Journal Entries
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 11:12AM
Maggie Bolitho in Journal entries, Journal writing, Keeping a journal, Stellar's jay, keeping a diary, robins

Word count: 250                                                                                 Reading time: approx. 1-2 min

If you have ever worked in an accounting department then the term journal entry may have several meanings. To me, as a writer, it means one thing: the lines I scratch into a notebook at the end of the day.

My journal entry is when I capture my day with pen and paper. 100 words or less.

I’ve kept diaries before, volumes of them. Kept them, read them, and burned them. So I’ve been cautious with my current journal as I will be with this blog. I’ll keep the entries brief and germane.

Sometimes even as I’m writing in my journal I wonder why.

Does it matter that it was 24 degrees out today and for the first time in a week cool air blew in on the evening breeze? Maybe not immediately but when I set a story in Vancouver on a late summer’s day, it may be important to know that the robins have stopped singing and the Stellar jays have started tapping on the back window again.

The line drawing I did of the person I watched when he didn’t think anyone was looking may inspire an entire character.

My journal is both a record and a resource.

What do you write regularly? An update to your FB status? A few lines of verse? E-mails to a friend? Notes on a calendar? Or are you more visual – do you record the passing time in photos or sketches?

Article originally appeared on Maggie Bolitho, Emerging Writer (http://maggiebolitho.squarespace.com/).
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