Journaling for Writers

My apologies on taking so long to write an entry...I've been sick with the same migraine since the day after Christmas, which has taken its toll on me personally and professionally.

I am going to switch my career to a temp worker. I'm familiar with different areas of the corporate world, I learn fast, and if I do need time off, I can take it guilt-free.

That being said, I have journaled about it a great deal over the past few months. It's making it easier for me to make the leap. And, since I'm going to be working temp jobs, I have begun journaling again about different writing ideas I have. Mostly short creative non-fiction pieces which will hopefully earn me some money. I am not shy about submitting my non-fiction, so that is how I've been published so far in life. Fiction is quite another matter.

Here is what makes journaling for writers so fantastic:
1. It's based on a free-writing concept. Write whatever is on the tip of your brain at any given moment. Sometimes those free-writing sessions will garner a new story idea. Sometimes it's just mind-dumping of a lot of nonsense. It's those new story ideas though, that get my vote!

2. While on the topic of mind-dumping...journaling allows you to get all the extraneous crap down on paper, so you don't have to think about it anymore. This gives you time to focus on more important things, like your works in progress!

3. I sometimes write in character. Especially those secondary characters who seem a little wooden and one-dimensional. It's role playing of the grandest form. I know of writers who blog completely from their character's POV, or who keep a journal just to write in character. You'd be surprised how real your character will seem after just a few entries.

4. Journals don't limit you to just writing words, especially if you are keeping a paper journal. You can sketch out house plans, character's looks, or mindmap right in the privacy of your own journal.

5. See how easily this topic segues into new bullet points! Mindmapping is an essential skill to have if you write novels, and is even useful for writing stories. It seems to hold most value in writing fiction, though I can see how one might use it creatively to write creative non-fiction pieces too. If you've never heard of mindmapping, a good site to learn about it is: http://tenkeyboards.com/30-technology-tips-for-writers-use-mind-maps-to-organize-your-work/

6. Journaling is a great gate-keeper of your most precious memories. The benefits of this are two-fold. One, you will always have access to these memories. Two, something that is happening in your life right now might not seem story-worthy, but it might become worthy in time. Or, it might lead into a great story idea once you give it some more thought.

7. Accessibility is a wonderful option in this day of online blogs. There are several free blogs that allow you to keep your entries entirely private - or you can share your journal with the world. The nice thing about blogs is tagging...you can tag (called labeling I just noticed here at blogger) your entries and then be able to search for the specific tags later. For instance, I am labeling this entry as an article idea!

Sorry kids. My head is killing me currently, and isn't thinking too clearly about the other 3 bullet points, so I'll continue this in a Part II later on. Until then, happy journaling!