A journal is something that a writer must never live without. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a cheapo’ notebook from the local office supply shop. When used, it becomes a priceless treasure.
In more than two decades, I managed to fill piles of notebooks with stories, ideas, clippings, doodles, quotes, drawings, anecdotes, and poems. And, I have been lugging these notebooks from country to country, every time I find myself moving (I’m in my fourth country now). I can throw clothes and shoes, leave stuff toys and gifts, donate expensive ornaments and appliances, but I can never bear to throw or leave any of my writing journals away.
In fact, I still find myself looking through them every now and then to get new ideas for a story or article, to finish a piece I began months or years ago but never had the energy to complete back then, and/or to rehash favourite themes.
What about you? Do you have a journal yet? If not, what’s stopping you from starting one?
Make your journal personal. Give it a title and make it just the way you like it. Some of my favourite journal titles are: “Life’s a Mixed Bag of Nuts”, “Scribbles”, “Sojourns and Seasons”, “New Beginnings”, and “The Crazy World of Me”. Do you have any other ideas for titles?
Play with your journal! You can add stickers, gift tags, magazine clippings, and more. Write with different coloured pens! In fact, why not try writing with different types of pens — glitter pen, gel pen, ballpoint pen, coloured pencils, and markers.
Feel free to doodle, sketch, or draw in your journal. It doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself an artist. These things could help to remind you of your thoughts and ideas of a certain time, place, or person. They can even be starting points of your next nonfiction piece!
So, go ahead and get yourself a journal. Then, begin to write!
Here are some more ideas and prompts on starting your journal:
* If you feel self conscious about starting your journal at the very first page, leave the first three to five pages of your journal blank.
* Put a picture of you in one of the pages and write as many positive adjectives as you can to describe yourself.
* Doodle on one page of your journal. You can put anything — spirals, stars, hearts, etc. Afterwards, look at your doodles. Do you have any favourite doodle? Write about that doodle. How can you identify yourself with that doodle?
Happy journal writing!