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How long have you been keeping a journal? How did you get started?
I've been keeping a journal for about 15 years or more. I started a little bit in about 5th grade (1985). I had a tiny 2" x 3" Hello Kitty softcover notebook. Whenever I filled a page I ripped it out and put it in a shoebox in the closet. I don't remember why. In 7th grade I started really journalling after I got a U grade in journalism. (I didn't want to write a newspaper story about playground equipment, so I never turned anything in.) I was so upset! That's the only class I've ever gotten lower than a B in in my whole academic career (including 6 years of college)! I was so upset I just started writing on notebook paper. Later I put a bunch of paper in a report cover and used that for my journal. I've been writing constantly ever since.
Do you prefer the term "diary" or "journal" or something else? Why?
I prefer journal. Diary seems more like a silly, confessional sort of thing, even though I use my journal for that purpose, among many others. Sometimes I just say "blank book" instead of journal. I like my book to be an all-purpose one.
How often do you write/draw?
It varies. I'll go for periods where I write daily, then I'll skip up to a month. If I do that, then once I write again I generally churn out eight pages or so the first evening.
What does your journal mean to you?
It's how I think through things, test ideas, make notes and lists, dream, practice, vent. It's my inner life made physical.
Do you envision a future audience for your writing/art?
Not really. It's primarily for my own benefit right now. Sometimes I think about what a future reader might think, but I don't have a specific audience in mind.
What are your favorite writing techniques?
Most of what I do is traditional diary-style entries. It's basically a conversation with myself. I've written pages of one-sentence, factual statements that end up reading like weird poetry, and I experiment with poems when they happen to pop into my head. I also like to discuss books and movies, so I use my "literary critic voice" for that.
What are your favorite ways to add visual interest to your journal?
I don't do much other than use different colored pens, depending on my mood. I want to try to get more creative though.
What inspires you to create?
Things I read, things I see, my own exasperation.
Do you use music when you write or create? What types?
Not really. Sometimes I want it to be quiet, other times I listen to music, depending on my mood, and I just listen to what I would be listening to anyway if I wasn't writing.
What is your favorite pen to write with?
I always use either liquid ink roller balls (Pilot Precise or Uniball Vision or Vision Exact) or Marvy Gel Excel pens in the following colors: black, blue, deep red, deep raspberry/rose, purple, silver. Always. No others. Although I am always on the lookout for the perfect smooth-writing deep red/burgundy pen.
What is your favorite type of notebook/paper to write in/on?
I like hardbound or firm cardboard bound notebooks without lines. I HATE lines. I didn't even use lined paper to take notes in college, only unlined compostion books. I like the lightweight paper in comp books for note-taking and studying, but heavier paper (not as heavy as sketch paper) for my journals.
Has anyone ever read your journal without your permission? What, if anything, did you change about your approach to journal-keeping?
I think my sister read one once when I was in junior high or high school. I just yelled and complained to my parents and they told her not to do it again. I wasn't too worried about it. I used to be afraid of my high school/early college boyfriend reading my journal, especially when we lived together. I formed the habit (which I still keep) of carrying it with me everywhere I go.
How many finished journals do you have? Do you ever look through them?
I probably have about 12. I like to read through them every so often to see who I was at that particular time in my life. My 9th grade notebooks amaze me. I love them. I'm not brave enough to read the earlier ones (they are also somewhere in another state in my parents' garage). I also like to re-live some of my college experiences and how my fiance and I met.
How many different types of journals do you keep?
I have my all-purpose journal, a gardening/crafts journal, a sketch book of magazine clippings, literary studies notebooks, and my most recent addition, the Wedding Notebook!
What is the most unusual type of information that you track or monitor in your journal?
I don't thing there is anything too unusual.
How often do you write? Under what conditions?
See above "How often do you write/draw?" I write usually when I am alone, but sometimes in public or in my car in the parking lot at work or when my fiance is in the other room...
What are your favorite creative tools or products? How do you use them?
I like the "word ticket" idea from Poemcrazy (below). I made my own with cut up index cards. It's like magnetic poetry without the magnets, and you choose your own words from newspapers or magazines to paste on the tickets. I made sure to choose mostly nouns and verbs, and a few good adjectives. I like to turn them over and deal myself ten at random and see what combinations I can make with just those words. I also "collect" words I like and list them in my journal - velvet, filament, periwinkle, crystalline.
What is your favorite creativity book, or who is your favorite creativity author?
I read little bits of Poemcrazy by Susan Woolridge and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott when I don't have a good novel to read before sleeping. I love them both.
Do you have any websites or other resources that you would like to recommend?
Yes! the Zuzu's Petals Literary Resource Homepage - www.zuzu.com. It has literally thousands of links for readers, writers, and artists of all sorts.
Do you ever share your journals with others?
I once let a former boyfriend read a journal of the year before I met him because I thought it would help him understand me better. It didn't help, and I was a little sorry I did it. With my fiance, I sometimes read things to him or photocopy particular pages to give him.
What is your favorite way to dissolve writer's block?
Make lists. Or write simple statements.
What advice would you give to those who are just starting to keep a journal?
You know that voice inside your head you use to have conversations with yourself? Just put it on paper. A journal is a great way to talk things over with yourself, narrate stories to yourself, think things through, dream....don't think about anyone else ever seeing it.
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