diff --git a/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py b/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py
index 2a6df460..6121f304 100644
--- a/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py
+++ b/jrnl/EncryptedJournal.py
@@ -40,8 +40,11 @@ class EncryptedJournal(Journal):
         """Opens the journal file defined in the config and parses it into a list of Entries.
         Entries have the form (date, title, body)."""
         filename = filename or self.config["journal"]
-
+        dirname = os.path.dirname(filename)
         if not os.path.exists(filename):
+            if not os.path.isdir(dirname):
+                print(f"[Directory {dirname} created]")
+                os.mkdir(dirname)
             self.create_file(filename)
             self.password = util.create_password(self.name)
             print(
diff --git a/jrnl/Journal.py b/jrnl/Journal.py
index 23fa80a0..45596192 100644
--- a/jrnl/Journal.py
+++ b/jrnl/Journal.py
@@ -74,8 +74,11 @@ class Journal:
         """Opens the journal file defined in the config and parses it into a list of Entries.
         Entries have the form (date, title, body)."""
         filename = filename or self.config["journal"]
-
+        dirname = os.path.dirname(filename)
         if not os.path.exists(filename):
+            if not os.path.isdir(dirname):
+                print(f"[Directory {dirname} created]")
+                os.mkdir(dirname)
             self.create_file(filename)
             print(f"[Journal '{self.name}' created at {filename}]", file=sys.stderr)