Hello,

As you may have guessed, this post is centred around the art of the journal. If you have any tips on how to maintain the habit of completing a journal regularly, I would really like to hear from you.

So, I’ve been looking for a way to keep myself writing and help keep the ideas flowing. I like to think my idea radar is on point, but the more help the better. I’ve been taking regular morning walks before work, which have become a wonderful habit. The walks are helping the ideas come to me and they are mostly linked to my current WIP. Evernote (https://evernote.com/) lets me jot all of them down as I go. No worries there.

However, recently I have struggled to be as creative at home. As I work from home all day and use the same monitor, and work at the same desk as I would for my writing, I am reluctant to sit down in front of it to write in my free time. This blog post is from my laptop unplugged and moved to my kitchen table. And sometimes outside on my garden table. To try and solve this particular issue, I decided to jump into something I have been considering for a few years now;

The noble art of the Journal. (Or Journal-ing. Journal-isation? Jounal-isting?)

I first settled on the notebook I wanted to use for such an endeavour (see above), bought it and then…struggled to find anything to write in it. I’ve tried to write something every day but some days, I just don’t feel like updating it.

From the updates I have managed, they’ve been very therapeutic. I’ve also unearthed a gem of an idea (I’m a bit biased, but I think it’s decent). It’s an idea that allows me to merge the knowledge I’ve gained from my working life in the banking sector with the type of story I want to write. A present-day Sci-Fi and Fantasy type endeavour. This idea has also allowed me to get into another habit, writing every day. Evernote comes to the fore once again for this one. I write in the morning, so my day starts off on a high. I’d fallen into the habit of doom scrolling across the internet when I woke up. Now, I feel more energised. In more control of my writing. I’m focusing on what I can control instead of what is gone and beyond it. However, this stopped my journal updating progress.

I put this Journal related dilemma on Twitter and got a decent response. One response from ‘Marion Cleborne and the (Hopefully) Final Edits – @MarionCleborne’ said to try a one-sentence diary or one paragraph, which is an excellent idea for where to start. As well as this, I was given good advice about making this a habit and taking it one step at a time. Twitter is good sometimes, isn’t it? Thank you to @iamedterry and @reesepateluk as well for their help with this. 

In conclusion, I’m taking this Journal one step at a time and trying to build a new habit. And also had the side bonus of pushing me to write every day in some shape or form. Long may it continue.

If you have any tips on how to maintain the habit of completing a journal regularly, I would really like to hear from you.

Have a nice day.