no... and never have... though i do sometimes jot down stuff i might want to use later... in my old write-for-money life, i kept such stuff in file folders... but i can't say i ever used much of it, since i next to never had to go looking for ideas...
I started writing in a notebook a few weeks ago. I keep forgetting about it: instead of every day, I have two entries in, but I think it's a good idea and recommend it. What I do is try to write a page about a certain topic. I suppose I'll also use it to write down the beginnings of first drafts or ideas for something. Just writing about stuff brings out many thoughts and ideas that aren't obvious when you're just thinking about a topic.
I so keep blogs. In fact I have two going right now. They are my hobby when I can't escape to my writing world, I am still practicing the craft. I also kept a diary when I was young, so I've always loved creative outlets.
I've had a journal for like ten years now, and it's been great help, though not where my fiction writing is concerned. Going through my notebooks, of which i have three- nearly starting a fourth, I noticed an outstanding change and improvement in my style of writing, in terms of grammar, paragraphing, punctuation and things of the sort. It made me more confident in writing throughout the years. Having a journal is a great source you can go back to so I pretty advise those who are interested in writing to start one. It doesn't neccessarily have to be a matter of writing on a daily basis, just leave to whenever you feel like it, and most importantly, whenever something major happens to you . You'll notice the difference, trust me. Keep it up
I can't live without my journal. My mom gave me one for Christmas when I was in fourth grade. I never really used it. I would write in it maybe once a month up until 8th grade. Then it seemed like I was writing every day. I could never go four days without writing at least once. There was a ton of drama between my friends and my journal was my therapy, I used it to vent onto when I needed it. People say that they can't keep one up. I couldn't until writing was my life and I was dependent on it. One of my favorite parts about it is that it is the one place where my writing is literally my brain on paper. It's my big book of thoughts for the most part. I guess you could say that I have one for writing too, but it's not a journal. It's just a little notebook that I write down everything that comes to mind, or anything that I hear/read and really like...anything that inspires me. Anything that I probably shouldn't forget. I really like it too. Everything is there, it's my writing brain on paper.
Curious as to how many people here keep a writing journal, and if so, how often they update it. What kind of content do you put in? Do you recount the day's events, or do you use it as a dump of creativity? Do you handwrite or type? How long have you been doing it? And how do you keep yourself motivated to stay on schedule? I'm starting to keep one myself. I made a point to start one today and, come hell or high water, I'm going to update it every day for as long as I can. I still don't know where it's going to go, but hopefully it becomes a hybrid of everything I just said. I'm handwriting it because I type so fast that my mind can't keep up, which gives me plenty of time to get distracted. And this might do some good for my chicken scratch handwriting. Whatever keeps me writing, I'm all for it. Now, to keep it going. Let's see how long I can keep my procrastinator half at bay.
I used to have a diary, but over time I got too busy to write in it. It still has about a year's worth of good memories though and I'll probably start another over the summer
I've tried to keep a daily journal many times. It was both as a way to recount the day as well as put my ideas. I have a lot of trouble sleeping at night, mostly because I can't shut my brain off. I have so many thoughts bouncing back and forth in my head and my OCD doesn't let me put it aside. Once I started writing it down in a journal, I was able to let it go. I didn't have to wrry about forgetting it so I could make room for more thoughts, or even that blankness I needed to sleep. However, procrastination and my terrible memory won the battle and I gave up. I would add an entry every few days, but they would become shorter and shorter with things like "it's a long story, I'll tell you tomorrow" (I wrote to the journal). I haven't written in it for over a year. I miss it and my ability to sleep. Maybe I'll pick it up for a week or so again.
I'm 33 and I have kept a journal since I was about 14 years old. I update it fairly frequently. The more that is happening in my life the more I write in it. For the first 7 or 8 years of the journal I hand wrote it in blank books. I eventually began keeping it electronically. I felt it was more secure and was easier to search electronically, and it is. I write about everything in it from my career, to family issues, to my writing, to what books I have read...everything. It is very entertaining to go back and read my entries from when I was a teenager. My idea of what a "problem" was back then and what a problem is now have changed quite a bit.
I keep several journals for different things. Right now, I don't write in them much, but I'm trying to get back on track and write in them every day like I used to. Sweetchaos, I'm like you...it's impossible for me to sleep at night with everything that's bouncing around in my head. I used to try to write in a journal right before I went to bed, and it did help, but now my fiance has to work early in the morning, so I feel bad keeping him up while I write and don't do it anymore. I should start doing that again...I'm sure he'd rather I keep him up an extra five or ten minutes than know that while he's sleeping soundly all night, I'm tossing and turning.
For my longest story, it was combination of typing and handwriting. I have about nine pages on paper, and three that aren't on paper on the computer.
i kept a journal for about 12 years, a lot of years up in the arctic circle, sometimes when i was in weird places, kept my boredom away. reading back, i'm sure i was quite insane during those years
I recently found about five short entries I wrote in 2001 and 2002, and I feel that since I started keeping a diary electronically in March, that it's easier because I can go back and edit a lot faster etc. I do the same thing. What's happened in the day, what I'm thinking, doing etc. Pretty much what's on my mind. The only problem I've had was when I was a moment in the day, I wasn't actually enjoying the moment. Rather, I was wondering if I would remember to write it in the diary entry for that day. I'm just telling myself that odds are if it's that's big a moment, you won't forget it, so just enjoy it while it lasts. That's happened to me quite a bit, I used to regularly getting up one night and just scrawling down notes on paper and saying "I'll type that up tomorrow." I don't do that now,but it's hard because I do miss some things for that day's entry. I usually type it in the next day but I mainly forget things all together. I just hope they're not important . I guess that's why I started when I did. A few years from now I want to be able to look back on what I wrote and see how I've changed etc. That's not the main reason why I keep one, I just find it, I guess 'satisfying' to type my thoughts in one spot.
I've got my journals dating all the way back to when I was twelve years old. They were the only things that made it with me through every group home and foster home. It's wild looking back into the mind of your adolescent self. I still journal daily. Sometimes it's the details of my day, how the writing is going, my lurid fantasies of interesting methods to do in my husband's mother and not get caught, really bad poetry, free writing, reviews of books I'm reading. My journal is sort of my place to dump all the stuff out of my head that gets in the way of my writing. I keep it in marble front composition books -- that's what all of them are in -- all 81 of them in chronological order in a box.
All of you have inspired me to start writing in my journal again. I may not keep at it daily, but I'll at least try to write in it a couple days a week. It'll help with sleeping and my anxiety disorder (hopefully). There are a lot of things I need to get written down. I bottle it all up way too much and I'm afraid for the day it all comes exploding out.
I am currently reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac and in the process have learned a lot about the author. The guy was always writing, he kept journals and notebooks and like I said was ALWAYS writing. I know of other people who have kept journals or diaries and of course you always read books in the form of them. So I have to ask you guys: do any of you keep a journal? If so, how detailed is it? What kind of stuff do you write in it? What kind of notebook or book is it in or is it digital? How often do you write in it? Do you feel it helps your writing and/or just yourself? I'm really interested to hear from you guys. Thank you!
I have kept a journal since 1999. Throughout that period I have written most days; though with some chunks missing where life got a bit too busy. My journal is really about my thought process rather than events that go on during the day as such. It is written clearly with the intent to be read (eve if only by future me), and indeed sometimes I refer to the reader explicitly, calling on them to think about things or engage with the ideas too. It's been interesting, to go back and read the thoughts of someone I consider the most unreliable narrator of them all!
I have kept journals intermittently. I write in them whenever I have nothing else to do, but most of the time, I have lots of other things to do. I should prioritize journal-writing higher, I suppose, because I always find it interesting to read what I was thinking years ago. Most of the content of my journals is about ideas, philosophies, snatches of poetry or songs, and the occasional story idea. I don't keep a diary, in the sense of recording what I do day to day.
I know this is gonna sound really corny, but my mind is usually my journal. I mean I take notes on different stories as their own document. Like I'll have one called The Story (actual story) and The Story Details or Template. Other than that the notes for all my characters and stories are in my head.
Right now I have two. But what matters to this discussion is just one of them. I try to keep it with me in the car and by my side when I'm at home reading, watching TV, internet, etc. In that journal I write lines/phrases I hear that I think are good--funny, profound, whatever. I write those lines in the front half of the book. In the other half, I write nothing but single words. Every single time I sit down to write, which is every day, there will always be several points where I'm searching for the perfect word; something that will help paint the picture more clearly than any other. Just by keeping that long list of words, I've managed to cut down on my time at thesaurus.com quite a bit.
For some reason, I have trouble doing a lot of writing that I _know_ will never be read by anyone. So the closest thing I have to a journal is my blog.
Not in the conventional sense. Nothing in my "journal" is real life. It's just scenes I think of, random words, the way I feel, quotes, quotes and more quotes.
I don't keep a journal, in the sense of writing it regularly, but I do write down some thoughts or experiences from time to time, when I feel like it. Especially when there's noone else around at the moment to share it with. (I have some "online" friends and when writing to them, I don't feel the need to put the same thing down in the journal.) I can go for months without an entry, or write almost every day for a few weeks, or anything in between.
I keep several. I started one about real life stuff when my kids were little in the 1980's, and I've kept this up ever since. I started it to record significant things that happened in their lives, thinking it would be great to look back on (and they are) I also included drawings they did, cinema tickets etc etc so it became a kind of journal-cum-scrapbook. But I've kept that kind of journalling up ever since. I do not fill it with angst, as a general rule, and nothing I'd not want enyone reading after I'm gone. I only write when there is something to write about as I do not want it to be full of inane ramblings. When I was diagnosed with cancer in 08 I started a 'journey book' full of thoughts, fears, angst. This is referred to as the Battle Book (I'm winning the battle but will definitely lose the war) and my husband knows to burn this when the war is finally over. Then I have several for various elements of my fiction writing. One goes everywhere with me and records all manner of snippets I think worth logging for future use. Another stays by my bed as I often have my best thoughts in the middle of the night when I cannot sleep. I have another for 'free writing' which I try to do as per Dorothea Brande's advice, every morning. Then, I have various notebooks filled with stuff pertaining to stories I am working on. Every time I begin a new novel, I choose two note books; one for the first draft (always hand written) and one for research and technical stuff pertaining to that particular novel.
