Today we’re going to explore why journaling makes you a better creative writer. But first of all, what exactly is journaling?
It’s writing down your thoughts and feelings. This could be on paper or on a computer, it doesn’t matter. That’s all there is to it!
Last week I talked about how writing prompts can make you a better writer – you can check out the blog here.
While writing prompts are more structured, journaling is sort of a wild, anything goes sort of thing. With journaling, you can write anything you want, whenever you want, however you want, and no-one has to read what you’ve written.
You can be as weird and as messy as you like. And you can leave things unfinished, and not feel guilty about it!
There’s no deadlines, boundaries or constraints, and no expectations to live up to – it’s just the pure act of writing. You’re an author, playing around in a sandbox of words, just mucking around and having fun.
You’re writing just for the joy of it, and this can come with many creative benefits.
Insects sting, not from malice, but because they want to live. It is the same with critics – they desire our blood, not our pain.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Regular journaling as a writer offers similar benefits to regularly participating in writing prompts.
Such as:
getting into a regular writing habit;
learning to be better organised;
getting more writing confidence;
gaining better writing skills through practice; and
getting ideas and inspiration.
But there are some benefits that journaling can give you that writing prompts can’t. Let’s explore these.
Journaling can give you different ideas
Just like with writing prompts, journaling can give you inspiration and ideas, but with journaling, you get different sorts of ideas.
Your inspiration is your own world of thoughts, fantasies, dreams, experiences, places, and people.
You can carry a notebook around with you all the time and jot down ideas as they come to you.
This ensures that a good idea never gets away, and never gets forgotten.
Had a really interesting dream? Keep your notebook by your bed, and jot it all down.
Met someone intriguing at work that might be a good character for your novel? Make notes of what stands out about them.
You can also write about the day you’ve had, and the people you interacted with. You can write about your opinions, experiences, and ideas on different subjects.
All of these can be a valuable source of material to draw on for future writing projects.
Something that seems inconsequential in your journal now may prove to be invaluable later on.
UGLY WORD OF THE DAY: ACRID. Meaning something that’s unpleasant and sharp in taste or odor. Smoke that burns your nose and throat can be described as acrid smoke. You can also use this word to describe someone’s tone when they’re being nasty.
Journaling can help with writing research
Jot down all of the writing research tasks that have to get done so that you’re on top of it. This frees up mental space, so your mind can stop buzzing with all the stuff you have to do.
Use journaling to reflect on how you can improve
Use journaling to reflect on how you can be a better writer, and put your insights into practice. For example, if you think you need to improve on your dialogue, listen to public conversations and practice writing versions of them.
If you need to broaden your vocabulary and try more fresh words, get the thesaurus out and start writing passages with your new word of the day included in that passage.
If you need to improve your description skills, regularly write descriptive passages and mix them up for variety.
For example, one day you can describe your bedroom. On another day, you can describe a rainy day at the beach or a day at the office.
Journal what you’ve learned from reading fiction
Reading books, especially good books, makes you a better writer. In fact, I’ve written a whole blog post about this – you can read it here.
If you’ve just read a novel that you’ve really enjoyed, analyse why you liked it.
Why did it work so well? Is there a passage or scene you particularly enjoyed, and why? Were there words or phrases that really resonated with you?
Journal about tips or techniques you’ve learned from this book that you can try in your own writing.
Start writing passages using these tips and techniques, to improve as a writer.
For example, reading the author J.K. Rowling’s books has inspired me to keep a good writerly pace going, and not spend too long on wordy descriptions.
Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature. Music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing, with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
Henry Miller (1891-1980)
So there you go – all the ways that journaling can benefit you as a writer.
I think doing both journaling and writing prompts regularly are great habits for writers to get into.
Regular practice will just make you better and better as a writer, so keep that pen handy and don’t be afraid of trying new things!
Here are some journal exercises to try:
- Write about the day you’ve had, and the people you’ve interacted with.
- Write about the day you’ve had, but this time try using new, fresh words in your passage – words that you rarely or never use. Get a thesaurus out to help you. This will not only stretch you as a writer, but your vocabulary will improve too.
- Try some free writing for five minutes or so. Free writing is just writing what comes to mind, without any editing, stopping, or worrying whether your writing is any good or not.
If you’re interested in more ideas to journal about, try 301 writing ideas creative prompts to inspire by Chartwell Books. This book isn’t a story-writing prompt. Rather, it contains questions about your opinions and experiences on many different subjects.
Happy writing, be good, and have a great week.
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