writercises | TECH: Journal-ism Made Easy (moldy oldie) (Reply)

Original Posting 8 August 2011

Writer's Digest, February 1993, pages 32 and 33, have an article by Arno Karlen. Arno is talking about the simple practice of keeping a journal. It's an exercise in self-discipline, I suppose. Let's take a look at what a writer's journal does for you.

"I've been a writer, editor and teacher for more than 30 years, and that's how long I've kept a journal, diary or both. My journal is my laboratory, the workshop in which I find-to my eye, ear and language. It's both a warehouse for my imagination and a nursery for future works. Much of my writing begins there."

That sounds pretty exciting! Arno notes that a writer's journal is not a "dear diary" outpouring. Instead, it's a place to exercise imagination and craft. Your writing should improve, your ideas and observations increase in vividness, and it spills over into your other writing. However, most people try journals and then give up. The problem is that nobody says how to keep one! It needs a plan, and organizing idea and mental roadmap.

First, are you keeping a journal or a diary? The main distinction is that a diary is more private, while a journal is a workshop. Arno actually keeps both, one to talk to himself (the diary) and the journal for writing -- anecdotes, conversations, descriptions of faces and voices. Comments on public events and reading. Phrases that caught his attention, even if they don't belong in what he's currently writing. Ideas for articles, stories, poetry that need to ripen.

Arno reminds us to review the journal pages when we're looking for scenes, characters, or ideas.

Also, use your journal to practice dialogue, narrative, and description. Make yourself a constant observer.

Arno suggests starting out by committing to doing at least three months of journal writing. Along with a minimum daily production -- one long paragraph, a half of a typed page? Certainly you can write more, but decide to do the minimum every day.

To help focus your journal, Arno suggests seven steps:

1. Always carry a small notebook. Take notes everywhere. Sure, lots of times you can't write down everything, but at least make a note to remind yourself later.
2. Become a relentless observer. Colors, sounds, other people, yourself. Every encounter -- put it in your journal and make it live.
3. Set yourself a variety of assignments. There's a two-week list below -- work through it at least twice during your three months.
4. During the second month try this exercise for two weeks: each day describe a thing, person, or event in about one page. Then revise the previous day's entry, polishing it as if you are going to show it to another writer.
5. At the end of every week and every month, skim your entries for the time. See what is well-written and badly written, remember which was easy or difficult. See which strengths you've got, and what skills you need to work on. Use this to lay out future journal work.
6. For one week, keep a personal diary instead of a journal. Make it as intimate as you dare. Later, compare the diary and the journal pages. Which helped you with writing skills and personal satisfaction? What did you learn doing these two kinds? Then you can decide what you want to do -- diary, journal, or some combination.
7. Read some published journals.

After three months, answer the question: how can a journal help me to write a better poem, story, article, or book?

Arno suggests that a journal can help us practice accurate, vivid writing. It can help us with characters and events, colors, smells, the progress of events and ideas. And because we're not trying to write in a particular form or genre, the journal let you focus on particular skills or problems.

"You discover that there are no days or lives without drama, pathos and humor; there are only days and lives unexamined."

Blogs, journals, all that good stuff...

Oh -- 14 days worth of assignments:

1. Describe a person you know. Another acquaintance, having read the description, should be able to recognize the person.
2. Sit for 5 minutes with your back to a window. Using only sounds, describe everything that happens outside. If possible, do this on a rainy day.
3. Describe -- through observation -- how a number of people do one simple thing differently. You might report on how they blow their noses, full of newspapers, or study labels in the supermarket.
4. Describe an incident observed in a public place. It should stand independently, a small but vivid slice of life.
5. Describe a smell and everything you associate with it.
6. Observe all the shop signs on a block. Write a mini essay describing them and what they reveal about the area.
7. Explain what you dislike about someone.
8. Rewrite yesterday's entry, making funny.
9. Tape-record 1 minute of conversation among two or more people. Recreate it on paper as convincing dialogue.
10. Describe how a relative, friend or neighbor speaks. Catch voice quality, mannerisms and body language.
11. On a day when you can think of nothing to write, describe how it feels to have nothing to say.
12. Write a one-page description of anything or anyone, in your usual style. Rewrite it, making sure no word is modified by more than one adjective or adverb.
13. Write an opinion piece about an opinion piece in a newspaper or magazine.
14. Describe how you feel about journal writing at this point.

A way to practice observation and re-creating the worlds around and inside you in words -- and all it takes is a little paper (or some bits on your computer) and some time. Not bad!

I usually tell my students when I'm asking them to write a journal to try to do three things: describe something that happened as objectively as possible; then describe their own reaction to that -- how did they feel? And finally, what would they like to do the next time? It's a real simple framework, but my students seem to be much happier to have even that simple guidance: what happened? How did you feel about it? What do you wish you had done?

So, journal?