Journaling in the Life of a Writer

In addition to the blogopalooza that is The Coffee-Stained Writer, I keep a pen and paper journal IRL.*  I've found it to be an effective tool in my personal life, as well as my writing life.

In fact, I have more than one pen-and-paper journal.

One is for my personal life.  This is the journal that isn't shown to anyone else, and is usually kept out of sight to keep tempting eyes from prying.  In it I keep a record of my life.  I use it to work out situations, vent, worry, meditate, and whatever else comes to mind that I feel I need to share with...well...myself.  By committing these things to paper, in ink, I feel more confident about working out problems and situations.  When I'm angry or frustrated, journaling helps me center myself and calm down to better deal with whatever is causing the anger or frustration.  Personal journaling is a therapeutic practice for me, and there are days it's almost all that gets me through to the next crisis.

The other is for my writing life.  Sometimes I use it to write about how writing is impacting my personal life, but usually, I use it to make character notes, remind myself of writing tasks that need to be done, and keep a record of my writing life through notes and scribblings.  This is the journal I keep in my handbag so when the Muse strikes, I'm ready to jot down whatever scraps of a story come to mind before they go flitting away again.  If I think of someone who might be a good character, or I see a house that would be great for a setting, I make notes to myself so I can refer back to it later and remember what I was thinking.  This journal is usually a mess, and would be difficult for someone else to decipher without knowing my short-hand.  I go through these journals a bit quicker, usually, because I write in it more often than once a day or once every couple of days.  Keeping a writing journal gives me the opportunity to take notes or think through revisions when I'm away from my computer, and not worry about grammar or complete sentences.  I can just take notes.

Journaling is a way for writers to write outside the formality of creating stories/articles/whatever.  It's a place writers don't have to worry about editing or reworking and can just let their thoughts be put to paper.  It's a place to log ideas that may never materialize, bits of dialogue that can be used later, or whatever else you want to remember but for which you don't have an immediate home.

Even if you don't keep a personal journal, I strongly recommend you keep a writing journal.  It gives you a place to keep all your thoughts together, making it much easier to work when you sit down to scribble.  And, for those who are destined for greatness, it gives the scholars something to pore over and study years and years and years from now.  (And if you want scholars to talk about your journals even more, invent a short-hand they have to decipher.)

Happy journaling!

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*IRL=in real life; learn the lingo, n00bs.