Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Why Journal?

What's kicking, punk dogs?

So the other day, I dug around my dump of a room and found a had an absurd amount of binders, notebooks and journals packed in a box (several boxes, actually). That left me wondering why are we, as writers, so fascinated with journals and notebooks? Are we so enthralled that our ideas can be physically stated? Are we so inspired by the empty pages that just beg to be scribbled with information? I'm serious. Even as a kid I would marvel at new spirals with empty, lined pages like they were the latest transformer, or whatever.

I'm not sure what it is, but, for some reason, every time I enter any store, I have to stop by the office supplies aisle, simply to admire the crisp and fresh journals they have on display. It's exciting to look through the different kinds of notebooks and I to think of all the fascinating ideas I'd fill them with. Eventually, I end up walking out with maybe five journals (exaggeration). But, rather than overfilling them with incredible character outlines or plot ideas, I just end up filling each one half way or ripping up almost half of them, tossing out the majority of my pathetic ideas (understatement).

Anyway, I spent the majority of that afternoon looking through said ripped-up and half-filled spirals and journals and read back all the things I wrote in the past. It was very nostalgic. Every written document, every stated idea, every half finished character outline was all there. And it made me sad that I had turned to digital forms of writing, where a simple unfavorable piece can be forgotten with a simple button. Despite the simplicity digital writing offers on removing a writer's work (Both willingly and accidentally. Good job technology.), journals offer a solution as well; ripping pages and tossing them into trash bins. Which I've done a lot of in the past and painfully regret.

As a developing writer, I would highly suggest, which I never thought I'd say, to keep a journal. I remember back when I was starting out as a writer, I disliked, no, hated journaling. I don't know why. Something about writing what you feel and what had happened during your day just seemed so dull. I just wanted to write some intense, elaborate and fantastic story that could keep me entertained.

I eventually got into journaling (still found it dull). But I kept it up for a while and didn't really specify much. As I discovered all these notebooks, however, I happened to stumble upon this particular journal. I found that it was really amusing. As I read each entry, I wanted to know more about it. Why I had felt a certain way, or what I did after a certain action. But my lazy, past self decided not to get into the details because he was not amused at the time.

The truth is, journal entries are extremely exciting, especially after a passing of time. One comes to learn about an old character of the past whom they had known. One gets to watch it grow day by day, entry by entry, and watch as it accomplishes achievements, makes mistakes and how it reacts toward them. One gets to see what hurts and what builds this character up. And at the end of the journal, one sits and wonders 'what happened to that character?', 'What made it change into the person I am today?'.

Journaling is a strange thing that, at first, I never thought could aid in my writing. If anything, I thought it was a waste of time. But, given some effort and dedication, I've come to learn that it aids in developing one's own unique voice and helps to recollect a person's own thoughts. But journaling still has its challenges, especially for people like my old journal self.

Something that really helped me during those times were scheduling and consistency. I made it a habit to write every morning and kept a schedule on it (That was one of the reasons why I eventually stopped, my schedule flipped and my consistency flew out the window).

But the thing that really helped me to journal was writing as if I was talking to a friend. I wrote about anything and everything; my next story idea, a new guitar song, the girl who sat two rows in front of me, why I don't want to write in a journal. Despite all the entries I obligingly wrote back then, I came to find how interesting it was.

What about you guys? Where do your thoughts stand on journaling? Do you feel it's built you as a writer?

Thank you and safe travels.

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