As of January 1st, I have been journaling consistently for a full year. I wasn’t sure I could do it–I’d tried in the past to keep a diary but failed within two or three days.
But I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it: keep a journal for a whole year.
And, yes, I did it!
And so I present my journey of doing so to you.
For the first few weeks, it was hard to self-generate things to write about, so I would use prompts to boost my inspiration.
And then, I slowly began to find my own things to write about.
What had been on my mind that day.
An idea for my book.
A four-page rant about someone who had been annoying me lately.
Anything and everything was scribbled down.
Most days I wrote a page, other’s two, some just a few sentences.
As long as I was doing it every day.
And what I learned from this journey was this:
It taught me consistency. Just writing a few words every day helped me learn how to stay consistent when working on my novel. While it only took me about a month to make journaling a habit and six months to make working on my novel a habit, it was the first step.
Crawl before you walk.
And the one thing that surprised me the most about journaling, is that it improved my articulation a tremendous amount. Before, I had found it difficult to pull all my thoughts together and explain something I’d learned. But after writing out my interests, experiences, ideas, dreams, revelations, beliefs, and thoughts on paper, I had solidified it all in my mind and made me more confident and collected when I spoke.
And as I launch into another year of journaling, I’m sure I’ll uncover new benefits of the activity.
Thank you for reading!
Abi
(P.S. have you subscribed to my email list?)
The Ink-Stained Desk 