Devotion ~ Question #2 Journals

SnoopyDances · Unread post by **SnoopyDances** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 12:19 pm

"My French publisher has arranged a week of book-related events that include speaking to journalists about writing. My notebook remains untouched. A writer who isn't writing going to talk with journalists about writing." (Devotion p. 7)

Do you keep a journal or diary or notebook?
What types of things do you write in it?

Unread post by **fireflydances** » Fri Oct 19, 2018 6:59 pm

In my twenties I began keeping dream journals. I was reading a lot of Carl Jung who also kept dream journals. Much to my amazement the more I wrote, the more I remembered, and the richer the descriptions of my dreams I was able to recall. Got to the point that I was writing at least 40 minutes a day capturing dreams. To this day I use those journals in my writing. Sort of this direct pathway to the Unconscious. They are in my poetry, my stories. Kind of like a treasure mind, you know?

Journaling, whether for dreams or simply to capture your thoughts, your experiences, is a very productive tool. You pour it out, and close the notebook. You don't write everyday; maybe you even skip weeks, but those ideas and perceptions "in the moment" have been preserved. You return and read them. You may understand better in hindsight what you were scribbling about days or weeks early. Sometimes you add a note at the bottom, sort of capturing your re-thinking of the matter. Keep the books, for decades. You won't be sorry.

All the care taken emptying the mind, reviewing your thoughts, adding a refinement -- all of this helps unravel problems. Your journal can be about one thing that your love, or it can range all over the place. Always, the rewards you reap is far deeper than you anticipated. Get those thoughts down.

nebraska · Unread post by **nebraska** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 12:40 pm

I have kept a journal from time to time, but it usually ended up being a therapy session for myself, with many painful memories and emotions being poured out, dissected, and dealt with. Those things have been destroyed, they were simply too deeply personal to risk anyone seeing, even after I am long gone.

When my sister was living, we wrote an email to each other every single day. That is a habit I have continued, sharing my daily report with a niece and a couple of close friends. Those emails are filled with daily little details like how much laundry I did and what bargain I found at the store. They are mostly kept in my "sent" folders. It is rare I need to refer to them for anything and eventually I will probably just delete them. The daily writing, however, is valuable because it gives me the opportunity to reflect on my life as I go.

These days at the end of each month I make a 2-page 6" x 6" scrapbook layout, with small photos of the events that happened that month. I have done this for several years now. It is fun to look back at the things that have happened -- holidays and birthdays, visits to the botanical garden, family gatherings, vacations, flowers blooming in my yard or an unusual snow storm, whatever I have photos of to include. Sometimes it documents a family birth or death. Just one little photo is enough to bring back the memories or answer the question "when did whatever happen? "

Unread post by **Theresa** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 3:28 pm

No, I don't journal. I've tried, over the years, but have never followed through. I'm not a writer...it feels unnatural to try and write out my day/thoughts/feelings. After I discovered bullet journalling, I thought that maybe just keeping track of my days with bullet points instead of flowing paragraphs might work better for me.

Well, not so much better...but at least I haven't abandoned that. Yet.

Unread post by **fireflydances** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:08 pm

Theresa wrote:No, I don't journal. I've tried, over the years, but have never followed through. I'm not a writer...it feels unnatural to try and write out my day/thoughts/feelings. After I discovered bullet journalling, I thought that maybe just keeping track of my days with bullet points instead of flowing paragraphs might work better for me.

Well, not so much better...but at least I haven't abandoned that. Yet.

Absolutely! You don't need to write more than a sentence sometimes. Just some thing or thought that filled you on a given day. And regularity is less important than simply using that notebook when you want to record something. It's for you, after all.

Nebraska: I, too, used my journal years ago as a therapy place. It really helped me go deep into a problem I was having and all that continual recording and then looking back and re-framing helped enormously. Very personal stuff.

In any case, when my mom passed in the summer of 2017 we found her and my father's correspondence. And my mom's journals. They were illuminating to read, really affected how I looked at the two of them, and not in a bad way. I just felt I understood better some of the things I watched as a child.

Maybe its the historian in me.

stroch · Unread post by **stroch** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 6:27 pm

No journals. I destroyed the ones I did write when I read them years later. Mortifying to have been so young and self-important.

SnoopyDances · Unread post by **SnoopyDances** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:02 pm

No journals here, either.
I had those little diaries when I was a kid and that made realize what a dull life I had.

I've never kept a diary or journal since.

Unread post by **Theresa** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:25 pm

SnoopyDances wrote:No journals here, either.
I had those little diaries when I was a kid and that made realize what a dull life I had.

I've never kept a diary or journal since.

So did I...those itty bitty 5 year diaries with a lock. Boy I was a boring kid...more than half of the entries in there say "Nothing happened today"

SnoopyDances · Unread post by **SnoopyDances** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:48 pm

Theresa wrote:
SnoopyDances wrote:No journals here, either.
I had those little diaries when I was a kid and that made realize what a dull life I had.

I've never kept a diary or journal since.
So did I...those itty bitty 5 year diaries with a lock. Boy I was a boring kid...more than half of the entries in there say "Nothing happened today"

JOHNNY DEPP ZONE