Journals and stuff

A Diary: a written record of what you did, using a page or a few lines to record what occurred each day.

Journal Writing: recording your thoughts, feelings, experiences, goals, disappointments, fears, dreams, etc… at some specific time in your life.

Freewriting: Start writing as fast and as much as possible without stopping. This is a great way to start the writing flow when writing a paper or a blog post.

Morning Pages: a brain dump every morning (like freewriting) consisting of three large handwritten one-sided pages written very quickly.

A Personal Blog: a web blog that is an online personal diary or journal meant to be read exclusively by family, friends, or a like-minded audience.

Lists: writing down a series or number of items (usually one below the other) such as “100 things I want to do”, “100 things I fear”, etc.

Narrative: talking to someone or something like your inner child or critic.

Are you a beginning journal writer, or do you want to be one? How do you get started? First, find or buy a notebook or journal, then buy a pen you like writing with. It does not have to be fancy (I use Zebra mechanical pencils). Fancy is not good if you feel uncomfortable writing with the pen in your journal.

Try some deep breathing exercises to relax before you start journaling. There is no right or wrong way to journal. Start by writing notes to your future self. As I mentioned before, writing lists is another good way to start journaling.

There should be no journaling rules unless you want to create your own. The important thing is to start writing.