Journaling with Jenny! How I use different types of journals in my writing practice (and LIFE)

I was recently invited to do a podcast interview with Jennifer Troester about journaling.
I love Jenny and her podcast and journaling, so I leapt at the chance to chat with her about it.

You can leap over and listen in HERE:

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7o0DFtOcFMMLPh5HDhaHHe?si=7WL7sSqfTEOK5EwTDCBoyQ 

Apple
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/journal-with-jenny/id1493713659?i=1000608360505 

Or you can read on….

I have journaled in a myriad of ways.

In the beginning…

I began writing things down as a kid. Things that happened at home, in the night. Bad things that seemed to disappear in the daylight. Things that no one would talk about or admit had happened, even though my mother, my sister, and I bore the bruises. These things happened, but it wasn’t SAFE to tell anyone about them. So I began to write them down, to make them REAL and to get them out of my body. I wrote them down and then… I burned them. I couldn’t keep them, of course. That was too dangerous. I was OK with that. I didn’t need to keep them. It was the ACT of writing them down that was important.

Diaries I have known….

I’ve had diaries over the years. I loved those five-year diaries with the lock and key.
Some I destroyed.
Some I filled with lies, feeling like people were reading over my shoulder.
I was afraid to write down my true thoughts or feelings for years.
When I began to write down truths and keep them, I made my friend Anna SWEAR that when I died, she would come to my house, round up the journals and spirit them out of my apartment before my family could see them. I was afraid of hurting someone’s feelings.

I also created an entirely FAKE diary at least once while keeping the real one well-hidden.

My current practice(s)….

These days, my scribblings take a few different forms and serve different purposes.
1. THE SCRIB: Where I scribble each morning by hand (this soothes me and is part of my morning ritual)
2. An INTERSTITIAL JOURNAL: To track my daily worky-work doings (this is like a TO DO list on steroids)
3. And my PROCESS JOURNAL: where I track what’s going on in my current writing project and how I am feeling about it (this is … necessary)

THE SCRIB:

This is a cross between a diary and my version of Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages. I write every morning for by hand, usually in a big black sketchbook or on my ReMarkable tablet. Some days I write for 30 minutes, some days I go for an hour.

Often I despair the brain emptying banality of the Scrib. The ruminations on how much I hate my hair or whatever. I long to be more poetic, more like…. Anais Nin or something. Sometimes, I do write poetry. Or draw a picture. More and more I draw. I also dream of being Lynda Barry.

Some days working in the Scrib can lead me right in to working on a current writing project. Those are good good days.

This journal serves to soothe me and keep me balanced. It’s part of my morning ritual. Every morning, I Make AMESS.
1. A – Looking into my own eyes in the mirror, I tell myself I am Awesome (or will be, just for today)
2. M – I Move my body
3. E – I Eat breakfast
4. S – I Sit in silent meditation
5. S – I do the Scrib

If I don’t do the Scrib for a few days, I get cranky.

THE INTERSTITIAL:
When I am particularly busy with worky-work, I keep what I like to call an INTERSTITIAL JOURNAL. This is a place that I track the doings of my day. With time stamps and quick notes on how I feel before I begin a task and how I feel after I do it.
This is a to do list, but also helps me see and appreciate the time between the doings.

Introduced to me by the fabulous artist Lia Pas.

in·ter·sti·tial
/ˌin(t)ərˈstiSH(ə)l/

adjective
adjective: interstitial
1 of, forming, or occupying interstices.”the interstitial space”
◦ Ecology(of minute animals) living in the spaces between individual sand grains in the soil or aquatic sediments.”the interstitial fauna of marine sands”

The Interstitial helps me SEE the doings of the day, lay out my priorties, and be aware of all the mini and major transitions in my day.

Sometimes I lay it out with:
• Deep Focus Sessions (90 minutes)
• Tiny Things in between these sessions (to get that dopamine hit)
• and scheduled Breaks (because I so often forget to take a break)

I’ve used notebooks and EVERNOTE for this, but right now I am doing it in MACJOURNAL.

PROCESS JOURNAL:
When I am working on a novel (or any writing project), I keep a PROCESS JOURNAL that is focussed on the writing and how it’s going. I began to do this when I was working with Jennifer Louden in her Get Your Scary S#1t Done course.

When I am working on a novel, I keep this journal in the SCRIVENER project for the book.
If I am working on smaller things, I keep this in MACJOURNAL.

The important thing for me about this one is that it is a PROCESS Journal, not a PROGRESS Journal.
A Progress Journal can feel like (and has been called) a Treadmill Journal where you track your words/time/pages and so on. I know this can help folks, but it doesn’t work for me.

I keep it pretty simple with a fill in the blank template:

Notes of the day:

Coming IN I feel:

Ongoing notes: anything I want to hang onto.

And when I’m done, I do fill in the following.

Did:

Felt:

Learned:

Going OUT I feel:

Length of work session:

Next Steps/when:

Celebration:

The hardest thing to fill in is CELEBRATION. I always forget to celebrate the work I have done.
Though I do love to track progress, I keep the focus on my process, remembering that it’s the “doing” that is where the joy is, not the “having done.”

Do you journal?
How do you use your journal?
Do you have more than one?

I’d love to hear about your scribbling (or keyboarding) adventures.

go easy ~p