Wednesday Writing Tip (a day late as usual)

Wednesday Writing Tip--
    Keeping a Journal

Jeez, it seems like I have been running out of ideas for our Wednesday Writing Tips. I've covered nearly everything in novel writing, so maybe I should switch things up a little. Here are some of the best reasons to keep a journal:

1. It's a great way of personal reflection
 Unlike blogging, you can really insert your personal feelings here. NO ONE on this whole earth has ever read my journal, and I intend to keep it that way. The way I felt on my sixteenth birthday, how scared I was the first (and so far--only) time I got pulled over for speeding, the crazy obsession I sometimes have for fitting in; it's all there. I can look back on that with the benefit of hindsight, and I can see how stupid or how right I may have been.

2. It will improve your writng skills
 The best way to improve your writing is, well, writing. Though you may not follow all grammer rules and paragraph structure and all that, it really is a good way to get the ink flowing.

3. It will generate even more writing ideas.
 "Hey--that's a good idea for a story. Maybe I could use that as a foreshadow. Wow, I really put a lot of detail into that description. Why? Wait, maybe my life would be a great story!" I sometimes find these things as I flip through my journal. The more you write in this book, the more inspiration you will find from the best source you have available: the depths of your imaginative mind.

4. It's the best way to vent.
 This is one of my favorite things about journaling. I have a bad temper, and sometimes I run upstairs to my room with the hot tears flowing down my face, my head swirling with the words that I have to get down on paper. Being in a big family is hard. A lot of times I think my mom and dad don't give a snap about how I feel, they're always too busy to even notice me, so I turn to my two best friends, a pen and paper.
  And I always feel ten times better after I have it written down, out of my system. It doesn't matter what I write, just as long as it's out.