Featured Productivity Tool: How to Use a Journal for Clarity & Decision-Making

For writers, a journal is your Swiss-army knife. It can be used for just about everything, While journaling is traditionally used for jotting down what’s going on in your life – tracking your actions, activities, and emotions, one of my favorite ways to use a journal is for clarity and decision-making. 

Whether you’re pondering your next writing project or dealing with a personal matter, you may find yourself mulling it over constantly … and sometimes to no avail. However, when you take pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – you are much more likely to come up with an effective solution.

To gain clarity for about just about anything, try my directed journaling technique. Directed journaling is stream-of-consciousness writing spurts, focused on a specific theme, issue, or problem. 

Here’s how Directed Journaling works:

• In your electronic calendar, schedule between three and five 15-minute sessions over a few days. Be sure to set a reminder. 
• When you get the alert for your appointment, set a timer for 15 minutes, and start writing. Note: While there are numerous benefits to writing by hand, if you are more likely to complete the process by typing on a computer, go for it! 
• During each journaling session, ask yourself pointed questions. 

For a writing project: 

• What’s the genre? The format? Novel, screenplay, story...
• Who is the main character?
• What's the motivation?
• What's the theme? How do the characters reflect the theme? 
• How does the story begin? End?

For something personal:

• What's the issue? 
• How can I resolve it? 
• What are all the possible solutions?
• What are the pros? The cons?
• What are my other options? 

When you do your journaling, think outside the box. Be as logical - and as extreme - as possible. Your journal rants are for your eyes only. And don’t worry about repeating yourself. The idea is to get everything out of your head and onto the page.

Here’s the Trick

• Do not read any of these journal entries until you have done the process several times.
• Once you have exhausted your thoughts on the subject, then you may read the journal entries. 
• As you go through them, note the ideas you repeat – those are what you are most drawn to. You may also come up with solutions that seem to come from left-field. That’s what happens when you allow yourself to babble on paper. 

Final Thoughts 

When you open yourself to all possibilities and look at them objectively, you are more likely to come up with a successful solution or comfortable decision, along with a feasible plan. And when you have a plan in place, it’s much easier to face and embrace change!

Good luck. The power is literally in your hands.  

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For more inspiration and motivation, follow @TheDEBMethod on Twitter and Linkedin! 

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How has journaling helped you? What is your journaling style? Do you use pen and paper? Or do you type your thoughts? Please share in the comments. 

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Debra Eckerling is the award-winning author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning and Achieving Your Goals and founder of the D*E*B METHOD, which is her system for goal-setting simplified. A writer, editor, and project catalyst, Deb works with entrepreneurs, executives, and creatives to set goals and manage their projects through one-on-one coaching, workshops, and online support. She is also the author of Write On Blogging and Purple Pencil Adventures; founder of Write On Online; Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Women's National Book Association; host of the #GoalChat Twitter Chat, #GoalChatLive on Facebook and LinkedIn, and The DEB Show podcast. She speaks on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Throughout the Year Thankfulness and Gratitude

By W. Terry Whalin

During this season, we find many articles about thankfulness and gratitude. From my many years in publishing, I contend writers need gratitude or thankfulness throughout the year and not just around Thanksgiving.

The world of writing is full of challenges. You craft a query letter or book proposal and fire it off to a editor who has asked for it—and then you hear nothing. You wonder if they got it or if they hated it or what happened? Then you get a letter from a reader complaining about the typos in your most recent book. Or your phone seems to be acting strange.

Let’s face it: every writer faces problems and things they that don't work—for many different reasons. In the midst of these situations there is one constant that the writer can control: your attitude. Do you lean into the challenges and work on something different? Or do you face the day with gratitude and thankfulness?

I’ve not always been a proponent of gratitude and looking at the glass as half full instead of half empty. In fact, I’ve been working on my attitude and trying to center on gratitude every day.

A couple of months ago, Darren Hardy challenged listeners to his Darren Daily program that there were only 90 days until Thanksgiving. He suggested we keep a Thankful Journal about a friend or spouse. He asked us to write in that journal every day until Thanksgiving and then give it to the person on the holiday.

I’m not much of a journal keeper. I know many writers who journal but I never developed this habit. At the encouragement of Darren Hardy, I tried this Thanks Journal and have been faithfully writing in it every day. The results have been fascinating to me. Every day I’ve focused on gratitude and something I appreciate then wrote into this journal. If nothing else, it has spun my thoughts and attitude in the direction of gratitude. In a few days, I’m going to this journal to the person in few days. I plan to continue this pattern with a gratitude journal because I’ve found this process has been a significant help to my gratitude attitude.

Within the publishing world, there is much outside of the writer’s control. The one area you can control is your attitude. If you are grateful and thankful, that attitude will shine through to others. You will become someone who is attractive to others rather than someone always grumbling about this or that.

From my years in publishing, I’ve seen how the grumbler and complainers are perceived. The editors and agents may smile, treat you kindly and answer your complaints, but behind the scenes they are talking with their colleagues about how these complaints simply spread the poison to others. When these writers do not get encouraged to do another book, they wonder why. I would contend it comes down to attitude. Is your attitude attractive to others or repelling? If you are grumbling and repelling, then I encourage you to turn to gratitude and thankfulness and let it carry you all year long—not just on one day called Thanksgiving.

Let me know the steps you are taking for this attitude of thankfulness in the comments below.

Tweetable:


Writers need gratitude all year long. Read this article to learn the reasons.  (ClickToTweet)
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W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing (and his work contact info is at the bottom of the second page). He has written more than 60 books including Book Proposals That $ell and Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. Terry has written for more than 50 magazines and lives in Colorado.  He has over 200,000 twitter followers.
 

Tips for Researching

Whether writing an article, post or novel research is vital. Research should be logical and organized for writing, citation, and avoiding any hint of plagiarism. 

The rule of research is that a great deal more knowledge will be gained than used for your piece; but a solid foundation gives authenticity to your writing and your voice.

1. Writing about a general or familiar subject, or if the setting is in your hometown, the research required will be less time consuming.

2. Research has a pre-writing role.

3. Consider the areas you need to delve into, for example, era, community, lifestyles, specialized jobs, area employment, health issues, and education.

4. Simplify your delivery without dumbing down the facts, and putting your reader off by an impersonal, authoritative voice.

5. Avoid exposition. It’s better to weave in details and keep the reader’s interest.

How do we gather the resources and knowledge needed to research a topic?  It takes a lot of reading, searching, and selection. Here are some ideas:

• Investigate your topic through web-searches.

• Gather a list of books, documents, and oral histories to explore.

• Use professional journals, magazines, and pod-casts.

• Take research trips, tour specific areas, and consult experts.

• Keep a journal for your research, resources and materials.

• Be sure to verify each source and to confirm its credibility. Not all sources are created equal. Work to prove credibility through established works that recognize industry professionals in the field you are studying.

• Research material requires analysis and interpretation to be effective in your piece. Choices await as we glean points specific to our focus.

Dive in, plan-ahead and have fun!

Research takes up-front time; let’s begin while working on other projects.

Deborah Lyn Stanley is a writer, artist, and editor.  She is a retired project manager who now devotes her time to writing, art and caregiving mentally impaired seniors.  Deborah writes articles, essays and stories. She has published a collection of 24 artists’ interviews entitled the Artists Interview Series.  Careful editing preserves each artist’s voice as they share their journey. The series published as monthly articles for an online news network, can also be found on her web-blog: Deborah Lyn Stanley - Writers Blog.  Her “How-To” articles have appeared in magazines. 

“Write your best, in your voice, your way!”
“Explore, Dream, Discover”

Keeping a Jotting's Journal

Every year, when I was a child, my mother gave me a diary. Perhaps she thought if I spent some time writing about my daily life, I would experience some sort of epiphany and change into a better person.

I always loved my new diary. I would stroke its cover and lift it to my nose, inhaling the smell of new leather. Mmm. I'd close my eyes and think of all the wonderful, exciting things I would do during the coming year, and how I would record them in my diary. And of course the knowledge that no one else would read it made it even more exciting.

Every year, my diary started out with, "It's Christmas! Today I got . . . " and a list of all my Christmas presents. Sometimes I made it to New Year's day, or even a few days beyond. Usually my diary ended on about the 27th of December.

I think one of the reasons for my repeated failure in the World of The Diary, was the thought that diaries had to be a record, a very full record, of my entire day. And of course, that was impossible. I spent far too much time climbing trees, rushing to finish my homework (that was in the days when I still did homework) so that I could go and play, avoiding my parents wrath over the latest misdemeanor, and going for long walks with my dog in the monkey-infested bush near our home.

Childhood was great, full of adventures, mainly of the made-up kind. There wasn't time to write in a diary. That felt too much like homework.

I grew up and stopped getting diaries. Mom had given up, and I knew I wouldn't write in them anyway. There wasn't enough time in the day. Then I hit a mid-life crisis of a different kind. I got cancer. I had so many things I needed to remember, I got myself another diary. Only this was bigger, and had the times listed down the side.

In an attempt to get away from the picture of long hours of filling in my day's events which I knew I would soon give up on, I decided to call it my journal.

 I started jotting down thoughts, events, and how I felt, next to the appropriate time. It was incredibly self-centered. Folk that have been through aggressive treatment for cancer know how your entire life concentrates on survival. And that's what my journal was. A survival manual.

Two years after I completed a year's aggressive treatment, I became a published writer. I initially wrote devotions and short articles, and where did I get a good deal of my ideas? My journal.

I hadn't written well. I didn't even write in sentences. When I came to use the journal in my writing, I found a year's worth of quick notes, occasional Scripture verses, a few scrawled prayers, and even some long vents, where I poured out my reaction to my latest crisis.

A few years later, Revell Publishers produced my book, Strength Renewed, based on the devotional notes I had written, some of which were already published, and other jottings from my journal. 

Today, I still jot in a journal when I have something to say. It doesn't need to be every day, nor does it have to be good writing. No one else will ever see the contents of this book, and if they did, they would probably not understand it. Odd thoughts, sentences, writing ideas, and sometimes the bones of an entire devotional message fill the pages, and at the back I keep a prayer list. As a writer, I can turn to my journal whenever I need inspiration.

My adventures in the World of the Diary have finally found a purpose. Thank you Mom! And I didn't have to write my life story after all. 

OVER TO YOU: Do you keep a journal? Do you follow the traditional Dear Diary format? Does it work for you? Or do you give up because it is too time-consuming? Maybe you need to try a Jottings Journal. Please share your experiences in the World of the Diary in a comment below.

SHIRLEY CORDER lives on the coast in South Africa with her husband, Rob. Her book, Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer, which evolved from her Jottings Journal has brought encouragement and inspiration to a multitude of friends and contacts across the world.

Please visit Shirley through ShirleyCorder.com where she encourages writers, or at RiseAndSoar.com where she encourages those in the cancer valley. You can also meet with her on Twitter or Facebook.

Sign up to receive a short devotional message from Shirley in your inbox once a week.

Keeping a Journal

If you're just launching a freelance writing career, keeping a journal is key to productivity and success.

Let's look at some reasons why:

A journal keeps you organized.

Beginning writers are learning all sorts of new things - developing a platform, creating an online         presence, networking - not to mention fine tuning the craft of writing. It can be overwhelming. Listing what you've learned helps keep the path you are on clear so it doesn't interfere with your actual writing.

A journal keeps you on track.

Most of us are not full-time writers. We're mothers, wives, employees, care-takers, or business owners. There are lots of responsibilities vying for our attention! Keeping a journal of daily accomplishments, no matter how small, helps you see you're making progress.

A journal keeps you encouraged.

We all get discouraged for one reason or another. Breaking into freelance writing requires hard work and patience. Being able to read over the last week or month of your hard work encourages you to keep going and not give up. Emotions cannot dictate or determine your future. The real deal is written down.

Your journal doesn't have to be fancy. I have a composition notebook. Every time I apply for a freelance job, take a writing course, submit a magazine article, or work on a long term project, I jot it down in my journal. Just the act of documenting these things makes me feel great because I'm so busy, I forget.

There are several ways to organize your journal. I keep it simple. I just list the date line by line, and write what I did that day. Having a record of accomplishments is valuable for every writer.

Do you have a journal? How does it help you?

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Photo credit: Smallest Forest / Foter / CC BY-NC

Kathleen Moulton is a freelance writer.  You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at When It Hurts - http://kathleenmoulton.com/

Use Freewriting to Find Peace & Balance in Your Writing -- and in Your Life!

by Dallas Woodburn

Where did the summer go?? I just can’t believe it’s already August. The fall semester of teaching starts up for me again in just two weeks. It seems like I can close my eyes and it is the beginning of summer again, when the fireflies were just starting to appear and a long path of sunny days stretched out before me. What happened?? Where did it all go?

Do you ever get those same feelings? It floors me how quickly time passes! Sometimes it feels like time is a river rushing past me so fast and I’m sitting there in a little boat, struggling to get a grip on the oars, not even enjoying the beautiful scenery flowing past. It makes me feel overwhelmed and frustrated, like I’m wasting or not appreciating enough the most precious commodity we all are gifted with: time.

I am also guilty of something I’ve come to think of in myself as productivititus: trying to fit waaaaaay to much into my daily to-do list, and then feeling like a failure when I don’t accomplish everything I’ve set out to do. This is not a good habit because I don’t want my summer, or my life, to be nothing but a giant to-do list of tasks I’m checking off. As my idol John Wooden often said, the most important words in the English language are love and balance. Work is important, but so is time for play! Balance, balance, balance is so crucial.

Something that is helpful to me when I am feeling off-balance, especially by the incredibly fast-flowing river of time, is to go to a  quiet corner of the room and spend a few minutes freewriting.

I always use freewriting in the creative writing courses I teach to help students break through writer’s block. However, I think freewriting is something that can benefit everyone! It is such a great tool for not just writing, but also your mental health, sense of empowerment, and overall happiness.

Here’s how freewriting works: set a timer for a certain amount of time — I’ve found 8 minutes works well because it’s not too long or too short — and start writing. The only rule is that you cannot stop until the timer dings! It is a tool to keep you from self-editing or second-guessing or worrying that what you are writing is not “good” enough. Instead, just let the writing pour out of you. You will find yourself tapping into your subconscious, which can help you unlock all sorts of dreams and ideas and even solve problems that are nagging you. For me, freewriting is a way to re-find my center of balance. It unclutters my mind and makes me feel at peace.

You don’t need a fancy journal or expensive pen to freewrite. All you need is a blank piece of paper — even scrap paper works! Some people like to freewrite on the computer, which is certainly all right. I personally enjoy using a pen and paper because it makes the writing feel more open and less intimidating somehow — more unharnessed. Something that is just for me.

Here are some freewriting topics I’ve been using lately as jumping-off points:
- My favorite memory I made this summer was …
- Three things I am grateful for in this moment are …
- I will wring out every last drop of fun from my last couple weeks of summer by …

What are your plans for these final weeks of summer? Does anyone else use freewriting as a way to alleviate stress and find balance? Any other tips or suggestions for slowing down the pace of life and savoring the time we are blessed with?

Dallas Woodburn is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories and editor of Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three years in a row and her nonfiction has appeared in a variety of national publications including Family Circle, Writer's Digest, The Writer, and The Los Angeles Times. She is the founder of Write On! For Literacy and Write On! Books Youth Publishing Company and is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Fiction Writing at Purdue University, where she teaches undergraduate writing courses and serves as Fiction Editor of Sycamore Review. Many of her short stories are compiled online here.