JOURNALING FOR WRITERS AND POETS
Writers and poets
labor over pages, crafting phrases, sentences and paragraphs from words carefully chosen to convey meaning to readers. Many actually picture those readers in their minds and consciously address their
prose and poetry to imagined people that will be enlightened, entertained, amused or even inspired by the writer’s thoughts.
Once in a while,
writers should set aside time to write for themselves, to capture bits and pieces in a journal that is meant for their own
eyes, not to be shared or published, but to be horded as treasure. In their
private journals, writers may record thoughts and impressions or notes and reminders.
What is jotted down in a writer’s journal can be drawn upon in the future to weave into the fabric of something
to be written for their readers, or may serve purposes known only to the one who keeps the journal.
There are people
who employ the journaling process to sort out the complications of their lives or to cope with loss, deal with psychological
difficulties or capture the essences of dreams and direct the creative process or to explore their journey through life.
There is no formula
for journaling. Paper and pencil work as well as bound books of blank sheets
and expensive fountain pens. Computer generated pages tend to look crisp and
neat, but words entered into a computer may linger forever in the works and come to light when you least expect it. Whatever your method, take some time to write for yourself. Set aside at least a half hour of each day for your personal journal. After a month, go back and review it. You may surprise yourself!
If clever ideas
do not spring immediately to mind, consider some of these prompts:
- What do you fear? Is it something a character in your book might share?
- Did anything you
observed during the day make you aware of some universal truth?
- Consider your goals
and plans for your life and your writing.
- What questions bother
- What drives you? Can your goals be explored by your fictional characters?
- What outrageous thoughts
have you been harboring?
- Stretch your imagination
by asking “what if” and considering the possibilities.
- Write the script
for your life. Create yourself anew through your own words.
- Discover the limits
of your spiritual self.
- Imagine your life
with less material wealth, or more.
- Describe your own
life if you lived unencumbered by family obligations.
- How can you simplify
your life and be more self-sufficient?
- What makes you different
- Describe your emotions,
the ones you never show to others.
- Understand what brings
- Explore your senses.
Describe how things look, feel, taste, smell and sound.
- Listen to your inner
voice. Are your heart and mind in conflict?