It might surprise you to learn that a journal can help you become a better writer. This applies to all writers, whether they write non-fiction, fiction, poetry or any other genre and format.
A writer’s journal will allow you to play with ideas, methods, scenes, etc, which will help you improve your writing regardless of genre.
So what is a writer’s journal?
A writer’s journal is to a writer what a sketchpad is to an artist. It could be a notebook, an exercise book, a ring binder, or a file on your computer. It becomes a place where you store ideas and thoughts that will help you write.
Journal writing
Once you have decided what to use for your writer’s journal, you ask yourself how to use your writer’s journal. What do you put in it? Am I doing it right? Is a question that often comes to mind when first starting out, and the answer isn’t an easy yes or no.
The answer is that you need to do what works for you, whether it’s writing notes, descriptions, ideas, scenes, sketching drawings, pasting in snippets from magazines, or any combination of these things. There are many more things you could do in your journaling; you’re only limited by your imagination.
Using a writer’s journal as a resource
How do you use it when you need to find something within the journal? You can use sticky notes to mark the page, fold the corner over, or write the information down on a fresh piece of paper. You use the material in the journal in the way best suited to your personality and writing method.
It may take some time for you to figure out what works best, but that is part of the fun of being a writer. Your journal will allow you to look back over your progress and see what you have learned. Each time you look through your writer’s journal you may find something new.
Additionally, you could even include an index at the back of each of your journals so that you can quickly search for relevant topics at a later date.
Once you complete a journal, keep it as reference material and start a fresh new journal.
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