It’s nearing the end of summer, and I have no credentials to my
benefit these holidays. As the end of the holidays approach, I
keep wondering what I have to show for the summer other than the
noticeable tan, and the load of incomplete articles adorning my
computer.
Having nothing to write about can be exasperating. But having
plentiful to do, and not doing it out of sheer laziness or lack
of interest is a whole other story. I have articles months old
that haven’t seen the light of day. Ah, if only I could complete
them. But procrastination and laziness stand in the way. I’ve
been telling myself that it’s the heat, but with the
temperatures going down again, I'm not even left with that
excuse.
I have seemingly divorced myself from the half-written articles
that sit there waiting on some remote folder in my computer.
Somehow, I never get to completing something if I leave it
midway. And this time is no different. I ended up opening the
files, reading their contents, closing them with a mental note
that they needed to be finished and went back to my Need for
Speed racing adventure.
After an endless round of mindless car racing, I decided it was
time to get back to work. Having nothing to write about, I
thought I’d try my hand at a journal. Writers are always saying
that keeping journals spark up your creativity, but somehow I
never thought I’d be writing in one. I’d always wondered why a
writer would waste her precious time writing in a journal, when
she could be earning money, writing those words in an article or
story.
So, I began Mission Journal by simply opening up my word
processor and writing the first thing that came into my mind.
Incidentally, I started rambling about how much I had wanted to
achieve but with a drastic case of writer’s block having swept
over me the last few days, my ambitions had been reduced to
dust. Before I knew it, I had written two thousand words, simply
on why I couldn’t write and how it was playing havoc with my
spirit.
I hate to admit it, but the truth is – I was wrong. A journal is
not a waste of a writer’s time. It’s a learning process. When a
computer professional sits down to learn a new programming
language, he’s not wasting his time. He’s preparing himself for
situations in which his programming skills could come in handy.
Similarly, a journal can be the resource a writer digs into when
she’s at a loss of ideas and can’t find anything to write about.
It gives the writer practice she needs every single day, and
enables her to create a much desired momentum in her writing.
The day I started writing in my journal, was the day my
month-long block finally came to an end. And as I wrote, I found
my mind racing faster than my fingers could type. Soon, I was
writing not only about my day, but also my holidays, my last
semester and the last time the family went on a holiday
together. Incidents kept springing to my mind and I was caught
in the adrenalin rush. I was writing!
I had needed a spark for my creativity, and the journal had done
just that. It had made given me the push that I needed to start,
and once I was writing, the ideas and the words came to me like
they had never left my side.
Journals give the writer the three things she needs most:
Practice, Motivation and Ideas.
Now, everyday before I begin writing my articles or stories, I
simply pen down a page in my journal. If I don’t feel like
writing on paper, I’ve maintained a journal on my computer too.
Not only do I get a jumpstart on my day, I also feel more
energized and ready to write pages and pages of prose.
Journals can also be a great storehouse of ideas. When you think
that you’ve suddenly become unresponsive to the ideas around you
or can’t find a character to fit into your stories, peek into
your journal, and you’ll find something priceless there. The
trip to the lake last summer or the fight with your neighbor
might just become incidents in your next best seller.
Journals are not necessarily diaries in which you record your
personal thoughts and feelings. They can be lists of goals, pet
care tips, or simply freewriting that you do everyday before you
get to work. They needn’t even be focused on one topic – you can
introduce random thoughts whenever and wherever you like. In
writing a journal, there are no rules; you simply write what you
want.
As of writing this, I maintain four journals to suit my
different moods. I don’t write in all of them everyday, but do
try to write in at least one each day. On days that I don’t have
too much work to do, I spark my creativity by writing in all
four. Who knew, that a journal would become my best friend?
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