Start Journaling
“Why don’t you write a book?” my then-husband told me as he took one of our newborn twin boys from the crook of my right arm, leaving me with the other baby resting in the other arm. I was slumped in the rocking chair in my pajamas, and a tear trickled from one of my sleep-deprived eyes. Looking at his freshly showered face, which glowed in the dim light of the teddy bear lamp near him, I exhaled hopelessly, “Are you crazy? I don’t even have time to keep a journal, much less write a book.”
Did he realize how exhausting it was to mother a five-year old, a three-year old, and newborn twins twenty-four hours a day?
“I know it’s your dream, babe, and you need something good to do with your brain that makes you happy.”
I looked at the four walls around me and felt them pressing in on me.
“You’re right. I do need that. I’m going to do it.”
But I had no clue how I was going to make a book happen.
That was 16 years ago. I was 27 years old, and a stir crazy, stay-at-home mommy who needed to carve out a piece of myself or I would go completely mad. Thanks to my husband’s urging to write a book, I gave myself permission to take the first step – keep a journal.
I carried a leather-bound journal around the house with me and while feeding babies or sitting with a toddler in front of Sesame Street, I wrote whatever came to my mind. I wrote about my joys watching my kids grow, about the leaves flipping around in the wind on low branches outside my kitchen bay window, and about my tumultuous relationship with my Indian mother-in-law. Some days, my script was flowery and light, on other days, my pen’s tip dug deep, bleeding letters into the flesh of the pages. My tattered journal became the package for my soul.
Journaling Tips
You may be asking me, “But where do I start?” Here is my advice.
Buy a Journal
Where you decide to record yourself on the page is a personal decision. You may choose a spiral notebook, or a special writer’s journal like the one I chose to use. I chose the leather journal over a notebook because I felt each of my deserved a beautiful home. I suggest that whatever you choose, make sure it is something easy to carry with you, so that whenever the creative mood strikes you, you can pull it out and write before your ideas slip away in the wind.
Set a Routine
You brush your teeth in the morning and at night routinely, right? Adding journaling to your daily routine is good practice to exercise your creative efforts. Set aside a fixed amount of time daily to write, and make yourself put something, no matter how stream of consciousness it is, onto the page. Some days it will flow, and others it will not, but if you make time to do regularly, your writing will improve.
Handwrite Your Entries
Of course, some people prefer to type everything they do, from grocery lists on their smart phones, to texting instead of talking to their loved ones. And that’s okay, but there is something very personal and intimate about words flowing from your brain into your hand and onto a tangible piece of paper in a journal. The words are part of you, and they materialize beautifully on the page in your own unique style. Journaling is a gift to yourself. Keep it authentically you.
Let it Flow
Journaling is meant for sparking ideas, not for publication. Write freely and forget your high school English teacher for those moment. Let your creativity flow. Write about your feelings, create fiction or poetry, or even your life goals. The possibilities are endless.
Use Prompts
So, you’ve bought your special journal, you’ve set aside your special daily writing time, but now you find yourself staring empty at a blank page. It’s going to happen. This is when journal prompts come in handy. There are several good books of journal prompts and writing inspiration that I recommend to nudge your writing hand onto the page.
Journaling was the first step in my journey of becoming an author. If I can find time to journal with a gaggle of small kids around me, you can do it, too, and you will step onto the road to your writing goals.
Sheryl Parbhoo is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com