Former Students Recommend "Keeping a Writer's Journal"

“I am now more trained to write easily, whether it is an essay, a story, or a blog, meaning, I don’t have to wait hours before I can come up with something to write. Words flow naturally, and I have a strong command over them. The second thing is that journal writing has provided me with a safe space, a place where I can pen down my emotions without scrutiny. The third effect remains that its helped me generate a positive mood. Whenever I journal my experiences, I see it as releasing the stress or natural anxiety that comes from experiencing things in life.” Tashi W.

“Throughout my entries, I learned to open doors into creative writing that I was never before familiar with. I found purpose in my writing by attending to my journal every day. I challenged myself on days when I didn’t think I had the time, days when I didn’t think I was feeling ‘creative,’ and days when I didn’t know what to write at all. I really came to enjoy the exercise. . . . sticking to a schedule showed me just how much I really can say, even when I’m not sure where I’m going with it.” Kara N.

 

“To improve my writing skills, I found myself really clinging to the journal and trying my best to keep up with doing it daily. I have always heard that the more you write, the better you get, and I fully believe that. This allowed me to improve my creativity and my skills in the writing world.” Frank Q. 

“Journaling was both a stress-reliever as well as a strenuous exercise. Having a safe place to write out my thoughts and to be as explicit and detailed as I felt was an asset I never knew I needed.” Bailey W.

“I can say that out of every assignment in the course, I am most proud of my writing journal. I used to dwell on how I would start an assignment or a new story, but after getting into the habit of journaling, ideas come out faster. I also found that I am less afraid to write some things. Journaling also improved my writing in that now I have dozens of entries to pull ideas from and to read if I am feeling poorly about writing in general. It has been a great confidence booster which has, in turn, improved my writing now that I am not so self-critical. Overall, I feel that by journaling nearly every day has helped me to become a more productive, open, and experienced writer. I cannot emphasize enough how import to me the Writer’s Journal was.” Kaia A.

“No matter how silly it looks or how dumb you think you sound–keep writing. One of the biggest effects my journal has on my writing habits is that it forces me to formulate engaging conversations with myself. . . . this had led me to really analyze who I want to be and really ask the big questions. I found that this technique helped more than I thought. So much so that I have utilized it in other writing classes and is something I will continue to do in the future.”  Katelyn F.

“I find that when I miss a day of writing in my journal, I feel more mentally jumbled up and anxious than I do when I start my day by clearing my mind. Even if my freewrite isn’t creative, it’s always therapeutic. My voice has become stronger from consistent engagement with myself through my journal, my ability to write in unfamiliar territory has definitely strengthened from doing so much experimenting, and practicing the art of observation every day though freewriting has absolutely transformed my way of life into ‘open mode.’ I have been able to approach revision openly, pondering what’s going on with the story, what I can do to make it better, which revision exercise I can partake in. I want to get to know my characters, rather than find their flaws; define who they are rather than who they’re not. In ‘closed mode,’ I would approach with a specific task in mind: ‘make this one thing better.’ How limiting! How much you miss along the way!” Katherine H.

“The Writer’s Journal has helped me come to understand that I can never not be a writer. Never in my life have I written as much as I have written in the past few months. By just letting myself write and write without stopping, I started to care less and less whether it was good or not. By making this a habit, I was able to write two short stories with more confidence in my writing than I have ever had before. I found this was especially the case if I journaled before I started writing the actual story. If there was any self-doubt, I got rid of it with the journaling, and I was able to jump right into writing a story without second thoughts or second guessing.” Kaia A.

“Writing is my passion, so I do it often, but the journal reinforces daily writing and makes me a better writer. iPads at work, iPhone when driving, my laptop and chaise lounge at home when an idea hits me, record it. I get excited when an idea blooms in my little head, and I jot it down. I keep adding to it until I have a few hours to flesh it out into prose.The daily writing process keeps me writing, exploring, writing, wondering, writing, editing, and writing.” Barbara G.

“The writer’s journal had a positive effect on my writing habits by forcing me to establish a writing habit at all given that I had no real writing habit prior to this course. It also forced me to create a quiet space for writing free of distractions and required the use of a dedicated journal and writing pen to allow for writing by hand as opposed to typing into a computer, which I had very rarely done prior to this course. I discovered that writing something every day, or at least most days, is better than writing nothing with regard to creating a personal identity as a writer, and the prompts can be extremely useful for creativity.” Tiffany C.