pen and paper journal. I suppose if I must doodle I could do that on a separate piece of paper, scan it then upload it to an entry.
But that certainly takes away from the function and the very art of the doodle I think. It's also somewhat different in that my mood would often affect my handwriting. Even today I can look at an old journal and imagine my mood at the time just by the pressure and size of my writing and even by whether or not I wrote cursive or printed.
I know that the Livejournal allows you to use different typestyles, sizes and weight which is good, but writing with a pen is a much more emotional and organic process than adding an html bold tag to the beginning and ending of a particularly strong word. I accept that as a challenge, however, not as a pitfall. I suppose the biggest difference is that my pen and paper journal existed mostly for myself to read.
Yes, at times I allowed certain people to read bits and pieces for different reasons, but Livejournal, though it has a "private journal" function, is by design and by its very presence on the World Wide Web something meant for the whole world to see. That is not necessarily a bad thing -- it's just a difference between the old way and this way. My journal entries then ranged from random thoughts to childhood anectodes to poems and musings. An entry ranged from a single word if I felt so inclined to pages. I never edited anything in my journal.
Usually I would just start writing until I said everything I felt like saying. I used good grammar. I used bad grammar. I used full sentences with thoughtful transitions and I used fragments. Whatever I thought -- I wrote. If I wrote something that I thought merited revision I would usually copy it as a separate story or essay, but always left the original form intact in my journal.
I will certainly use this journal the same way. And I will try to never edit anything, though the mouse and backspace key are certainly easy to use when I'm so inclined to change a thought. But generally I'll just type what I think and feel. Perhaps I'll even go back to some of my old pen and paper journals and reprint some of my old entries for all the world to enjoy. Hopefully someone out there will find this and start reading along. Maybe I'll make some new friends doing it.
Maybe no one but me will ever lay eyes on what I have to say. But at least I'll say it and I hope that doing so will be as therapeutic and inspiring for me now as it was back in the pen and paper days of the 80s. 
