Journaling: a useful activity for writers?
For years, I never gave keeping a journal much thought. At various times in my life I tried keeping one, but charting the excruciating minutiae of my life was almost as bad as those year-end letters that many people send or post on the Web. Boring? Yes. Self indulgent? A tad.
My problem was that I was looking at journaling in the wrong way. Like blogging or microblogging, journaling doesn’t have to a record of what you did during the course of your day. And like blogging and microblogging, it can be a useful activity for writers.
How? The way in which I look at journaling now is more as brainstorming than recording my thoughts and feelings. It gives me a chance to let loose and write in an unstructured way. There’s no pressure to produce something publishable. I can try out ideas and techniques — sort of like a crude version of free writing. It’s relaxing and can be fun.
How to do it
Well, what to do your journaling with is more like it. Obviously, there’s no one way to do it. Grab a notebook or a some sheets of scrap paper. Fire up your favourite word processor or text editor. Then, start writing.
Since I do a lot of work away from home, I like to use Web-based applications. They let me easily share information between my laptop and netbook, without having to worry about transferring files around. One Web application that I like to use is designed specifically for journaling. It’s called Penzu. The interface looks like a sheet of lined paper:
Penzu is easy to use, it’s free (although there is a pay version), and you can use it anywhere.
Something may come of it, or nothing may come of it
Either outcome is OK. You might dredge up a memory or an idea for an article or a story. Or you might wind up with a few (or more than a few) sentences and paragraphs that you can expand into or use with something longer. Or, you might not.
I find journaling in this way can be quite effective in providing fodder for personal essays and the like. But it can be hit and miss. Even when it’s a miss, doing this isn’t a waste of time. I find that it clears my brain of any writing-related cruft or chaff. Once all that’s out of the way, I can then focus more of my mental energy on writing things that matter.
Thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment.
Photo credit: ynsle from stock.xchng
Related posts: