Journalling For Writing and For Mental Health
The above photo shows how a journal can be so many things. A place to draw, a place to save thoughts and ideas, and a place to express yourself in any way you like. It can even be a scrapbook where you tape in movie tickets to a film you saw that moved you, or just about anything.
A journal can be healing and it can be a writer’s best friend. I teach a creative writing class in a psychiatric hospital and every time I get new students, I go over the importance of journalling. A journal can be your best friend and confidant. Inside its pages you can let loose all your feelings and emotions without fear of reprisals or hurting anyone’s feelings. Of course, I do feel you should take certain precautions when you get a journal. I am fortunate enough to live alone, but if you live with someone, or even have guests often, you should first put your name, address and phone number in your journal and then state clearly on the inside cover the following:
“This is the personal, private journal of ______. Please respect my privacy and do not read the contents but instead return it to me as soon as you can.”
Of course, there are people who will read that who will only have their curiosity piqued and dive right into your personal thoughts and feelings. This is why I suggest keeping two or more journals, one for your thoughts and feelings — which you keep in a safe, hidden place, and using the others for your writing.
A writing journal can be so many things. You can save certain words or phrases you hear that you would just die to fit into your next story. One time I was on the bus and a friend told me, “You’ve got to face the day or you’re going to have to live the night.” It was beautiful. I saved it in a journal and worked it into a poem. When it was published, I gave my friend a copy and he was very happy.
Something I often use my writing journal for is to get myself kick-started into working on something. If I am going to write an opinion piece I will write the opening teaser. If I want to write a story, I will handwrite the intro or some dialogue in my journal and then jot down basic ideas. Brainstorm. I don’t suggest that most writers do this and then launch into a final draft. I do suggest that you write a full, clear and complete outline first instead. If you write out an outline, the piece you are working on will be so much easier to write. It’s the difference between taking one step at a time and trying to jump up a set of seven of them. As you progress as a writer you may decide you work better without an outline, but personally even after writing and publishing for 30 years I don’t often skip outlining.
Some people may still be wondering how a journal can be for both mental health and writing. My mom kept a journal for many years. Each night she would go to bed early, and then take out a notebook, write the date at the top, then a number from one to ten marking her mood. Then she would write as though she were writing a letter to her best friend. She told me it helped her in many ways. First of all, she could complain all she wanted without getting anyone frustrated with her. Second of all, she could chart progress in certain areas and setbacks in others.
When I began my writing career, I was at a loss to know what to write about. I actually kept three journals. One for thoughts, feelings and writing, another for when I watched a movie and wanted to write about it, and a third for when I read a book and wanted to save the experience. These simple exercises and practice of being attentive to details and writing about them formed the foundation of my writing. When I got my first electric typewriter (yes, I know I am old-no one even makes typewriters anymore!) I forced myself to write out a full page of a journal every day. How did it work out? Well, you are reading this now aren’t you? ;-)
Some last points. I buy a lot of notebooks from the dollar store, and despite that I have dozens now, I still sometimes have to search for some blank space. Something I suggest is that you get a few regular-sized, hole-punched notebooks for just about all of your writing, and then get two or three three-ring binders. Keep your notes neat and legible and tear out pages daily to transfer to the appropriate binder. I have made so many notes of things that I fear I will never read again due to the sheer volume of writing I have sitting. This still means I have benefitted from using a journal, but I would really like it if my notes were more organized.
I also suggest that, if you have a regular workspace where you right, putting up a bulletin board on the wall above your computer in front of you. When you get to some writing you have journaled about, you can tack up the page and refer to it as you write.
Some may wonder why keep a written journal at all. Well, with the exception of people who have attended schools in the past ten years and don’t learn cursive handwriting, I honestly feel there is a special power in writing something out long-hand. We all learn things differently, some of us learn by seeing, some by reading and some by interacting with the subject by hand. When you write something out, I think there is really some magic going on that reaches parts of your mind that aren’t normally activated. Writing things out by hand will help you access all of these ways of learning and double reinforce your relationship with the work you are doing.
In closing, I just wanted to give everyone a little story. Many of us love the Rocky movies for their inspirational qualities. But do you know that Sylvester Stallone actually wrote the script for the original Rocky movie by hand in a tiny apartment and was offered more than a quarter of a million dollars for his script but turned it down because he would only sell the script if he was cast as the lead? Never undervalue yourself. Writing can not only be healing, it can do more, it can lift us out of poverty, and it can help us change the world. We may never become international movie stars like Stallone, but I do believe we all have a story to tell. Some of the greatest books written are about simple things, simple lives powerfully illustrated in the printed word. Happy writing and good mental health!
