Journals and Papers

We all set them. Whether it’s for weight loss, achieving financial gain or for personal reasons, we all set out with goals or New Year’s resolutions each and every year. Did you do a lot of journal writing in 2009? Would you like to do more in 2010?

Once way to ‘jump start’ your journal writing in 2010, is to begin an entry by jotting down your goals with regards to your journal writing. Ask yourself questions such as:

• How often do I want to write.
  • Be honest and if you simply don’t have the time to write every day, then don’t plan on it. You may choose to have a journal handy and nearby just in case you are ready to write. Maybe there is that one hour out of the week - perhaps while waiting for a child to finish an activity that you can pull out a journal and write.
• What do I want to write about?
  • Take a few moments to think of some topics that interest you. Maybe you want to write about goals, relationships, emotions, or events. If you make a list at the front of a new journal (dated 2010), when you feel the urge or have the time to write, but can’t think of something to write about, you can check the list you made and choose a topic.
• Where will I write?
  • You may decide to take your journal with you to a favourite coffee shop, or park. If you are the type that wants total privacy, you might like the bedroom, or den. If you have an idea of the places you like to write, then you won’t feel intimidated to pull out a journal and start writing. You may even remember to bring a journal with you, as you predetermined your favourite places to write.
• Do I need a new journal? 
  • Nothing motivates like a new, unopened journal. No, they aren’t meant for saving for ‘good’. If you were lucky enough to receive a journal for Christmas, then this is a good opportunity to crack it open and start your entry. If you are not quite getting that fuzzy feeling with an older journal, then maybe it is time to seek out a new writing journal - hmm - maybe even a leather one.
• Where will I find the resource topics (prompts) to help me get started with a journal entry?
  • This blog entry you’re reading now, gives you a great start to 2010 journal writing! There are also a number of books and resources at the bookstore or library on journal writing. You can use the internet and look for ‘journal writing prompts‘. Prompts are one or two sentences that you can use to open a journal entry. You read the sentence, and then just free write what your brain suggests after reading the prompt. Just like the topics you listed, you can also jot down some prompts specific to your interests to save for a later time when you need something to write about.

By writing the answers to the above topics, you have already created a great start to your 2010 journal writing. When you do pick a time to write, take into account the hours in the day when your mind is fresh and you are feeling creative.

Are you having trouble getting back into the rhythm of your journal writing? I find having during the holiday season, or actually going on holidays is the biggest disruption to my writing whether it be journal writing or fiction writing. It is so hard to get back into the groove and before you know it, a few weeks have gone by.

If you are sitting looking at your journal and wondering what to write, here are a few fun and simple exercises to get your muse out of the holiday spirit and into a creative one:

• 2009’s Weather seems to be starting out with a bang and hitting all areas with some severe stuff. Describe the weather in your area and how if affects your life.
• Free write about someone from your childhood. Free writing is a technique where you picture your subject and start writing. Continue writing with no interruption, no going back to edit and NO censorship as you write. Kinda like writing from the heart.
• Goals are always a hot topic. What are your goals, ambitions, hopes and dreams for 2009?
• Write a Letter to an editor or someone that you may have an issue with. Is there someone you need to forgive this New Year? You don’t have to send it, just leave it in your journal- for your eyes only.
• Writing Prompts are something you can use to jump-start your journal writing. Check out Journal and Paper’s web site for journal prompts

These few exercises should help. If you are writing everyday, congratulations and good for you!

Some people who want to keep a journal, often times have trouble just getting started. Journal prompts are an effective tool when writing. If you’ve just purchased a journal, or been given one as a gift and your favorite pen is lying idle in your hand as you stare at the first blank page, what do you do? The panic starts and your mind cries, “Oh no, what do I write about?”

For starters, don’t write on the first page. Flip the first page over, start on the next flat page. Better yet, leave a few pages for a journal table of contents.

On the first page of the journal, you could just write the date in the center, or add a content title, e.g. ‘My Travel Journal…’, or ‘This Personal Journal is Property of Jane, HANDS OFF’. The first page is now written on and it’s not so intimidating staring at a book and trying to find words to fill it. You are automatically forced to the next page.

Okay, so you’re at the next page, and your brain is still screaming, “What do I write about.” especially if this is a journal class assignment, yikes! Don’t panic. There are Journal Prompts to help you. These are one sentence prompts which allow you to add your own thoughts and ideas onto the ending, which make a great tool when keeping a journal and the mind has no ideas.

An example of journal prompts:

• Night crawls across the horizon, covering my world with darkness. It’s not the only darkness I feel. Sometimes I …
• The jet streaks across the sky leaving a white trail of hope and excitement. Soon I will be landing into …
• Today, as I watch the kids playing in the back yard, I am reminded of …
• Work made for a long day. I wish that one day I could …