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By: CharleeVale
Do you keep a journal?
I don’t mean the normal writer’s journal, full of notes and ideas and bits of dialogue. I mean a ‘dead diary’, I did this, I did that journal. I’ve never been able to. Maybe because spending time writing that doesn’t benefit one of my WIPs seems like a waste of time….
But I’m wondering if there are any of you that do, and how you find the time/motivation?
Deb says
Baby books, blogs, facebook status updates. Done right, those are all chronicles of the hilarity and poignancy found in the mundane.
The Pen and Ink Blog says
Morning pages for 16 years. I did The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and the morning pages that are a part of the course increased my productivity by 50%
Charli Armstrong says
I keep an art journal…
Kathleen @ Kath Ink says
Yes, I keep a journal. I have since the 5th grade. I have never kept it daily. I have found it easiest to put all kinds of thoughts in the same place — cute anecdotes of my children; things I need to process; random attempts at poetry or descriptive writing; boring we did this & that; reflections from a trip. I need to put it all in one place. I tend to write less if I have to categorize before I write.
The journals become reference points for me to find out history for my children's sake or what I was thinking during a pariticular season or capturing the emotions of an event that I can use in my writing.
If it is something I know I don't want anyone else to read — I write it on an unattached piece of paper and destroy it immediately. This helps me to sort it out privately.
I do find that I write less in my journal now that I am blogging. But, I think, I will always keep a pen & ink journal. Not because I have to or because I think I should but simply because I like to.
K. Tuccelli says
I think it's important to keep a journal, not only to chronicle events that are important to you, but also to draw inspiration from when you're stuck. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back in my journal and read something that inspired a story, a bit of dialogue, or a scene.
Having a journal helps me remember things when my memory becomes foggy. I tend to remember almost everything I write or type, word-for-word. It's also fun to see how much you've grown, not just in life, but also in your writing style.
I used to write very faithfully, but find that I don't make as much time for journal-writing anymore. I don't beat myself up over it. If I need my journal, it's there.
Laura Maylene says
I have since I was 8 years old. (Humiliating evidence here.) I have always, always felt this compulsive need to chronicle my life. I'm already glad (if embarrassed) that I have such comprehensive records of my childhood and adolescence.
I still keep a journal today, but I write it in much less frequently. Months might pass before I pick it up. Other times, I feel driven to write in it regularly. As nerdy as it is, journaling is very much a part of who I am.
djmorel.com says
I've been keeping a journal for almost 16 years. It ebbs and flows, some years comes in at brick-sized book length and other years is barely short story length. I love going back and reading what I was struggling with a year ago, two years ago, ten years ago. It helps to recognize patterns and work through obstacles.
As for the time, it's never been an issue. I can jot down a journal entry in 10 minutes. It's just pure stream of conscious, get it out. It also helps clear the pipes, get the right muscles moving before I move over to working on my WIP.
Elisabeth says
In my early teens my journal was a hit-or-miss affair, an entry every few weeks or months, usually when I needed to vent about something. I cringe when re-reading a lot of those entries. 🙂 Last fall I started keeping a journal regularly for the first time and I've actually kept it up. It tends to be mostly about what I'm writing and reading at the moment, but I do muse about everyday things too. I find journaling to be helpful for spells of writer's block – when you feel you have to write something but are stuck so far as plot.
Rebecca Stroud says
I kept mini-journals for over twenty years. Then, after my mom died from Lou Gehrig's disease, I flipped back through them and found more depressing/distressing stuff than good…tore them up, tossed them in the garbage, and that was the end of that.
Britany Clarke says
I always thought keeping a personal journal would get in the way of my writing and was a waste of time. But then I got a journal and realized that it actually helped my writing. I'm not a dedicated journal writer and sometimes I don't write in it for weeks. I mostly use it when my thoughts are screaming so loud that I can't hear my characters speak.
It's like once in a while I need to write about myself and my life instead of my characters.
Devena says
I kept one faithfully for many years growing up… and then kind of felt like I outgrew it… moved houses recently, and came across my diary and… wow, it was an eye-opener… I was neither as brilliant nor as dumb as I remember being:) What I do feel is that writing from an early age about everyday life and inner thoughts helped to stimulate my writing abilities… I don't know if I'd have ended up wanting to write so much if I hadn't had that kind of every day 'touching base' with the written word. Though I no longer keep a diary, as many have said, blogging kind of makes up for it, and well, as you said, Nathan, I try to keep as much time available for writing my stories as I can…
But I still miss putting down my everyday thoughts and little events… and I wonder if I'll regret NOT keeping a diary when I want to remember my world as it is now, in the future:)
Devena says
p.s. oops, not Nathan, it seems, but CharleeVale. sorry:)
Raejean says
I do keep a journal, and I encourage my children to keep one. I record at least five things daily for which I am grateful. It helps me to focus on the good in the world, and it's a therapeutic way to work out problems and feelings. It's interesting that how I feel about past experiences can change so much from then to now.
Bob Norwicke says
I keep one, inspired by Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I have done it on and off for about 15 years; right now it is 'on.' It only takes about 20 minutes a day, and instead of stealing time from a work in process, I find that my journal is a great place to solve problems. It is like having a life coach/analyst that I can visit whenever I wish. I also have a problem with discipline, so the journal helps there as well. And the neat thing is, even if I don't feel like making an entry, I put my pen to the page and 20 minutes later I am always always always glad I did.
Ellen Keim says
I'm obsessive about keeping a journal. I write on the average about a page a day. When my parents died, I was haunted by the fact that there was so much about them I didn't know–and never would. My children will have "me" on paper. (I realize they may not care, but I feel compelled to chronicle my life anyway, just in case.)
jesse says
I kept one when I was younger. The entries were not regular, but I always tried to start them with Dear Mr. Crenshaw.
That always made me laugh.
Serenity Bohon says
Yep. I journaled after eating lunch today, right before I read this post. I basically write about what I want, how hard it is to wait, and WHY I want what I want – the good, noble reasons and the selfish, horrid ones. The motivation partly comes from hoping if I write it out in a journal it won't get vomited on others. Plus, writing it down helps me examine whether my daily time and energy is being spent on the things I'm most passionate about – the things I care enough about to need to journal them. That's the motivation. The time is easy. It doesn't take as long as watching a sitcom and not much longer than reading an article. Plus, I don't feel any pressure to do it every day.
Neurotic Workaholic says
I do keep a journal, because it's the one place where I can vent as much as I want. In a way it helps me to release some of my daily frustrations by writing about them. The thing is that even though I'm usually just recording my dailies (or ranting about them) in my journal, occasionally I've found that I can go back later and find ideas for blog posts and stories.
Sara Murphy says
I keep both kinds of journals. In both cases they are simply ways of remembering things that I want to remember. Life experiences or story ideas, either way I can review the entries later. Sometimes life experiences give me new ideas for my novels. Neither journal is appropriate for using as a blog.
February Grace says
I did- for years. I stopped when I knew it wasn't safe to risk anyone finding my feelings on paper and using them against me (bad marriage #1…)
Now I find that letters written to friends, faithfully logged in Gmail, serve the same purpose. I can look back years and see what was going on and how I felt about it by what I told a few trusted people.
Maybe some day I'll keep one again. But for now, I just have too much to write and too little eyesight- I'd rather share what's going on in my head in those precious letters. Besides, to those, I get replies. I rarely if ever got helpful feedback from myself on my diary entries :~) though I definitely understand the reasons people keep them.
A word of advice though- if you keep them, keep them locked up.
~bru
Elizabeth Lim says
I've kept a journal obsessively since first-grade. No joke–I have several boxes full of them in my closet.
Personally, keeping a diary is a good way for me to wind down the the day and relieve some stress. And I love looking back at the past and having some record of the day.
Rachel says
I write in my journal nearly every night just before bed. It's been part of my bedtime routine for over a decade now, and I find that it adds to my other writing rather than detracting from it.
I use it for many different purposes: recording my daily life, processing when I need to process, recording interesting dreams, and also recording and developing new story ideas (not fully developing them. The journal is just where the first seeds get planted. If the same idea keeps popping up, it's time to harvest what's there and move it to another notebook.)
I find that all of these bleed into each other, so that a mundane experience or a snatch of a half-remembered dream might lead to a story idea.
I've also found that having a record of my daily life has been useful to me in many different ways. I can see how I've grown and changed. (It was almost painful to read how stressed out I was my first year teaching.) I can double-check when I met someone, or where, or other details that get forgotten.
It's also been great to have a detailed record of my personal experiences and responses when writing my novels. I can see how I felt, for example, at the beginning, middle and end of a relationship, rather than looking at the entire thing through the lens of, "this is now over and thank goodness." It makes it easier to write more realistic responses and reactions for my characters.
So no, I don't find it to be a waste of writing time to keep a daily journal. For me, it seems to be the opposite.
Anonymous says
yes i kip a journal cuz i hv a hard tym expressn mixlf verbally 2 otha pple tht i find it easy 2 expres mixlf clearly n mi journal nd otha paperz.
Hannah Jenny says
Yes . . . but not very consistently. I guess I usually write in it a few times a month. I like writing in it and I find it helpful in sorting through my own thoughts/feelings. I have been keeping them since I was about nine and have filled I'm not sure how many notebooks, but most times I am not writing *every* day
Ray Anderson says
Yes. It's short, and I do it the very first thing in the morning. It anchors my day.
J.C. Martin says
I don't keep a journal now, but I did growing up. I think the (near) daily practice did help hone my writing skills a little. I remember stumbling on my old diary from high school and thinking the YA voice was great! Now if only I can recreate it as a near-30-year-old…
Suzanne says
You bet I do and it's where I found my rawest, realest voice. The journals I've kept are so productive they are being turned into a half dozen books titled *Bare Naked at The Reality Dance*. Journal One will be out this summer.
Margaret Reyes Dempsey says
Funny you should ask this question. I just blogged about this topic and got really in-depth comments. I don't think keeping a journal is non-productive. Sometimes it's therapeutic, and what writer doesn't need a bit of therapy, right? 😉
Here's the link if you're interested in reading:
https://margaretreyesdempsey.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/reading-old-journals-yikes/
Margaret Reyes Dempsey says
Oops, looks like my link was truncated. Just click on my name to get to the post.
Kristin Laughtin says
Not since I was 10 and somebody found it and read the dang thing. I decided my thoughts were safer in my head after that, although I do have a few diary-like files buried in my computer from times when I needed the space to vent or explore a thought.
Julie Achterhoff says
I've kept one on and off for many years. The main kind I like is dream journals. You see, I have some pretty unusual dreams and nightmares that are sometimes provocative enough to make me want to write a whole book about. In fact, most of my work comes from those unknown worlds when we're all asleep!
Julie Achterhoff
KSCollier says
Yes, I keep a journal. I don't write daily, but the most important events are in my journals over the years. Journal keeping is an important part of what I would like to pass to my children to know my true feelings in certain doctrine, beliefs, likes and dislikes. Our children (really) knowing who we are is a great legacy to leave behind. I usually use Sunday afternoons to drop a line or two or three or four, or even a few pages. Like writing, how important is it to you?
Mira says
I wish I did!
I always start and then stop. It puts me in touch with my feelings at a deep level, and also clarifies my thinking, and I get scared, so I stop.
The one time I consistently journaled was when I was working on the Artist's Way, and I did the three morning pages religiously for a few months. It was amazing how much of a positive effect that had on me. I was more centered, more balanced, thought about things more clearly, it was wonderful. So, naturally, I stopped doing it. :p
But I hope someday I'll go back to it. For one thing, I think that getting in touch with my feelings at a deep level and thinking more clearly would have a really great impact on my writing. But it would also be good for me and my life!
I hope I do it someday!
Great question, Charlee. Great choice of questions, Nathan thanks.
christinaggaudet says
I too have kept a diary on and off since I was a teen.
My mother has written in one almost every day for as long as I can remember. She always talks about wanting to write a novel, but I think that between writing a diary and her poetry, she doesn't have enough energy left for more writing.
S.D. says
My 'dead diary' is in between the pages of my writing journal. I write half a page to a page, wide-ruled.
My motivation is remembering when things happened (my retrospective sense of time is kaput). It takes about five minutes a night.
The English Teacher says
I wrote a couple of thousand journal pages over 30 years until blogging was invented — and that's so much more fun!
Jil says
I kept a diary for every day of a trip we made across the US many years ago. I didn't know then that I would use it as the background for a novel I am just finishing now. It has been invaluable!
Woodge says
I used to keep a journal that I'd write in several times a week for about a 14-year span. Still have it. It's all saved in my computer since I typed it. And no one reads it but me. It's interesting picking out patterns of behavior… never mind for remembering details of long ago. The span was from age 21 to 33.
vonildawrites says
I will journal about goings-on in my family, or thoughts on a book I've read, but I put them in blog form, or turn them into fiction. If I keep a journal it usually ends up being a bunch of ideas for writing, anyway. I'm not much for the "Ate bacon for breakfast, then went to the park where I saw a pretty cocker spaniel" kind of journals.
Melanie Hooyenga says
I started keeping a journal when I moved to Mexico in 2007. I did my best to write at least once a week so I'd have a chronicle of my time there. I eased off towards the end, but I kept at it.
Now I try to write at least every couple weeks to get the crazies out.
Tahlia says
I started keeping a diary as a short term class assignment in 9th grade when we were reading "Anne Frank". I liked it so much, I tried to keep going, but writing everyday was a bit much, so I ended up writing sporadically. Then I went to a Christian college and we have chapel 3 times a week and I sort of use journaling as a way of staying awake. So for 4 years, that's how I've kept a journal regularly.
Rebecca says
If I had to evacuate with little notice, I'd grab three things: my cat, my laptop, and thirty years worth of journals in two bankers boxes. I journal to work something out (think of it as cheap therapy) and to document events that were really rich. These are different than a blog — too personal for public consumption, and there is something more sensuous about a fountain pen and fine paper in a leather-bound book.
Jasmine Cruz says
I started keeping a diary ever since I was eleven. It felt kind of normal to write in a diary. I'm on my 22nd diary now. It's really interesting to read old diary entries. You can see how foolish you were or something, so old entries can make you laugh. Sometimes past entries can be inspiring. Rereading entries about how you loved this boy so much, and how much it hurts, but now you don't remember him anymore, makes you think that no matter what pain you're going through right now, you'll get over it. I really love writing in my diary. It's like an obsession. I even wrote about it in my blog:
https://jajajasminecruz.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/confessions-of-a-diary-fanatic/
darbyscloset says
Thus far, there are periods where I have gone "journal-less" and then there have been periods where I have done the opposite. Do I ever reference these journals…well uh no, yet once while moving I did find my "diary" from 3rd grade, noteing that "we" had purchased a "colored TV". I have saved that "diary" for this entry of mine just cracks me up ….. and I often try to remember life "before" our colored TV. So I guess my answer to your question is "no" yet I think it is a good idea in order to have as a reference/idea jogger for writing material.
Darby
Callie Kingston says
As I wrote my first novel, I kept a journal to serve as the repository of my daily purge. My fears about writing, the challenges and struggles I experienced throughout the project, and my hopes for the character filled the pages. It was a great way to keep all that from seeping into the novel itself. But my daily life is rather dull to warrant faithful recording of its details in a journal.
renate says
I don´t, but I use my blog as one- kinda- sort of- at least it´s a way of sorting my thoughs and staying on track! Actually, thinking about it, I really feel like blogging is keeping it real for me, making me think about life a little more – and how I spend it! Thanks for sharing by the way- you´ve now gotten yourself a brand new follower all the way from Norway ( see you have like a ton, but still- here you go- another fan!) And oh(!)do say hi too good old cali from me- will you! salute! renate
Sara says
I keep a diary, erratically. I usually write in it when I feel mixed up or overwhelmed, in other words, I partly use it as a therapist. I also always think of what Virginia Woolf said about hers, that it was a good kind of practice, pulling arrows and firing them without hesitation. I do that kind of writing in it too, sometimes, when I'm having a hard time getting started.
Emily Wenstrom says
I keep a journal, but it’s not something I’m really committed to. I use it to get lists out of my head, goals, strong emotions, and personal reflection. But I really only write in it every few weeks. It sits in a drawer near my bed, but I often find that when something has to come out on paper, it has to come out NOW, which means I end up typing it in whatever Word doc I’m in at the moment and deleting it later, scribbling it on the back of a receipt … or occasionally, a list will end up on my hand.
I disagree with the idea that it is “nonproductive” writing, though. I feel more focused and at peace with my mind when I get things out on paper. That alone has a great deal of value. But the more I write (marketing, blogs, journalism, novels, short stories, or even yes, journaling), the more I feel the skills from one area positively impacting my writing in another area. Journalism helps me stay accurate, get to the point. Short stories help me write more persuasive ad copy. And yes, journalism helps me channel and hone my inner eye so I can listen to it better. I’m a strong believer in holistic professional development.
A Ramble in Aphasia says
I maintained a journal on and off over the years but I never stuck to a religious schedule of writing it daily. Last year I discovered Oh! Life, a wonderful online resource that sends you a reminder mail every evening to update your journal. I found it so useful that I’ve even written a full post on it: OhLife, Where art thou?
Nicole says
Is "dead diary" the term for it now?
Learn something new every day!
I don't. I did when I was in junior high and even occasionally in high school (no, by the way, it wasn't all angst….in fact, I don't think there was any angst until college). But college I started an early blog – it was just ramblings on a webpage without any blog formats or anything (Geocities anyone?). Then I discovered blogger.
However, that eventually faded and I've actually been trying to figure out what to do with my non-writing, non-reading blog…mostly because I like the layout. 😀