It was in my high school American Literature class that I first heard about the idea of keeping a writing journal. We were learning about Nathaniel Hawthorne who, along with writing the obligatory novel The Scarlet Letter and being considered one of the fathers of the short story, kept a journal of his various story ideas. Our teacher encouraged us to do something similar for extra credit.
As a junior in high school who already found myself to be a failed journal writer, I thought this would be my gift to posterity. I found an old, orange three-ring binder with dividers already inside. I used the dividers to create several sections: one for poetry (which I hardly touched), one for short stories (where I think I only wrote one ... about a clock maker), one for story ideas (where I think I merely repeated earlier ideas), and one for writing about my day-to-day life. I wrote in it a bit for the first month (we were to turn it in every week), but then started to neglect it as I do with most journals.
Since then, I have read several articles and books about writing that suggest keeping a writing journal for story ideas, characters, settings, and any other thoughts that come to mind. The consensus is that if we don't write at least something down when we are thinking about it, we might forget it entirely. With that in mind, I started two other such journals. One is a black bound book which contains not just a few stories from my college years, but also a few attempts to draw. The second sits on the stand near my bed and serves more as a dream diary now. I like reading back through that one as there are some interesting ideas in its pages.
As I am continuing to write this blog on a daily basis, I hope that I care reignite my motivation for more substantial writing. Perhaps my writing journals will come in handy after all.
As a junior in high school who already found myself to be a failed journal writer, I thought this would be my gift to posterity. I found an old, orange three-ring binder with dividers already inside. I used the dividers to create several sections: one for poetry (which I hardly touched), one for short stories (where I think I only wrote one ... about a clock maker), one for story ideas (where I think I merely repeated earlier ideas), and one for writing about my day-to-day life. I wrote in it a bit for the first month (we were to turn it in every week), but then started to neglect it as I do with most journals.
Since then, I have read several articles and books about writing that suggest keeping a writing journal for story ideas, characters, settings, and any other thoughts that come to mind. The consensus is that if we don't write at least something down when we are thinking about it, we might forget it entirely. With that in mind, I started two other such journals. One is a black bound book which contains not just a few stories from my college years, but also a few attempts to draw. The second sits on the stand near my bed and serves more as a dream diary now. I like reading back through that one as there are some interesting ideas in its pages.
As I am continuing to write this blog on a daily basis, I hope that I care reignite my motivation for more substantial writing. Perhaps my writing journals will come in handy after all.
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