Wanted: The ‘Perfect' Journal

Any notebook will do for your writer's journal. You can use a spiral notebook or composition book from the school supplies section a t your favorite store or visit the bookstore for a selection of blank books. The variety is impressive, from lined or unlined sheets to various sizes (and shapes). The important thing is that you feel comfortable with the book so you'll enjoy writing in it often.

You might even prefer to use your computer to journal. Many of my writing friends insist this is the best method because of the "search and find" features on most word processing programs. I prefer a portable, handwritten journal. If this is your choice, too, choose a writing instrument with as much care as the journal itself. Do you want to hear the scratching of a pencil or marker on the page or feel the glide of a gel-ink or fountain pen? I like the feel of smooth, thicker paper and the fast, flowing ink of a Roller Ball. But, I also prefer different colors to help me designate different days at a glance. The choice is yours.

Whichever method you choose, be sure to keep the first few pages blank. Record favorite writing exercises or prompts on those opening pages. You'll be able to quickly find writing prompts whenever you want to write during unexpected spare time. Each time you complete an exercise, you'll gain something more from it. Draw from these completed exercises, just as you'll glean from experiences in each journal entry in developing writing ideas.

Journaling: Writers Basic Training

Keeping a journal is the best way to harness thoughts, memories, ideas and dreams. Those penned experiences will provide plenty of details to add realism to your stories. Journaling also serves as "training," to help you find your writer's voice, among many other writing skills.

You don't need to write daily, and the entries you make could be one page or ten pages. They don't need to make sense as far as transitions or sequence either. I often use // in the margin of my journal to indicate a change in thought or when I've returned later in the day to record a new thought or idea. I put an asterisk next to ideas or dreams that I think have story or article potential. I usually reread entries monthly to add idea notes in the margins or highlight pieces I think may be useful in the near future. 

Sometimes entries during the course of several weeks or a month show an idea slowly developing and I'll start a new entry which comments on those previous ideas, reminding myself how the idea sparked and where I see it possibly leading. It is usually a lack of time that keeps me from outlining or drafting these ideas right away, so using the journal helps me document them for later development.

I also do writing exercises in my journals, practicing different story elements–dialogue, description, sensory details. I find it helpful to clear my mind by writing ideas down before bed-time. When I'm under deadline, journaling helps me clear my thoughts each morning so I'm able to focus on the project at hand. 

Tuning into Ideas

You've already begun recording ideas as you notice them. Another way to find ideas is to make some lists. It helps to open with questions. What topics interest you? Try to list two or three. What questions are triggered when you watch or read the news? List a few. Collect names for places and characters, too. Use the ideas you gather to fill in the following list. Try to collect ten items in the coming week.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Find and write down inspiring quotes, too. At the end of the week, review your list and write down article ideas or story plots based on merging the bits and pieces you've recorded.

Challenge yourself to expand the list each week, building to 12, 15, 18, or 20 items in the coming weeks.

Protest SOPA and PIPA to stop internet censorship

On Jan 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity. Learn more at the SOPA Infographic and by visiting Stop American Censorship

Writers depend on social media, social networking, an independent sites to promote their work and keep in touch with fans. This bill could seriously infringe on our ability to continue sharing and self-expression. It also threatens information made available through libraries and school libraries, especially, are in danger through budget cuts. Where will it end? Please educate yourself and join the protest!

Finding Ideas: Train Your Brain

New classes began this week for several venues in which I teach—college level writing skills, creative and nonfiction writing, and storytelling with my elementary students. No matter the age or level of the writer, before you can write, you need ideas.

Ideas are all around us, but many new writers need to train themselves to recognize ideas. Yes, being open to ideas from our experiences comes with time. This is also why journaling is beneficial. Before you decide to journal, though, spend some time answering questions.

What's on your mind? What do you wonder about? Record interesting bits of overheard conversation. Describe interesting people you meet or notice. As you write about what has happened in your life and record enjoyable experiences, it's easier to see potential ideas as they surface.

Another way to train your brain to notice ideas is to make a list every evening. What errands, events, incidents, people, activities, and places made up your day? Even if you only list two or three items each evening, by the end of the week you'll have a longer list to work with. Now, use three large index cards to categorize the list. Mark one card "characters," one "plot points," and the last card "details." Transfer items from your list to the appropriate card. For example, events and incidents go on "plot points" while sensory experiences and descriptors go on "details." Interesting people you've dealt with, from cashiers and bank tellers to rowdy kids, go on "characters." Jumbling items from all three cards will create prompts for story writing.

Continue organizing those ideas; the more ideas you collect, the easier it will be to translate them from experience to story idea.

Write Through the Year

I've had a nice long break from teaching. Writing workshops concluded just after Thanksgiving. Teaching for both elementary arts enrichment students and college students concluded the second week in December. That makes it from 4-6 weeks since some of my students have seen me.

My workshops students, however, have been in contact. Not every one of them, but several. Most have asked for advice on how to keep up their writing, so I've decided to add postings to Word Coach to help them out. I'm calling them "Write Through the Year" and I'll answer questions about finding ideas, keeping a writer's journal, various craft elements, creating or finding critique groups, and so on. Stay tuned!

Out of Character

This morning I saw something unusual. Something unbelievable. It lasted only about two minutes, yet I've been thinking about it for awhile. I watched a duck, one of those large and ugly Muscovy ducks, land in a white pine outside my lanai. 

It was absurd. I usually watch squirrels and woodpeckers in this tree. But this huge bird tried to go where it is not designed to go. I watched this duck gingerly step across the branch, its webbed feet awkward on the bough. It looked up into the pine needles and nearly lost its balance. It looked down along the bark, moving cautiously, like a human walking a tightrope. It inched along the limb until its own weight caused the tree limb to bend and the poor duck fell. Instinct caused it to extend wings but it was surrounded by pine cones, needles, and tree limbs. So it made quite a racket as it crashed through the lower branches until it was able to fly away.

I wonder what caused this duck to attempt to waddle on webbed feet through the treetops? I sat in disbelief by what I'd seen. There was a lesson behind it, brief though the observation was. 

This is must be how the reader feels when we ask our characters to act outside their nature. We  create our characters and so know (or should know anyway) what makes them tick. When we drop them into a tree (or some other scene or situation in which they do not belong) it sticks out for the reader, much like this duck distracted me from what I'd been doing. I had to stop and watch this absurdity play out. 

In our stories, though, the reader may not watch in disbelief, rubbing his or her eyes and wondering, "Am I seeing things?" The reader may drop the story in disappointment, feeling let down by the writer. "Does he really think I'm an idiot to believe this would happen next?" "Where did this timid character suddenly find such courage?" 

Its okay to challenge a character, to give him or her flaws. These make the character real, just as real people face unusual circumstances and learn and grow from them. But remember to play fair. You created the characters after all, so you should know how they will each act and react in a given situation. Dropping them into conflict just to stir things up doesn't help the story--or endear the reader to you or your characters.