Thursday, March 18, 2010

Journaling

I've kept a journal ever since I started writing on a computer. I print out the pages, punch them with a three-hole punch, and save them in a hard binder. For me, it's been helpful to my writing career in several ways.

By rereading my journals, I've seen that there is a rhythm to my writing. I can work like crazy for days, weeks, months, and then nothing much at all for a period of time. And that's okay. I'm not one of those people who likes structure in my life (four pages a day, 1000 words a day, 2 hours of writing a day.) But in my own bumbling, haphazard method of writing, I still seem to get a lot accomplished.

I use my journal not only to record things that have been going on in my life, but to capture feelings and moments that are important. Re-reading my journals has allowed me to see that I tend to get depressed when it rains a lot, and the sun makes me happy. It lets me look up when the first swallows arrive each year, and the date in late Spring I first hear the thrilling song of the Swainson's thrush in the forest.


I can use bad words in my journal, ones that I wouldn't post in a public place (like this.) I can capture the raw emotion of finding a beloved cat dead in the middle of the road and having to bury him all by myself. Yeah, tough stuff.

I use my journal to get my fingers working again, when it doesn't seem like I can write at all. I write little pep talks to myself -words like: I have not been writing. I am not a writer. What's wrong with me? I'm a fraud, and I'm fooling everyone. blah blah blah. I cannot seem to write a single thing. I'm a mess, I . . . blah blah blah . . . Look, I've written one entire page. I did. I filled up all that space. With something. Anything. I can do it. I can. I know I can.

I use my journal to discuss with myself things about my WIP (work-in-progress.) What would happen if my character did this? What would make this character feel this way, and do this? Maybe this could happen, or this and this. On my latest middle-grade novel, I actually have another document available where I try to keep all the facts straight, names, etc. and the pertinent info for my WIP. But for actually brainstorming plot points, I find it is actually most helpful to tumble around ideas with in my journal. I like the immediacy, the discussion I can have with myself on paper. It allows me to check back in later, and see how I was able to hash things out. And believe or not, it is very helpful to see this process when it comes to future novels.


Because the very best thing about keeping track of things in journals, is that I can go back and see when I first got the seed of an idea for a novel. On February 21, 2009 I wrote in my journal:



So I'm tossing and turning ideas around in my head for something new to write. And I'm thinking that my next novel might be from two points of view. A boy. A girl. It would be a challenge to see if I can do it. But actually, it's because two characters are coming to me. The girl, with the invisible sign at the bottom of her driveway. And the boy, who is not very nice at first. Maybe his mom drinks too much. Or other stuff. . . . . And then there's the flood.


I wrote several chapters, and then got involved in major revisions on another novel, and then stuff (called life) happened, and I struggled along and finally dug in and finished this new novel this winter. There is a boy. And there is a girl. And I did manage to write it from two points of view, although there is no flood, and the storyline took a completely different direction from what I first envisioned. That's the beauty of creativity.

So on March 2, 2010 I noted in my journal that I just finished the final chapter of my newest novel. (And yeah, there are many edits and revisions still ahead, but that's a writer's life.) And it's really cool to be able to look back on the entire process from when that first kernel, or spark of an idea began, and how it transformed into an actual story.

Do you use a journal? What form do you keep it in, and how has it worked for you?

6 comments:

Vonna said...

I used to keep a personal journal, but once I got serious about writing professionally, I stopped. I found that if I wrote in my journal, I wrote very little on my novel that day. Every now and then, I'll pick up my old journal and jot a few notes, but I no longer write in it daily or even monthly. Someday I may regret this.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Linda--I wish I had my journals from my tween-twenty years...I journal when I travel or do things that are hard for me. I tend to write chapters when ideas come to me then go back later and make them into stories. :)

Linda Benson said...

Vonna - it's helpful to me to write in a journal on the keyboard (vs. longhand)and then print it out so I have a tangible copy. That way my fingers are warmed up to write (instead of cramped from holding a pen LOL.)

Sharon - Yes I had some handwritten journals, also, from my younger angst-filled years. I threw them all out - and sometimes wish I had them now. HA!

Shelby Bach said...

(Sorry for commenting so late! I have had company and haven't had enough internet time...)

I've been keeping a journal pretty consistently for the last six years. It's the old-school longhand kind, but I love the image of you typing it out and keeping it in a binder!

Recently, I've realized that it's kind of essential for my mental health: I keep perspective a lot easier (I can go back to the entries from a year ago and realize that all the trivialities I've been fretting over have been resolved). My friends and family like me having it since I vent more on the written page than outloud. :-D

Linda Benson said...

Shelby - EXACTLY!

Joanna said...

Woah. What I would do to get a glimpse at this journal! But I would never try. Nope. Never. Because journals are sacred.

And how do I know this?

Because I've always had one too! And it's funny, because in the past few years I went from talking about my stuff, my stories, my...whatever, and now I toss around other ideas for other people, clients, friends, etc...I brainstorm their stuff and I actually find it freeing.

So funny, right?

Your journal sounds amazing, Linda. And it's obviously doing the job!

And um...I didn't realize that draft #1 was done?! Woohoo! Can't wait until it's ready to finish.