Welcome back Daryl who’s today’s guest blogger and here to tell us all about keeping a journal…
A journal. A notebook. Legal pad. Composition book. All of these are blank pages waiting for a writer to fill them with amazing prose or just random chaotic thoughts.
They are also one of the tricks of a writer. Always – ALWAYS – have something handy to jot down the plot twist that strikes you when you are standing in line at the grocery store or sitting in the dentist’s office or meditating in yoga class. Yes, those 3 have all happened to me.
I think I currently have 5 journals on going at the moment.
Here are 4 of them.
Yea – I’d like to see the other one as well – but I can’t find it. Probably stuck in a forgotten beach bag or left at my daughter’s apartment or some equally forgotten but-made-sense-at-the-time place.
What inspired this post? Yesterday, I snuggled down into bed after a long day of doing nothing because we were snowed in. I rested my head on my pillow, closed my eyes, sighed and…boom – my brain revealed the ending of my next novel. The last 4 chapters and a couple of plot twists I hadn’t even considered were now very clear to me.
My first response was – to go over the idea to solidify it my mind and then continue off to sleep.
Yea – you’re right – that never works. But I was really snuggled into bed and I did not want to get up.
My brain wouldn’t let up. It then revealed the epilogue I didn’t know I was going to write and the final sentence of the book. After 30 minutes of tossing and turning and trying to convince myself that I would remember it all in the morning, I conceded to my brain’s refusal to let me sleep.
I got my pen and journal and wrote down everything. I can write extremely quickly. It is completely illegible to anyone but me, but I can spew out thoughts at breakneck speed. A habit I learned in university – write detailed notes but in such a messy hand that no one wants to borrow them.
After I had completed scribbling down everything my mind was pushing at me, I climbed back into bed and within 5 minutes I was asleep.
I, also, use my journal when I fly. My daughter lives in a different country. Turns out, I can write out several chapters while sitting in an airport lounge or on an airplane. It’s fairly quiet and no one really disturbs you, so I can scribble away.
Moving the work from the journal to my laptop is a form of self editing. I can add more description and fill in gaps. There are random places where my notes might say something like – Hawkyns turns to ? Well, the “?” stands for a character who doesn’t have a name which I can search for later home with the internet.
If I’d attempted a name search while at home, that quick internet search often gets sidetrack by a quick check on Facebook, then pop over to Twitter and – oh yea – I wanted to look for a new recipe for chicken for dinner – did I check my email??? And two hours later, I still haven’t come up with my character’s name!!
So, my journal gives me discipline and the benefit of being available 24/7. What could be better than that?
About Daryl
Two writers in one. Daryl Devoré writes hot romances with sexy heroes and strong heroines. Victoria Adams is Daryl’s alter ego when she’s inspired to write sweet romances with little to no heat.
Daryl (@daryldevore) lives in an old farmhouse in Ontario, Canada, with her husband, two black cats – Licorice and Ginny-Furr Purrkins – and some house ghosts. Her daughter is grown and has flown the nest. Daryl loves to take long walks on her quiet country road or snowshoe across the back acres, and in the summer, kayak along the St. Lawrence River. She has touched a moon rock, a mammoth, and a meteorite. She’s been deep in the ocean in a submarine, flown high over Niagara Falls in a helicopter, and used the ladies room in a royal palace. Life’s an adventure and Daryl’s having fun living it.
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