The Art & Science of Journal Writing

TIME: We often feel like we don’t have enough of it, and certainly not enough to spend on writing.  In the last two webinars that I’ve co-hosted–one with Sheila Bender and another with Sue Meyn–both included discussions about time and journal writing.

During the webinar series about writing personal essays, Sheila asked the question, “Where in your life can you find the extra 10 minutes daily to write?” The contention is that if you don’t have a long stretch of time available to write, you can still steal even 10 minutes to write. Bring your journal, and the next time you are waiting to pick up your daughter from school, or waiting for your doctor’s appointment, write. Ten minutes is enough time to write a coherent thought.  (And, maybe those people who you are waiting for will be late, and you can squeeze out a few more words!)

Last night Sue Meyn and I hosted our second session in a beginning-of-the-new-year webinar called, “Fresh Start.” She reminded me of a journal writing technique that is very useful when you don’t have much time.  (This is one of the techniques that Kathleen Adams suggests.) It’s called the “Five Minute Sprint ” and it’s just that: Set your timer for 5 minutes (Yes, LifeJournal has a built in timer in the software.) Start writing.  You’ll be amazed what you can express in five minutes.

Interestingly, you can view writing and time limitations from two perspectives:  trying to squeeze in writing during the course of your day AND limiting the time that your write so that it’s concentrated and bounded and doable.