WRITER'S JOURNAL

When I think of keeper's of journals, the first one that comes to mind is Anne Frank. Maybe because I first read her journal (or diary) when I was about sixteen, the age when she wrote the final pages of her diary--and died. As an adult, I found (I think there were three of them) the diaries of Anne Morrow Lindbergh--youth, maturity, happiness through tragedy--through odd marriage to charming independence. The words of both of these diarists have haunted me.

A writer's journal can be anything we want; a place to examine feelings and reveal daily happenings as my two favorite examples, and they can also be a source to inspire our writing. Over the years my own journals have included new ideas, lists of characters names and descriptions, events in my daily life, travel, news clippings, a collection of words and phrases, cards received, and photographs. In some I have actually completed entire short stories.

Someone once said keeping a journal is like "thinking aloud on paper." One idea can lead to another. One news clipping can become the basis for a story--or book. A photograph may trigger a personal essay. Sharing places you've traveled to, or lived in, could help you discover somethng new about yourself. For example, maybe there's a spark of adventure within you that you've allowed to become dorment. The urge to write could be rekindled by journaling about what you want out of life, your dreams, your need to write, or the daily events around you.

Pick up that journal, or even a sheet of paper, and think on paper.