Keep a Dream Journal

Capture your writing challenges and 
accomplishments in your
Dream Journal

By Linda Wilson  @LinWilsonauthor

A journal can be a writer's best friend. I've kept journals all my life. In grade school I kept diaries to keep track of my daily activities. Later, I kept journals for my innermost thoughts, and I also used the same journals to take notes on books I wanted to remember. But a Dream Journal is different.

A very dear friend of mine gave me a journal for Christmas, similar to a special journal she keeps only to document her Christmases. I’ve decided to keep her tradition of using my journal during the holidays, but in a slightly different way. I’m calling it my Dream Journal, and plan to use it for a time of reflection: to take stock of the past year and look forward to my hopes and dreams for the year to come. 

Looking Back

One side of the page is labelled “Challenges,” and the other side, “Accomplishments.” Then I get to work on my list. 

Challenges

• I worked on my work-in-progress, WIP, the chapter book, Secret in the Mist: An Abi Wunder Mystery, almost every day all year and yet did not get it finished.
• I thought I would work on more than one book project at the same time, but had to abandon the idea as my current WIP took more time and effort than I had imagined.
• I’ve had to face it: my office is messy and unorganized. With only a certain number of hours I can spend on writing, I’ve had to leave my office this way in order to spend the time on my WIP. My guess is that I’m not alone in this dilemma.
• My latest in-person critique group disbanded earlier this past year. I’ve decided to go with beta readers this go around and see how that works.

Accomplishments

• I enjoyed every minute of the time I spent on writing.
• I met two local women, Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero, who have translated two of my picture books, Tall Boots, and Cradle in the Wild, into Spanish: Botas Altas, available on Amazon, and Adriana Botero has translated Cuna de la Naturaleza (soon to be published on Amazon). Living in the Southwest, parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians are interested in these books as there are so many people who speak Spanish here, or are learning to speak Spanish.
• Even though my WIP is taking more time to write than I would like, I’ve discovered important additions that I hadn’t thought of before. When the book is finally published, the time it took to write and polish it will be worth it.

Throughout the new year, we can take out our Dream Journals, write down our reflections: how we’ve done, how we can improve, and what we plan to do the rest of the year. By keeping our Dream Journals focused on writing, they could help us identify and overcome our challenges. Who knows? We might even surprise ourselves by taking stock of our growing accomplishments.

Journal Photo: by Linda Wilson

Sweet Pea and Peanut 
are my steadfast writing
buddies every day!

 Linda Wilson is the author of the Abi Wunder Mystery series and other books for children. Her two new releases are Cradle in the Wild: A Book for Nature Lovers Everywhere (2023), and Botas Altas, the Spanish version of Tall Boots, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero. You’ll find Linda on her Amazon author page, on her website at LindaWilsonAuthor.com, and on Facebook.