How to Keep a Writing Journal

Keeping a writing journal can be therapeutic. It can give you the chance to say the things that you would never tell another person, congratulate yourself on an accomplishment or document occurrences for future use. For a beginner, here are a few suggestions on how to start, and continue, a writing journal.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Begin with a book. Go shopping to find the right fit for you. For quick daily notes, use a large daily calendar. If you want to give yourself room to write on some days and leave others untouched, buy a blank book with plenty of pages.

2. Write the dates. If you don't choose a dated book, jot the date and/or time of each entry. The sight of a beginning, and a progression, will leave you with a feeling of accomplishment.

3. Make the time to write. If you are a morning person, carve out a time slot in the morning. Or write before you go to bed. When you have no set time in most days that you can devote to your journaling, keep your journal with you all the time and write when you have time.

4. Jump on the web. If you are more comfortable with tapping out words, instead of putting pen to paper, then keep a journal on your computer. You can either keep a document on your desktop, or send emails to a personal email account.

5. Make it last. The longer you write, the more ideas you can get down. This is helpful for those that are trying to create foundations for writing fiction or essays.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't edit yourself. Journaling is about purging ideas or thoughts that you need to rid yourself of. It is a labor of love that can bring you a new level of creativity or peace of mind.
• Don't stop writing. When you sit down with nothing to write about in mind, just begin. You will find that the act of writing will produce thoughts and ideas.

Resources

• Resources for Journal Writing
• For finding a writing journal

[ubetchya]

on 6/23/2009 A well thought out outline.