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My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. S., handed out little blue bound books on the first day of school. They were our journals, she said, and we would write in them every day for 20 minutes after lunch and recess.
I’d received diaries before as gifts, but never really wrote more than a few pages. But there was something about that little blue notebook that made me want to fill it up. While my classmates struggled to write a single page each day, I scribbled out two, three, even four pages in a session. I went through three of those books that year, and from fifth grade through high school, and partway into college, I wrote in my journal almost every day.
I also wrote scores of short stories, poems, and essays, and came up with dozens of article ideas and book plots. But then life started to catch up with me, and my journals fell by the wayside. The funny thing is, I keep buying them as though I’m filling one every three to four months, but I haven’t written a word in one of those journals in a couple of years. (I literally have shelves full of empty journals.) I’ve also seen a major decline in my creativity and productivity when it comes to other projects. Is this a coincidence? Doubtful.
Journal writing provides scads of benefits for everyone, particularly reducing stress and increasing self-awareness, but it’s particularly good for writers. When you spend hours upon hours writing for other people, it’s easy to forget why you write in the first place.
Starting next week, take some time to reconnect with your inner writer. Grab a notebook and a pen and just start writing. Even if you go at it for only 10 or 15 minutes, it’s a start. Try to do it a couple of times a week and see how it feels in a month. I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Not sure where to start? Try A Creative Journal.
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Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest
Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King. All rights reserved.
Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King
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