I wake from my night's slumber and some mornings, I find it hard to open my eyes. I lay there thinking about writing, knowing that as soon as I climb out of bed, perform my early morning rituals and prepare my first cup of coffee (though sometimes, I am blessed and my significant other - SO for short, has risen before me, will sometimes bring a cuppa for me on his way back from the kitchen to the bathroom for his shower), I will open my diary and update my 'to do list', it is then I begin to journal.
This has become a ritual. A ritual I welcome.
Journalling for me is something I must do. It is now part of who I am. It also helps me to sustain my writing everyday, even when things get busy.
Journalling helps me to fill blank pages with words and sentences. Journalling is very personal and if anyone knows me, it is these books I fill with my thoughts, feelings, dreams, ideas, events and personal data that makes up my life. My journals are a window to me.
Journalling is important to me and it is a habit. There was a time in my life when I didn't journal; I didn't feel the need to journal. But, that was then and this is now. I am not suggesting that journalling is for everyone. It's not. But it is for me.
I love to watch the pages once blank, fill with the words I have chosen to make sentences. Each in turn, making a story; my story.
All forms of writing begin a journey. Writing in my journal, or writing a poem, a short story, or writing a novel, letter or memo, I take the reader on a journey. Choosing just the right words to make just the right sentences is very important in the process. This takes practice.
Care and thoughtfulness is important to the process of taking a reader on a journey, one step at a time, or in this case, one word at a time. It is important to show the reader where we are going, without disruption; enabling them to see the things we see, to feel the things we feel, to smell the things we smell, and to enjoy the journey as much as we do and to stay on track. If we do deviate, we must remember to come back and join the thread.
Adding in snippets of interesting titbits along the way is an important facet to weaving a story. Carefully chosen words helping show, rather that tell the reader, is an art in itself and something I continue to work on.
Daily writing practice is like taking a journey every day. Thinking about the big picture all the time can sometimes overwhelm the writer. Choose to concentrate on today's journey and see where it leads you.
A good writing exercise is to go for a walk for about twenty minutes. When you return home, sit down at your desk and write about it. What did you see along the way, what did you hear, smell, and touch. Try to write in such a way that the reader actually feels like they are taking the same walk. Write in a way that suggests you are taking the walk again, but this time, at your desk. Exercises such as this are a good way to fit in your daily writing time and they sharpen your skills.
Have a go...try and commit daily to writing, and thinking about your writing.
and importantly, have fun...
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