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JOURNALING FOR WRITERS AND POETS

 

Writers and poets labor over pages, crafting phrases, sentences and paragraphs from words carefully chosen to convey meaning to readers.   Many actually picture those readers in their minds and consciously address their prose and poetry to imagined people that will be enlightened, entertained, amused or even inspired by the writer’s thoughts.

 

Once in a while, writers should set aside time to write for themselves, to capture bits and pieces in a journal that is meant for their own eyes, not to be shared or published, but to be horded as treasure.   In their private journals, writers may record thoughts and impressions or notes and reminders.  What is jotted down in a writer’s journal can be drawn upon in the future to weave into the fabric of something to be written for their readers, or may serve purposes known only to the one who keeps the journal.

 

There are people who employ the journaling process to sort out the complications of their lives or to cope with loss, deal with psychological difficulties or capture the essences of dreams and direct the creative process or to explore their journey through life.

 

There is no formula for journaling.   Paper and pencil work as well as bound books of blank sheets and expensive fountain pens.  Computer generated pages tend to look crisp and neat, but words entered into a computer may linger forever in the works and come to light when you least expect it.  Whatever your method, take some time to write for yourself.   Set aside at least a half hour of each day for your personal journal.  After a month, go back and review it.  You may surprise yourself!

 

If clever ideas do not spring immediately to mind, consider some of these prompts: 

  • What do you fear?  Is it something a character in your book might share?
  • Did anything you observed during the day make you aware of some universal truth?
  • Consider your goals and plans for your life and your writing.
  • What questions bother you?
  • What drives you?  Can your goals be explored by your fictional characters? 
  • What outrageous thoughts have you been harboring?
  • Stretch your imagination by asking “what if” and considering the possibilities.
  • Write the script for your life.  Create yourself anew through your own words.
  • Discover the limits of your spiritual self.
  • Imagine your life with less material wealth, or more.
  • Describe your own life if you lived unencumbered by family obligations.
  • How can you simplify your life and be more self-sufficient?
  • What makes you different from others?
  • Describe your emotions, the ones you never show to others.
  • Understand what brings you joy.
  • Explore your senses.  Describe how things look, feel, taste, smell and sound.
  • Listen to your inner voice.  Are your heart and mind in conflict?

 

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