Journaling is an important aspect of a writer's life and this becomes a topic of discussion in writing workshops that I lead. While one might think this is a relatively straight forward idea, there are all sorts of considerations that go into making this work for you. For example, what kind of notebook do you journal in? Mary Amato, an aclaimed and award-winning children's author writes about the importance of carrying a notebook in her blog, so the size of the notebook becomes an issue. I have more than one: I carry a small one in my pocket, a medium sized one in a bag and my daily journals go into large notebooks. This can get confusing, but that's a topic for another day.
What is a journal? It needs to be whatever serves you as a writer. In my workshops I find this can cause some confusion and I do my best to explain there are no rules, except for one: write every day. Even if it is only for ten or fifteen minutes. Get into the habit. Start with whatever comes to mind. Better yet, refer to the little notebook you carry with you everyday (you do carry a little notebook don't you?) and start with something that caught your attention the day before. Complain, celebrate, observe, describe: pretty soon you will find you won't lack topics, you will lack time.
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I am reading Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo, an amazing book, which is reminding me how important it is to stumble, to wander, and to feel like a beginner even when you've been playing for a lifetime.
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