Craft of Writing: Keeping a Writing Journal

Dear Reader,

I apologize that this post is a day late. My weekend was spent with a migraine and trying to herd my children into cleaning up the disaster that was their room. Writing anything was nearly impossible, even in my daily journal. Looking at a computer screen wasn't exactly my friend either. But, I'm back and here's this week's ramblings.

I believe that I am revisiting a past topic in this week's post. It is something that is dear to me and that is why I bring it up again. I confess, I have been keeping a writing journal since I was sixteen. It hasn't been a daily thing because life happens, but I have been done my best to be consistent in keeping it. I have challenged myself this year to write based off of prompts. So far, I have single page entries based off of said prompts. It is similar to the Morning pages concept from The Artist's Way.

First thing in the morning, after I have finished my daily journal entry (one page in an A5 notebook), I whip out my basic composition notebook and get to the day's prompt. Not everyone has time to keep two journals or do as much writing as I do. But that doesn't mean that keeping a writing journal is prohibitive. A notebook is exceedingly portable. While I was in college, I carried my writing journal and my daily journal with me everywhere. I wrote when I had random moments of free time. That was probably the period where I wrote the most poetry. We're not at the point where someone jotting notes down in a notebook is looked at as strange when we stop for a cup of coffee. Just a few minutes of time spent writing can open up a world of ideas.

There are many different ways to keep a writing journal. One could write strictly poetry in there. One could use it for bullet point outlines of future projects. It could just be single line prompts for later writing sessions. Or a notebook of letters to never send. The goal of a writing journal is simple. To keep you writing.

You don't need to write every day. Maybe the only time you have for it is during your coffee break on a Tuesday afternoon. Weekly or monthly entries still count. Any writing is good writing in your writing journal. Keep the journal private, however, because it gives you greater freedom to write what you think. (Like a haiku about how awful your boss's hair looks may not be the best thing to share with anyone.) Going analog with your writing journal is something I highly recommend. Digital journals and blogs are great but they can be hacked. A notebook is much harder to hack and steal away when you keep it in a secure place. After all, those little locking diaries for kids can make good writing journals and are small enough to stash just about anywhere. I will warn you, however, the locks those little diaries come with are remarkably easy to pop with a screw driver. A tiny luggage lock might be the solution if you need to keep it a little more secure.

Just keep writing. Even if it is one sentence every once in a while.  Four sentences make a paragraph. And approximately five paragraphs makes a page. If you want to write a book, write one page a day and you'll have a good sized novel at the end of the year. Writing is not supposed to be painful or prohibitive. Do what you can with the tools you have. Just keep writing.