Journaling. The age-old answer to the question, “What’s the best way to start writing?”
Journaling is an incredible tool to write about yourself, start a new story, get your ideas on paper, flesh out a character, and find the words you need to explain something that’s hard to pin down.
I use journaling as a tool in my writing courses and regularly recommend it in The Workshop, my private online writing community, to help people break through blocks and achieve all kinds of goals for their writing.
But what if you hate journaling? It might make you feel weird and cringe, or maybe like what Amber Sparks said on Twitter:
Okay so my therapist wants me to journal and I have literally never journaled in my life, also my life is very very boring. How does one journal? I literally cannot write two sentences about myself without wanting to die
— Amber Sparks (@ambernoelle) February 1, 2021
What surprised me about the Twitter thread is how many published writers can’t stand journaling and don’t use it for their writing. Meanwhile, people who don’t publish were more likely to enjoy journaling and have a consistent journaling practice, even if they don’t publish or consider themselves writers.
As you’re a writer this is fascinating to me! I like to ‘think’ I’m a writer, but really the ONLY consistent writing I’ve done IS journaling over 30 years! I always have a spiral notebook with me. (Hoping my nieces can make some good $ off publishing them someday.) #crazyaunt
— Sarah Vandenbusch (@CandidCreative1) February 1, 2021
I mean, journaling is something we’re supposed to do as writers, right? Shouldn’t it be the mainstay and bread and butter of all of our writing foundations? After all, it’s where so many of us get our first words on paper, scratching out stories and pouring our souls onto the page — including me.
When I was 12, I remember sitting down to write for the first time, and the words just flowed. Because I was angry at my parents, my anger pierced the page as I shared my heart and my soul, one word at a time. I couldn’t stop. I kept going even though my hand started to hurt, and I kept going until I had no more words to say.
With all my emotions on the page, I felt clean and calm. Anger obliterated.
Fast forward to today, journaling as a writer who wants to see her work published follows a different trajectory. For starters, I don’t write by hand anymore. That’s in part because of laziness and in part because I type so much faster than I can make the pen go. My hand simply can’t keep up with my thoughts.
Now, when I’m done journaling, I no longer feel like I’ve emptied my soul on the page. Instead, I have a lot of ideas that sometimes connect but often don’t — and I’m OK with that. In fact, most of my entries are a mess. No one could ever follow what I’ve written on these pages, and I’d be embarrassed to show them to anyone.
Whether or not they connect and make sense (to me or anyone else), I can take my scratchings and transform them into an article, a short story, or a personal essay. ???? They’re the beginning of everything.
There are lots of other reasons to journal, too. Journaling can help you:
✍️ Get started. Whether you’re starting a writing practice, a pitch or a book, journaling helps you break through the initial resistance. It provides an easy way to let your thoughts slip from your fingers and onto the page. The intention of journaling isn’t to judge, shape or edit your words — just let the ideas brewing in your brain translate to the written word.
✍️ Address your feelings. Psychologist James Pennebaker wrote about the various ways expressive writing helps you process your emotions. His book, Opening Up By Writing It Down, discusses the physical and emotional health benefits of writing.
✍️ Develop your story. You can use journaling at any stage of the process of writing a book or story, to brainstorm an article, flesh out ideas or solidify your last details.
✍️ Tell your story beginning to end. You have an idea for a story, but when you try to write it formally, you get caught in crafting beautiful sentences and the story gets away from you — does that ever happen to you? Instead of trying to make it pretty, write down the details from start to finish.
✍️ Jot down ideas to use later. My college mentor Barbara Stoler Miller advised me to carry a notebook with me to write down any ideas I wanted to remember. After you do this, go back to your notebook every month or two, pick up a thread that speaks to you and start writing.
✍️ Make decisions. There’s nothing better than journaling to sort out your thoughts and figure out what you want. It’s like talking to a friend, except you’re your friend.
✍️ Improve your writing skills. The act of writing makes you a writer, and the more you write, the more you learn.
Besides all the reasons you should journal, there are many ways to journal, too. Some exercises help you dig deep into a plot, character or idea. Others help you let go and let the chaos of creativity lead you where you want to go, while some journaling is meant to support your health and well-being. Journaling can create words for others to read, but it’s OK if some things you write are just for you.
17 Ways to Approach Journaling When It Makes You Want to D*e
Read on for a list of ways to journal and how you can apply them. Of course, nothing with journaling is written in stone. Start with these prompts and see where they take you.
1. Write to burn
Write your thoughts down on a piece of paper and then burn it. The process is one of letting go. You put everything you feel on paper, and then when it burns, you release it into the ether.
2. Write by hand
There are plenty of science-backed reasons why you should write by hand. It helps you remember what you wrote, for example. Handwriting improves your spelling, memory, and retention of details, and it relieves stress, depression and anxiety. Plus, you’re more likely to stay focused on the page, because paper doesn’t include the option of checking Twitter.
3. Document your dreams
Instead of telling a friend the weird meandering details of your dreams, write them down. You can analyze them later or turn them into a story or poem.
4. Do it on your phone
Writing on your phone is more casual. There’s less stress to perform, which frees you to be creative. It’s also fast and lets you take quick notes as ideas pop into your head. Plus, you can take photos to illustrate your thoughts.
Writer Jody Gerbig wrote What We Abandon In Memoir for Brevity, and it’s about how she wrote a draft of her memoir on her phone while parenting triplets. She writes:
“Over the next six months, I draft in frantic spurts on my phone—while standing at the stove waiting for water to boil or in an empty field watching kids run circles. I jot down thoughts on the calendar as though needing to record their occurrence in time: I knew their differences before they were born, I write on April 11. Last Christmas, they wanted to know about death, I note on May 21. But even these minute-long diversions feel like betrayals, my children chanting Mom, Mom as I thumb the phone’s keypad.”
5. Journaling with your kids
Make journaling a family event where you sit down with notebooks, crayons, pens and pencils. You can let your kids do what they want while you also take the time to journal, whether it’s drawing, scribbling, or writing stories. Use different colors and let your imagination go where it wants to go. It’s not only an opportunity to get words on paper, but also a chance to be free and play — all of which benefit you and the kids in your life.
6. Just 10 minutes
Journaling doesn’t have to be a long-drawn-out event. Just 10 minutes is more than enough to get your ideas on paper. Anyone can fit 10 minutes into their day, and when you regularly write for just 10 minutes, you develop a writing practice. Over time, those minutes and words on the page can add up and turn into articles, books and who knows what else.
7. Gratitude journaling
The psychologist Martin Seligman touts the benefits of writing down three good things for which you’re grateful to help you focus on what’s good about your life. In turn, gratitude journaling alleviates anxiety and depression and generally makes you a happier person.
8. Loving-kindness journaling
Based on the Buddhist metta meditation, this journaling exercise asks you to think of three people in your life: one who you don’t know well but see from time to time, another person you love and are happy to have in your life, and one person you have a challenging relationship with.
For each, write down the good things about the person, like how you feel around them and what you wish for them.
This is an excellent exercise to flesh out characters in a novel or dive into someone who appears in your memoir. Or you can simply do this to help yourself be mindful of how you feel about the people in your life.
9. Write a letter by hand
Choose one person in your life and write a letter to them. In this letter, tell them your truth. You can talk about how you feel about them, whether you express your love or let them know why you’re angry. Whatever your emotion, explain it, expand it and really feel it.
What you do with the letter after you finish writing it is up to you. Maybe it’ll end up in a piece of fiction, maybe you’ll pop it in the mail and send it to the person you wrote, maybe you’ll put it away for later, or maybe you’ll even burn and release it.
10. Write your morning pages
Sit down first thing after getting up in the morning and write three full stream-of-consciousness pages by hand. In these three pages, which take an estimated half an hour of writing, you pour whatever’s on your mind onto the page.
This journaling technique is from Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. According to Cameron, there’s no wrong way to do morning pages. They organize your thoughts, elucidate ideas and prepare you for the rest of your day.
The website 750 Words is based on it, and you can write your pages there. Although you won’t get the benefits of handwriting, you have you an opportunity to “think out loud” and get your ideas in order without the pressure of having to create to reach a specific goal.
11. Do it like social media, but private
If you’re one of those people who hates journaling but has no problem tweeting or posting on social media, think of your journal as a compendium of ideas to post later. Write short pieces about anything you want, from random thoughts to parenting advice, to silly conversations you hear around you, to smart things you do or say.
These short pieces can turn into prompts for longer essays, dialogue in a story, or maybe you share them on social media as part of your writing platform.
12. Write it as a blog post (like Seth Godin does)
Use blogging as a way to keep writing. Choose one idea, write it and then post it somewhere for others to read. It’s not private like your notebook, but that’s the point — because when you write for an audience, you shift the way you present yourself.
Author Seth Godin made a commitment to write one blog post every day. Sometimes it’s long; sometimes it’s short. While it’s possible you’ll have an audience, it’s also alright if you don’t. The key is to ship something new on a daily basis.
13. Draw
Writing isn’t only the only way to tap into your creative energies. You can also draw, create a mind map of ideas, enjoy a coloring book to relax, or any other creative endeavor that helps you relax into making something new.
14. Write it in your calendar
My best friend Jen does this. At the end of each day, she notes in her calendar what she did, who she saw, sometimes even what she ate. It’s a written record of her life that could be the seeds of a memoir
15. Describe your environment
Look around you and write it down. What details strike you? What emotions do you feel? Is there a breeze? An odor? A color you’ve never seen before? This simple journaling exercise creates good writing habits as you observe the world around you more fully.
16. Write until you reach the other side of shame
Shame is often the reason journaling can be so painful, isn’t it? You’re ashamed of how awful your writing is. You’re embarrassed to admit something. My advice is to write anyway.
Even in the moment where you want to die, keep your pen moving. As you journal through difficult emotions, focus on your feelings rather than the words and see how they change over the course of your journal entry. No matter what you feel, write about the emotion, and write until the shame or any negative feeling shifts.
???? Remember: Write about the shift.
17. Make a list
I love lists. They’re an easy way to:
- Start a blog post.
- Structure a novel.
- Organize what you have to do.
- Remember the reasons why you’re pissed at your partner.
You can go back anytime you want to develop your list into something else.
How to Boost the Benefits of Your Journaling Time
Mindset often gets in the way of journaling. Thus, the cringe shame that arises when you write. The following tips help make the process easier and more productive.
Have faith
When you sit down to write, it can feel weird and stilted. Why are you sitting there writing about yourself? The answer may not be readily apparent when you begin, but do it anyway and see what happens.
Journaling doesn’t guarantee results, but it’s a powerful tool to unlock your subconscious. When you give it a chance and follow the words on the page, you’ll often surprise yourself with what you create.
Freewriting
Freewriting is one of the most powerful ways I’ve found to stop thinking too much and dive into your unconscious mind. How to free-write? Simply set a timer, then put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and let go. There are only two rules: Don’t edit or erase. If you don’t like what you wrote or want to change the subject, just go to the next line and keep writing.
Do it with a partner
Sitting with someone to write creates accountability you don’t have when you work alone. Whether in person or online, co-working sessions are an incredibly powerful way to keep you on task.
I run two co-working sessions every week as part of The Workshop, my online writing community. They’re a quiet space where we get things done. It’s also an excellent place to bring projects that are stalled or that you’re procrastinating. Because you’re surrounded by people inching closer to their goals, it’s easy to stay focused and keep going until the end of the session.
Drop your journaling expectations
Expectations kill happiness. Whether it’s on vacation, your wedding, visiting Paris and of course, expectations can ruin journaling, too. If you sit down expecting to write three pages of your novel, it might happen, but it might not.
The whole point of journaling is to leave space for the creativity that comes out of chaos. Instead of trying to force your will, sit down and let happen what happens. It might suck; it might not. It might spark your next idea, or you might get stuck. Whatever comes your way, embrace it all.
Keep journaling
Consistency leads to results. While you may not know what you’ll produce while journaling, the more you do it, the more you’ll see the benefits. It can be frustrating, but those are often the times you’ll learn the most.
Reminders for Writers: Journaling Without Judgment
Your inner editor is likely to poke its head out and start telling you what’s wrong with your journaling, but self-criticism will stop your creativity. Instead, try these self-care writing tips to ease your words on the page.
???? Be kind to yourself. You’re not supposed to like everything you write, so if the words on the page make you cringe, give yourself some grace. Think about how you’d react if a child came to you with words on the page — you’d have patience and look for the good, right? Do the same for yourself.
???? You’re not supposed to be perfect. Nothing you write will ever be 100% perfect. That’s the nature of writing and art. Don’t worry if what you’re doing isn’t exactly as you envisioned it. Instead, look for the possibilities in what you’ve written and see where you can go with it.
???? You’re a terrible judge of your writing. (Particularly in the moment of writing it.) There are days I’ll write a sentence and think it’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever done. Then, I go back the next day, and my brilliance seems to have vanished overnight. Other times, I’ll free-write and won’t think it’s anything special. But when I come back later to read it, I find kernels of truth and imagery I love. The real kicker? I don’t always remember writing it.
Instead of looking at your journaling through a lens of good vs bad — try to see beyond the simplicity of judgment to see what’s working and how you can use it to your benefit.????
Because the crux of being a writer is knowing how to use your words to change your reader. You build words into images, which generate stories that lead to ideas your readers can carry with them beyond the pages of a book or article. You help your readers see differently.
Or you can decide your journaling is just for you. That’s alright, too.
