The following are the words of  Betty Elza, Archway Publishing author of  “Tara’s Treasures.” Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.

What to Write in Your Journal?

Writing tips and writing rules are good reading material for all authors. Authors helping authors. One rule I would suggest is to journal some of your favorite quotations. Every time you read something that “speaks to you” in some way, that you really like, write it in your journal.

The quotations may come from any form of writing from newspapers to children’s books. What you read is important and often becomes a part of you or at least reflects something about you.

Authors need to keep in touch with who they are. Journaling in this form helps with that. Buy a journal that you like and keep it in a place that is readily accessible. Keep a pen with the journal. Then read your entries from time to time.

Make it Your Own

I have done this for many years. I now have two journals. They look alike and have ribbon ties that I really like. My journals remind me of the things I’ve read and enjoyed. They may help with such things as ideas for descriptions, dialogue, and titles.

This may not be the typical concept of keeping a daily journal of your life, but it is a variant form that might prove very helpful to a writer. It helps to record ideas and feelings and helps chronicle your life, but in a way unique to you. It helps to harness your creativity in a slightly different way. And it leaves behind something of you and your creative writing process revealed through the creative writing of others you have enjoyed reading.

You may want to add something about how the quotation affects you or how it has meaning for your life. You may also want to reflect on that later. Embellish your journal as you wish and develop your own rules for your journal. After all, it is yours. Develop your own system of recording the source of the quotation, but keep a bibliographical kind of entry in case you want to look up the source and page again. Date the entries if you wish to make the journal a record of your journey through writing.

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