Seems like that would be a terrible waste of what could be a touching, human story. Hopefully you reconsider.
I did keep a journal for a while. Much of it had to do with a woman I became very close to. She died suddenly. After that, I couldn't bear to even pick up the journal, much less add to it. Even now, more than a decade later, I can't bear to read more than a page or two from it.
a journal for the ideas for story titles that surface in my mind at the oddest times; a journal for travels, notes, personal thoughts and other fragments; and a journal for first drafts of essays and short stories.
Thank you for your kind words but it really isn't publishable. Some of the medical details are incredibly personal and were written only as a cathartic exercise. My family and close friends all know what I am going through, and that is enough for me. I think for them to read this also would be far too sad. No. I want it to go with me when I go.
This is why I want my Battle Book to be burned. I don't want anyone to feel saddened by what I've written in there. It is purely cathartic for me.
We write so as not to forget. Writing ideas down helps me when I want to go back to a certain time and place. I use my journals to help me create poetry or stories. I piece together the scattered fragments in my journals to create a larger piece.
Kinda of yes, and kind of no. I have my so called 'journal', but only to keep cool awesome nice ideas, names, keywords, from escaping. It's not a diary though. More like random thoughts.
i tend to not write in journals that often which is why i like my blog, nights like tonight i can type up my posts and set them to publish when i want them too. which frees up time elsewhere for other things to be doing such as writing
Does anyone else keep a daily journal? What do you write about? I've recently started keeping one, but I'm unsure if it should be primarily focused on documenting things that happen to me, random thoughts, or something else entirely. I know there's no right or wrong way to do it, I'm just curious how you go about it.
I have a story journal. Before I work on my manuscript, I give myself about five or ten minutes just to free-write what's on my mind. I either write about my mood that day, about the scene I have to work on, the sandwich I ate, etc. Most of the entries are related to the story I'm working on, but there are entries where I just babble. It is random, but it's an effective way for me to push my editor-mind away and coax my writer-mind to enter. Here's a sample of an entry for my current WIP: ---- 11/21/2015 OKay okay okay,. bright and early this morningn. it is about 11:15 right now and i m just having me coffee and shit. anyway. i dont know what to write. therea re a lot of thinghs that can be changed,. i dont want to change them just yet. i want to plow through. but fuck. there's no big reveal or anything. i think i need to return to that moment where the shit. argh. how does this happen? aries gets absorbed. and once he's absorbed, they wipe out theo's memories. REGARDING WHY THEY NEED ARIES TO BE ABSORBED!!! so they really need aries in tehre. that is the motive in this scene. they need aries ebcause if they wipe out theo's memories, they can never get ezra out anymore and theo's body will be will remain as a vegtable. i need to add that in the thing. that's it. It is the final decision, the final sacrifice that aries needs to do. and he knows this. this is the end for him. and do we get to witness it? yes. yes we do. shit. that is tough and crap! we have to play out the whole scene, try to force theo to get ezra out of the hole. that is the motive of this chapter. that is it. yey yeyu yey!!! ---- Notice that it's a grammatical garbage heap, but such is the case with free-writing.
Not since I was little. I think about keeping one, but a private one on work or one in an actual book. Its fun to go back a read stuff I wrote when I was 10. And it will be cool for my kids to read. But i am so focused on my projects that i dont make the time.
We had to keep a daily journal over the course of a semester in a creative writing class I took in college. The good thing about it was that it forced to write. You could write about anything just as long as you wrote something. It's a good way of making sure you practice writing everyday. The downside is that I don't like being forced to write because then I end up writing crap. That's why I abandoned it after the class was over. Maybe one day I'll start doing this again.
My thought is that, no matter what it seems like in the moment, you'll value the journal ten or more years down the road. It's weird how recordings from the past gain value in the present. They have to pass into the future. When they do, and you take a fresh look, you realize that you are no longer that entity.
That's why I started the journal in the first place, I know I'll be glad to have it down the road. If anything, I'll probably wish I'd started it sooner.
I have since June 1994. But not obsessively. I don't FORCE myself to do it daily. It's just to get stuff off my chest that's bothering me, whenever that comes up. When I'm feeling mostly okay I write in it less. When something's bothering me I may sit and write two hours nonstop. So, it's intermittent. But the option is always there, waiting, in case I need it. I do not keep story journals. This is one for life stuff. I will add this... Journals are a great device for developing your writing voice, which many writers don't know even for themselves what theirs sounds like. Journaling takes pressure off you and frees you up to 'let it fly' which I believe allows your true voice to come out. Then when you read back over stuff you wrote five years ago, it can offer insight, self-knowledge. It also builds confidence by giving practice on things like spelling, sentence structure, turn of phrase, etc.
That's similar to what I've been doing. I want to write more when something is bothering me, or when I'm trying to figure something out. Writing down my problems and their potential solutions makes them seem more manageable. The only thing is that my journal will probably end up sounding a bit negative, filled with nothing but my past problems. That's alright though, sense the journal isn't meant to be a complete history or something. And remembering past problems could help me solve current ones.
@Possum Exactly. Because with some things there's nobody you can talk to freely about it. My journal is like having a convo with myself. I ask questions, propose potential solutions, run through lists of options, conclude and declare big epiphanies, sometimes dramatically & with force. A convo with another person won't really allow you to explore things the same way because they tend to take things in another direction way off topic. When others meander it frustrates you; with the journal, if you meander it's because you needed to. The journal allows exploration you simply can't do with another person. But the reverse is true too, so both are valuable at different times. Regarding the journals sounding negative, yeah probably that and schitzo and neurotic and other things too. lol But I plan to burn mine so family won't find them after I'm gone.
Sunday afternoon I left work without my phone. It's in the 'Notes' feature that I record new ideas and potential plots variations for future reference. My commute to and from work is an uneventful one, save the occasional ambulance or police car zipping by at the speed of sound. Thus, I tend to listen to the local news on my drive. Sunday afternoon there was something on the radio that sparked a great idea, at least one I thought had the makings of greatness. Aside from the fact that I was driving at the time, I didn't have my phone. there was nothing in the car to write with or on and I failed to record the idea. Just in case you haven't figured it out yet; I can't remember what the freaking idea was. When I got home, rather than writing the idea down right away, I let the dogs out, hit the bathroom and then the refrigerator. Didn't write anything while it was fresh in my mind. I got my phone back this morning. Before things got rolling I opened up that note app and had no idea, and for my life I cannot remember what it was. It's like it never happened. My nominee for the list of advice to new writers is: "Write that idea down while you have it, don't count on it waiting around til you have a moment."
Totally agree - everyone needs to jot stuff down right away. I usually keep a note pad in my purse and one near my bed cause I'm notorious for coming up with a scene just as I'm ... nodding .... off....zzzzz
I do the same thing. Sometimes though, it's just not feasible to writing everything down (like when you're driving!). When this happens I try to focus on a key word, or short description. I treat the idea like a chapter that needs a title and just focus on remembering the title. Hours later, when I can finally write notes down and I've all but forget the idea ,I can usually use the title to extrapolate most, if not the entirety, of what I wanted to get on to paper.
I have little notebooks hidden everywhere. If I don't write an idea down right away I know I'll never remember it. I have one in my purse and apron for work as well as my bedside table. My biggest problem is never being able to find a pen to write with. I have to scramble to find one before the thought slips away.
I have to admit that i rarely write stuff down as I'm daydreaming... I usualy remember the best bits and pieces and if not i don't believe they are good enough to write them down... you guys are making me feel slightly casual
