Writer’s Journal—The Creative Playground of the Organized Writer

Many professional writers recommend using a writer’s journal as a tool to encourage a daily writing practice.  Writers who write on a daily basis, even if for just ten minutes a day, tend to be more productive overall.  When people write every day, they don’t spend time sitting at the desk wondering What should I write? 
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Instead, the writer’s journal allows for continuous brainstorming, planning, processing, experimenting, and writing to occur.  There are no rules to a writer’s journal, so people can be as creative as inspired and can jump all around the writing process and across writing styles.  The most important part about the writer’s journal is that it is an outlet for anything and everything creative.  

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​​Establishing a Journal Writing Practice
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If you do not have a writer’s journal, buy yourself a paper journal—yes, paper.  While you are at it, pick up the pens, colored pencils, and other art supplies that you like best.  Personally, I like ball point pens because they are easy for writing, and I like colored art pencils for doodling and drawing.  When I am stuck in thought and not ready to put words on the page, I will oftentimes doodle with colored pencils. 

Using a writer’s journal works well as part of a ritual.  Just as you pour a hot coffee first thing in the morning or you take time to read for a few minutes before starting your work shift, so your writer’s journal should be given its own ritual.  Set aside a specific time of day that you will write.  Ten to fifteen minutes should be enough each day.  I use my writer’s journal first thing in the morning while drinking my coffee.  Every day, I write something different, but the time and place stay the same—first thing at the kitchen table. 
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OK, so I’m sitting at the table, coffee in hand, and I’ve got a paper journal with some fancy pencils.  Now what?  Start writing.  Start drawing.  Start doodling.  Start making lists.  Start filling up those pages with creative stuff.  Create a plan for your upcoming spring garden.  Make a list of the six novels you are dying to write.  Write a journal entry of the politicians who make you insanely irritated.  Pen a letter of appreciation to your hero.  When the words are still brewing in your mind, draw, doodle, color, and fill in the edges of your pages with images.  

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The Benefits of Journal Writing for Writers
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Just as keeping a personal journal is therapeutic for the average person, so the writer’s journal is beneficial for the artist.  Putting words on the page, even if they aren’t related to a story—is an accomplishment.  Writer’s journal become the collection baskets of artistic trinkets—bits of stories, outlines of characters, thoughts for articles, drawings to illuminate the blending of pink and orange, and assemblages of anecdotes.  Any of these could be used later on in a story, book, or artistic piece.

When I was little, I remember my parents saying that we would “burn off our energy” at the park.  We never did of course, because kids at play create energy; they don’t burn it.  The writer’s journal works the same way.  Writers create more creative energy, brainstorm more ideas, and participate more deeply with the creative process; they don’t lose it by engaging with it.  

How is a Writer’s Journal Different from a Personal Journal? 
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The two styles of journal are similar in many ways.  Both can be used on a daily basis with positive effect for the writer.  Both bring out the best in us because we can dump both our low emotions and memories onto the pages to be safely stored, and we can develop our positive, uplifting thoughts to improve our overall moods.

The personal journal is a tool for anyone.  It has no limitations for age, ethnicity, or economic status.  A personal journal requires no special training or background or education to participate.  Anyone can journal for self-care and personal development, and anyone can benefit from it. 

The writer’s journal is a tool for the creative.  It helps the creative person—artist, writer, maker—to collect ideas, practice techniques, try out different thoughts, and shut out the noisy world to spend some time dedicated to one’s creative practice.  It is the place where writers can collect the shells, pencil stubs, marbles, and dried flower petals into a single space. 
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Regardless of what kind of writing you do—personal reflection, short stories, novels, first-person essays, or academic research, the writer’s journal can be a practice that supports your writing process and improves your writing production.  As with anything else, it will have a varied effect on different people, but it can relieve stress, increase creativity, and inspire a state of mindfulness or meditative relaxation. 

Get yourself a paper journal—yes, paper.  Pick up the pens, pencils, or art supplies that you like best, and set a time and place to start your writer’s journal.  

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