For Freelance Writers--Do You Keep a Journal Too?

by Kori Rodley Irons | More from this Blogger

07 Apr 2007 06:15 AM

One of the most basic morsels of advice for writers is to keep a journal and many of us just seem to naturally carry a notebook or journal with us wherever we go. However, as we write more and more for pay as freelancers, we may find it harder to take the time to keep up with our journal writing too...

Continuing to keep a journal while working on other writing projects and building a freelance writing business is a great way to generate ideas, work out new projects and just keep the "juices flowing" in terms of creative and spontaneous writing. A journal can become a place for article ideas and outlines, but it can also remain a place to just jot and write for fun and personal pleasure.

It has been suggested that the very best way to avoid writer's block is to keep writing regularly and not allow yourself to stop. It has been likened to a pipe that can dry up if it isn't kept primed and damp. Journal writing is the perfect way to keep the words flowing from brain to pen to paper--even if you're doing a great deal of more organized work for pay. One of the things I've found useful with my journals is that I can go back through and look at things I wrote a year or two (or even just a month) ago and new things will pop out at me--buried ideas and things that were just starting to generate might now make more sense or, when added to more recent ideas, become a full-blown writing project.

So, even if you find you are writing steadily in your freelance business and your day seems taken up with "official" assignments and writing work, continuing to keep a journal as well can help insure that your writing stays fluid and abundant and your creativity stays charged.

See Also: Should You Join a Writer's Group? and Freelance Writing--It Takes Patience and Perseverance

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Dale Harcombe (10399) 16 Mar 2008 09:24 PM

I agree. When we moved house last year I had boxes and boxes filled with journals. And yes, I do go back to them and pull ideas from them for my writing. A number of my Christian blogs have come from those journals.