(First read Journal Through the Summer–Part 1) Journaling has many purposes and uses–and here are some more!
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Journaling Dreams
Journal through your summer by exploring your dreams and daydreams. Give yourself free rein to imagine the kind of life you’d love to live. No restrictions. Journal about where you’d like to live, things you’d like to experience, new foods you’d like to eat, different hobbies you’d like to try. Let your mind wander off onto all sorts of delightful tangents, then capture those daydreams in a journal.
You’ll begin to notice common threads. Perhaps you’ll discover all your daydreams center around creating more simplicity in your life. Perhaps they express a need for more adventure. Perhaps they’ll uncover a buried dream or goal from long ago. Slow down, and take the time to get to know yourself again.
Journaling Creativity
Use a summer journal to explore more facets of your creativity. Perhaps you’ve written and published numerous nonfiction pieces. In your journal, experiment with poetry. Draw a picture. Write an essay or a fairy tale. Create some song lyrics. Write a fantasy story if you’ve always written modern-day thrillers. You may be surprised to uncover hidden talents in areas you never explored before.
Use a summer journal to take snapshots. In addition to using a camera, use your journal. After you snap a picture of Grandma reading to your son, write a journal entry describing the scene. Be liberal with sensory descriptions, and use all your senses. Describe the lilt in Grandma’s voice, the tattered childhood book, the creaking of the rocking chair, your son’s terrycloth sleeper, how he curls into her bent arm. Capture memories with the sensations of the moment. I intend to keep a journal when my daughter’s new baby arrives in a few weeks. I’ll take a million pictures, but I also want a written account of those first days and weeks of the baby’s life. It will contain treasured memories to enjoy myself and share with others.
Switch Gears
If this summer’s crowded calendar has you throwing up your hands and walking away from your computer for a season, take heart. Your writing isn’t over for the summer. Instead, switch gears. Buy a notebook and pen, and this year journal your way through your summer.
Has this summer journaling idea given YOU any ideas of how you can use your summer “chaos” to further your writing?
Great ideas, Kristi. My son does most of the photography now but it’s such fun to go through the pictures … he captures some very unusual things that spark my imagination.
Journaling the events of the summer is such a fun way to keep the habit of writing going…as well as preserving some memories. 🙂 Having a photographer in the family would be a big help!
I journal most every day of the year, so your Part 2 suggestions have really opened up a new avenue for me. I usually sing the blues, which aggravates me when I reread my life. So boring! This week, I just started journaling about my dreams and I’m so happy to see you mention them. Some days I can’t remember any, but the ones I do are so far out there, they crack me up. I don’t know if I’ll ever use them as story starters, but they sure are good for a laugh. I also love the idea about taking snapshots and journaling about that moment. Thanks, Kristi, for all your suggestions on keeping us writing this summer!
You’re so welcome, Juliana. Even if we don’t turn any of our journal writing into published pieces, we have kept our writing muscles limber all summer and have kept those creative juices flowing. It’s much easier then in the fall to get back into routine when you don’t have to start from scratch to get moving. As they say, it’s hard to steer a parked car! 🙂