All The Wonderful Forms of Journal Writing
The day has gotten away from me.
First there was the small matter of waking up just the tiniest bit hungover, thanks to an evening out with Mayanna at Bernie's Southern Bistro. Everyone who lives in the city of Portland and many who don't have been to Bernie's, but I had never been until last night. The food was grand, and so was the barfly company. Fun night. But not conducive to being at my sharpest this morning.
Then I had to run to the grocery store for ingredients to make gooey banana bread with chocolate chips and coconut in it for my writing group's Christmas party tonight. Then I had to have lunch with my son at Cadillac Cafe. Then I had to come home and actually make the banana bread. And now it is after four, getting dark enough to turn the outside Christmas lights on, and I've not written my promised blog post.
So, here's the deal: today I'm going to write briefly about the four kinds of journal writing I like to practice, as a sort of preview and then go into them more throughly in the next couple of posts. Okay? Okay. Here we go:
- Morning Pages. Popularized by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way, morning pages are just that–3 pages of writing, done first thing in the morning.
- Whiny Emotional Outbursts. Often occurring in morning pages, whiny emotional outbursts are why I don't have therapy bills–because it all goes on the page.
- Day Planning. Obsessing on paper about all the things I need to get done, and figuring out a plan to accomplish them.
- Chronology. My current favorite, the chronology is actually writing about what happened in my life the day before. The kind of things that people used to write letters about, when we wrote letters.
So there you have it, a wee preview of what I'm going to be writing about again soon. Maybe even tomorrow, but I'm not promising anything, as I do have another social event at which wine will be served tonight.
If you want to read the first two posts on journal writing, here they are:
Part One, Journaling: One Path to Writing Abundance
Part Two, Practical Considerations for Journal Writing
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Julie Isaac
There was a time, when I was much younger, that I used to journal about my life… but that was long ago. Now, the various journals I have scattered about (I’m usually writing in several at once, so it can be tricky finding a particular inspiration) are filled with brainstorming sessions on my creative projects, spiritual exploration, and an occasional “to do” list. The rest of my life has learned to take care of itself.
Julie
http://WritingSpirit.com
Charlotte Dixon
Julie, you speak to a great point–life does tend to sort itself out the more one writes. I’m not sure if that is because of writing so much about it that it is processed, or simply because when you are absorbed in writing, all else seems to fall into place. Reminds me of a great thing I read on a motel reader board years ago: Looking for yourself? Get busy, you will show up.