J is for Jounaling

Our A to Z challenge is continuing and I am really enjoying trying to focus the blog on a specific topic each day. Today the letter is J. J may stand for many words related to writing for children but I am choosing to have it stand for journal and journaling.

I think keeping a journal is key to being a good writer. Journals can be for writing your personal thoughts and feelings down and that is always helpful in gaining insight. But journals can also be notebooks a writer keeps with character names, funny characteristics the writer doesn't want to forget, quotes, and tidbits of conversation or dialog.

Journals can be organized with tabs for each topic or they can be pages and pages of random thoughts that you might read through when you feel writer's block coming on. I have several journals and not all of them organized. I am truly a creative type because I have random thoughts about characters and scenes at the most inopportune times. When that  happens, I write it down in whatever journal I have with me.

It can take some time to find what it is I need from my journals so I suggest being more organized than I. However, what form you choose to get those details down doesn't matter when it translates into a work of genius later on.

Start a journal today... random or organized. It doesn't matter. What is important is to validate your thoughts and feelings by putting them on the page. It will give you valuable information as you create those lovable characters in those heartwarming scenes later on.

J is for journal... go forth and write.