Dear Diary...

I have a journal. I write in it pretty frequently. (Mostly daily.)

I like journaling. It's a place for me to vent and work things out and speculate and brainstorm and jot notes for writing. I've worked out some difficult things through journaling. When I write, I can ramble about whatever I want with no judgment or subject-changing. I can work

I haven't always had a good relationship with my journal, though. In early 2012 I stopped journaling for quite some time. I'd discovered that someone I trusted very much had read my journal, and I couldn't bring myself to write in it after that.

Since then I've gotten back to journaling, and I'm thankful for it. I didn't realize how much, as an individual, I needed to journal until I wasn't doing it anymore.

I hope other writers will understand this--when I wasn't journaling, I was more irritable, held on to frustrations longer, and had more trouble getting started when I was writing for work. I'm the type of person who just needs to write in a journal frequently. It helps me sort through the chaos of my head to be able to move forward successfully in work and in my personal life.

I've talked lots here about the benefits of journaling. I think all writers should keep some kind of journal, whether it be to write ideas or chronicle the writing process or vent or whatever. Journals are a valuable tool for writers.

Now that I'm back to journaling regularly (finally), I want to once again encourage you to keep a journal, even if all you do is scribble story ideas in it occasionally. If nothing else, it serves as a place for you to keep ideas all in one place so they don't get forgotten or ignored.

Do you keep a journal? How do you use it as a tool in your writing career?

The importance of a journal to a writer

I've written about journals before. I've written about personal journals and writing journals, why (and how) I journal, and how it's therapeutic. Journaling is not a new topic in the writing world. But I wanted to take a moment to talk about journaling from a writer's perspective targeting non-writers. Because it is something that can be difficult for non-writers to understand.

I recently had someone close to me read my journal. This person, who I'll call D, is someone I always trusted, and D says the journal fell open, and D read it because of something that caught D's eye. Regardless of whether or not I believe that, the fact remains that D read my personal journal. For me, this was the biggest violation of trust that could ever happen.

My journal is a place that I can write anything I want. I talk about what's going on in my life, vent, seek clarity, write prayers, brainstorm, and just ramble. In my journal, I'm not a reliable narrator. But, as a writer, I need this place. It's sort of like a pinboard, but with words. It doesn't make sense to anyone else except me.

Every writer needs something like this. For me, it's a journal. Other writers use pinboards, notecards, whatever else that works for them. But to have that place to write, brainstorm, scribble nonsense is integral to my writing life (and my life in general). I can't even think of an accurate comparison of my journal to something else in someone else's life. It's just my journal.

Even if I made everything else in my life public, no one else would see my journal. In fact, I plan to write in my will that any journals found in my home when I die should be burned, unread. No one else can really understand the writings in them. It's all scattered thoughts, fragmented brainstorming, and the ramblings of a crazy writer jittery on coffee. And one of the most important things in my life.

Do you journal?

Journal therapy

As a writer, you probably already journal regularly. Your journaling may be in the form of a writing journal, which focuses on your current (and future) projects, or a personal journal, which records important moments in your life. One added benefit to journaling that many people overlook is the "therapy" it can provide.

(Continue reading)

Keeping a personal journal

You already know it's important to keep a writing journal, but you may also find it helpful to keep a personal journal.

The purpose of a writing journal is to keep track of ideas, background information, bits of dialogue, setting, or whatever else that might be useful in your writing.  The purpose of a personal journal, however, is different.  People keep personal journals to remember what's important in their personal lives: relationships, events, thoughts, people, etc.


(Continue reading)

Keeping a prayer journal

I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm a writer.

That means that, often, I think better on paper.  So I keep a writing journal and a personal journal to help me think things out, but I've also started keeping a prayer journal to help think out that aspect of my life.

My prayer journal is in the same book as my personal journal (since many times what I'm writing about in my personal life leads to prayer), and it's both prayer request lists and actual written prayers, as well as helpful verses, quotes, and clippings.  Whatever I find spiritually helpful goes into my journal.

Starting a prayer journal was not a big leap for me because I do keep a personal journal.  And I do still pray aloud or silently without writing the prayers, but sometimes writing prayers helps me really think about what I'm praying and meditate on the issues at hand.

One of the big benefits I've found in keeping a prayer journal is the lists of prayer requests I have.  The physical act of writing prayer requests helps me remember them, and when I get my prayer journal out to pray, the lists are right there in front of me.  It works well for my prayer life.

I recommend that anyone who prays regularly keep a prayer journal.  You may not want to write out prayers in yours, but even if you just have a place to keep your prayer requests, your prayer journal would be a help to your prayer life.  (You could even get a notebook small enough to fit into your Bible bag.)

Do you have a prayer journal?  If so, how do you use it?

Scholars say....

I've kept journals on and off throughout most of my life.  Even when I could only write my name and a few odds and ends, I hid notebooks I found in order to be able to have diaries for myself.

Blogging opened a new world of journaling for me.  Not only did it provide a creative outlet, but holy moly I could share my ideas with others and allow them to react!  Wow!

In addition to blogging, though, I've managed to (somewhat) keep a traditional journal for myself.  For one thing, despite my navel-gazing on this and my other blog, there are things I'd rather not share with the whole world(wide web).  A traditional journal allows me to record those thoughts, ideas, and fears without inviting comments.

Also, I think there's something romantic about writing in a journal.  My current journal is a beautiful leather-bound one I got from my sister, and I love curling up in bed with my journal and favorite black ink roller ball pen to reflect on the day (or week) and how I feel about whatever's important in my life at the time.

I know some people keep journals in order to record their own history for the people who may be interested in it: children, grandchildren, scholars....

I've considered the fact that, someday, someone may come across Grandma NP's journal and wonder what she thought about when she first got married or started her family or moved to Ireland (ha!).  I love history, so I'd love to be able to read an ancestor's journals, to see what they found significant, as well as mundane.

However, when I'm journaling and I think about future generations reading what I write, I get a little self-conscious.  I mean, some of my journal entries are pretty...boring.  Even I only scan them if I decide to reread my journal.  What would my great-great-granddaughter think of me if she read my endless lists and weird ramblings?  Will I be labeled vapid or flakey or obsessive-compulsive?  It's in those moments I find myself thinking about editing what I'm writing to make it more "future-worthy."  Usually I catch myself and go back to writing the way I want, but the thought of what people might say about me based on what I leave behind between the leather covers of my journals.

What would you want said about you if someone picked up your journal and thumbed through it?  Would you consider burning your journals to prevent people from getting them?