Writing Journal?

I've often been told it's a good idea to keep a writing journal to come up with new ideas, but i'm not really sure how to start. I tend to write my ideas down in a notebook anyway when I have them, and is that what a writing journal should be? Or is it something more than that, like reflecting on experiences and making notes about things you've noticed during the day you could use in a story?

 

The way I view it, a writing journal can be whatever you want it to be and can have anything you want in it.

I personally don't keep one but there are many varieties of ways that they can be used. As you said, writing down things in your day could be one way. I usually find what I want to write though things that I like or things that inspire me.

I do, though, keep a diary (have for years), and at times when you look back at things that happen to you in the past and laugh or cry, etc. you can channel those things or emotions into a story.

You could use it just to put ideas for stories in, even without writing a detailed summary, or even write a few words and look back on it when you are drained of ideas.

But of course, do what works for you. I don't think there are laws to making the "right" writing journal.

 

It's whatever you want. When you first mentioned "writing journal" and began mentioning jotting down ideas, that was what I had in mind, but your additional idea of a journal to just reflect on things you've noticed, etc., is also a good one. My own idea of a writing journal would simply be a journal where I write about my writing--my feelings about a chapter or a character, my excitement or anxiety over something I have to write soon, my thoughts on finishing or starting a story, my hopes on attracting readers, things I've noticed that make me think of the story in some way, etc. And then there's a "writing progress" journal, which is basically what I do keep--I call it a writing log--where each day I take note of what project I've worked on and how much I've written, though I don't really go into further detail, so it's not really a "journal," just a summary.

So those are just some ideas--I'm sure there are plenty more. A writing journal is whatever you want to do with it.

 

To be honest, everyone says that one should keep a writing journal, but for me, that wouldn't work. I know from experience that if I am working on a specific piece, and I come up with a completely different idea, I get caught up in the new idea, and ditch the old one. That is one of the main reasons why I can never seem to finish a longer piece (such as a 10k short story or even a novel). So, in conclusion, I don't allow myself to think of *new* ideas when working on a large piece, for fear that I'll become bored of the first piece, and get involved with the second.

That's not to say that I don't jot down ideas every now and then, I just don't get involved with them or write details as I would if I wrote it in a journal.

That's just me though, if writing a journal keeps you focused on writing, and doesn't interfere with the writing of other pieces, all power to you.

~ InPieces

 

I don't keep a journal. I feel I'm better off actually writing for my projects than putting that energy into a journal. However, I do have a notepad file on my laptop's desktop that I jot down random ideas in when they occur to me.

 

I don't keep a writing journal either...I have dozens of Word files on my computer with random story ideas though. Perhaps I should compile them into journal format someday, but that would require time, energy, and effort - all of which I don't have enough of nowadays!

 

I have my own personal journal. But I sort of have a writing journal too. I used Microsoft One Note and organize everything I've decided to record. One note is like a Binder and inside of it are different tabs, inside of each tab are pages. It has everything in it. I have a tab for characters and a page for each of my characters, I have a tab for research that I did for my story, and things like that. Before I bought myself a computer, I wrote my story in a spiral notebook. If I came up with any ideas or needed to remind myself to change something, I wrote it on a sticky note. The only problem was that you could lose them.
I still sort of use the sticky note thing, only it's just another tab in One Note.

 

not true!... 'cause i don't... and i don't keep one myself, never have... like cog, i can't see wasting energy on such stuff, when i could be writing actual pieces of work...

i used to keep a file of 'ideas' and bits 'n pieces of stuff that popped into my mind and didn't have a home in a current piece of work, but i grew out of that, realizing that there was so much i was working on all the time already, that if i lived and wrote for 200 more years, i couldn't use all those bits... and i also realized that if i ever needed one, it would pop right back outa my head, so i didn't need to keep it in any other kind of 'file'...

 

My computer has crashed a few times in the passed. I decided after that that I needed to keep a journal for ideas instead of putting them all in word files. That, and an USB drive for my long stories. I'm about to start my new journal. I feel like it's pretty good to have one just in case.

-Moira

 

I don't keep a writing journal. I do write down ideas when I'm somewhere else than in front of my computer, though.

I've written many other journals, but I don't quite understand why I should keep a writing journal. If I want to write about writing, I write with my friends who also write.

 

I keep a little note book. I use it to write descriptions of things. Descriptions of people, places, the passing of day into night, a description of a scene in a bustling town or what ever. I kind of force myself just to write something just to keep me active. I find that i rarely have all consuming ideas that take up all my time with writing. Therefore i use the notebook just to keep my writing muscles flexed until bigger and better ideas come along. Kind of like training in a gym before a marathon if you know what i mean.

 

Journals, diaries, and (for you modern hipsters) blogs- whatever you want to call them, many writers have advised them as a helpful way of collecting thoughts, practicing writing, and finding your own voice and tone. I was just wondering if anyone here actually adhered to this advice, or strongly agreed, or disagreed, or probably agreed but never got the time to actually keep a daily journal. I know that many people keep blogs here on this forum (I tried it, but it never worked for me)- if you do that, how often do you do it, what do you think of it, and do you journal outside of that?

I myself recently went on a vacation where I expected to get cracking on the new novel that I'd been planning, but instead I wound up writing a daily diary of the things I did (which were pretty cool, I have to admit). I felt, though, that I had somehow gotten more good practice with my writing then I would have if I had just kept working on my little novel thing. I've never done this before- I never thought I had time- but I'd like to see how long it lasts (probably three days).

So. I kind of think it's a pretty fascinating subject when talking about writing development, and there's obviously a lot of ways to take this conversation.

Anyone?

 

I do keep a journal: It's called "the internet". I hope this was helpful. yours in Chaos, Scarlett

 

I've kept a journal on and off since around 2004. Writing in it has become much more important to me lately -- I used to skip months, but now rarely skip more than a few days. It's a good way to get out stress and think through the day gone by -- and find some learning in that experience. It's a little weird, but I've been thinking lately about who I'm writing it for. Sometimes, it feels like I'm addressing someone else when I write in my journal. I don't know -- maybe I'm just crazy.

In terms of writing and finding a voice, it helps me get ideas down at first. I'm starting to keep separate journals, too: one for life, and one for writing projects. Granted, I'm working on one project at the moment, so I have exactly one writing journal, but still. There is some overlap in the life journal, since I tend to write ideas down as they come to me. I can always transfer over later.

 

I've kept a journal on and off since around 2004. Writing in it has become much more important to me lately -- I used to skip months, but now rarely skip more than a few days. It's a good way to get out stress and think through the day gone by -- and find some learning in that experience. It's a little weird, but I've been thinking lately about who I'm writing it for. Sometimes, it feels like I'm addressing someone else when I write in my journal. I don't know -- maybe I'm just crazy.

In terms of writing and finding a voice, it helps me get ideas down at first. I'm starting to keep separate journals, too: one for life, and one for writing projects. Granted, I'm working on one project at the moment, so I have exactly one writing journal, but still. There is some overlap in the life journal, since I tend to write ideas down as they come to me. I can always transfer over later.

 

I have in the past, and I should be doing it now, but I've just never been able to stick to it very well.

 

I'm a compulsive blogger and diarist. Entries up for public view, I try to polish as much as I can. While I'm often grateful for keeping a manual record of ideas, though, I think the only thing that regular journaling has improved by way of executing those ideas is my typing speed and penmanship.

Writing in white heat, I devolve to adjectives and passive voice, fragments and run-ons, all sorts of bad habits. I've been journaling compulsively for more than a decade and still can't manage to inculcate the Rules --which I've learned by listening to English teachers and reading about writing, not enlightenment coming spontaneously from the practice of journal-writing. So, I don't think it helps with finding voice.

I strongly disagree that it gets people to "think deeper" too, but, I feel like I need to get things written out in order to think at all sometimes. I'd be listening to people and tracing letters with my finger on the table or my arm, just to understand them (and save paper.)

 

I've kept journals now and then, but never in connection with my writing. To me, fiction writing and personal journaling are as different as writing novels and writing poetry, and the two don't really connect. (Except in terms of me sometimes journaling ABOUT my writing.) I used to journal often but not so much nowadays (certainly not daily--the entries would boil down to, "Feel lousy, didn't do anything interesting today"), seeing as I haven't much time nor much to say that isn't terribly depressing. Anyway, writing a journal entry has no bearing on helping me improve my fiction writing since the two are completely different issues. The way I write a journal entry is not the way I write fiction, and vice-versa. And I already understand grammar and spelling and how to string a sentence or a story together.

Granted, I was writing fiction long before I ever bothered writing anything resembling a personal journal, so that might be the explanation. I never kept a real diary growing up. I came to journaling extensively rather late in life, only AFTER I've become used to writing fiction, so by now, I don't need much help in figuring out how to do it aside from just writing the story.

I'd like to journal more often, including offline privately, but like I said, I don't have much to say without perpetually mulling over how depressed and anxious I always am, and that makes for lousy journaling.

 

I'd second the "journals aren't the same as fiction" opinion.

I've tried several times to keep a journal. I'd like to be the sort of person who has long, thoughtful pieces about life and that sort of thing. The problem is, when I try to keep a daily record, I run out of things to say. *I* know what I'm thinking, after all, and it's hard for me to step far enough back to write it down in a way that would be coherent to someone else. I have a hard time writing something that no one else will read or understand; it seems fundamentally pointless to me.

It probably doesn't help that my sense of time is absolutely abysmal; one day or another, it doesn't make much difference. I just remember impressions, images, in no particular order. It makes it hard to keep a chronological journal. I get bored, and then I start forgetting, and then I drop it entirely.

 

I've tried with little success. Life tends to get in the way of keeping anything on a regular basis. The blogs I've posted here are about the most successful representation of any kind of diary or journal I've very kept. Like Daniel, my blogs tend to be topical and less about my own life.

 

Yes. I have one important daily log.

I love BBQ! I grill lots of stuff every weekend and store it in zip lock bags for consumption later in the week. There's a log attached to my refrigerator which I update every time I remove some of the goodies -- that way I always know what's left. That's about the only "journaling" I do. LOL

 

I should try out the idea of writing in a journal every day. It would probably help me be able to express what I want to say more fluidly, so that's a plus. I would keep it to myself, though. I wouldn't put it online and advertise it. That's just me, though.

 

I have a notebook that I scribble ideas and small pieces of writing in when I can't get to my computer to actually type it out. Its a great way to make sure you remember all of your ideas. I think alot when I laying down and going to sleep, so its a good way to make sure I don't forget them when I go to sleep.

 

I keep a journal filled with very bad poetry and all the negative emotional crap that gets in the way of serious writing.

My spousal unit is charged with the task of burning the journals without opening them after my death. No one needs to see that junk.