Today’s post is by writer and creativity coach A M Carley (@amcarley).
Lately, I’ve noticed several working writers whom I respect—authors of multiple published books, a healthy reputation, generous with the community—quietly dissing journaling. You may know people like this as well. For me, after the initial defensiveness passed, I looked more closely at the question they raise: Is journaling a waste of time that would be better applied to writing? You know, actual writing, not diddling around in a notebook.
What follows is an attempt to argue both sides. And, as a longtime journaler, I don’t intend to treat them equally. Disclosure: Although I was never in Debate Club, I did go to law school.
Yes. Journaling is a waste of time.
There are only so many hours in the day. Life’s demands only intensify. Why would you intentionally devote even a fraction of one hour to a journal? It’s better to use the time you have for writing—and write. Work on the thing you’re focused on, not some stray thoughts.
You’re robbing yourself. Let’s say you allocate an hour a day to writing. (Of course, you’ll take more, whenever it’s available, but your firm commitment to yourself is one hour, every day. Butt in chair.) How many pages are you good for in an hour? Take that number and multiply by 365. That’s your pages per year. Take that annual number and throw out half of it. Or three quarters of it. There, in simple arithmetic, is the quantity of work you won’t do, if you devote 50 or 75 percent of your writing hour to journaling. Why would you want to do that to yourself?
No one will ever see your journal. You’re a writer. The way to make it as a writer is to publish. You do the math.
Think qi. If you take your journal seriously, investing yourself in explorations and ideas, you’re diverting your creative energies from your main project into a side project that’s destined to go nowhere.
No. It’s not a waste of time.
It’s a false choice. Journaling and creative writing are qualitatively different enterprises. There’s no zero-sum calculation involved. Putting time into journaling doesn’t need to deduct from the pages you produce on your main writing project. If it’s a priority, make the time.
Warm-ups help you write better. It’s like singing scales before you practice the aria. It’s like going to the gym so you are ready to climb the rockface. It’s like practicing your speech in front of a mirror before you deliver it to a thousand people.
Side note: Part of me is moved to speak up about that last paragraph. Journaling can be a lot more than just warming-up exercises for the main event. Although it’s a fair argument to include, I don’t believe in casual dismissal of journaling as mere preparation for something else.
Think again about qi. That whole qi argument (above) is insidious and superficial. Remember the part about qualitative differences between journaling and other writing? It’s not a diversion from “real” writing to maintain your journal as well. On the contrary, the two activities are complementary and can be mutually supportive.
An audience changes things. For better and for worse, the awareness that there will be an eventual reader has an effect on the way we write. A private journal welcomes unselfconscious writing. In your journal, you are free to fire the editor. Knowing there’s no audience changes how we approach the page.
There are no mistakes. The essence of journaling is the permission to form letters and words (and images and sounds) undirected by your conscious brain. Journaling offers tons more flexibility than does focused purposeful writing for an audience. Journaling welcomes surprises.
Your journal makes the problem-solvers and quiet inner voices feel welcome. Over time, your journal can become the place to address those questions that are not readily answered. Your journal is a creative laboratory where you can amaze yourself and then apply your discoveries elsewhere.
A journaling practice can sustain and inspire your writing projects. Your journal can be a member of your creative team. And a commitment to your journal can inform and improve your entire life. Waste of writing time? Not even a little bit.
A M (Anne) Carley is a writer and creativity coach at annecarleycreative.com. Journaling is an important part of her practice. Continuing the themes in her book FLOAT: Becoming Unstuck for Writers, Anne’s forthcoming handbook, FLOAT Journaling, offers practical ways to introduce or develop a journaling practice to support your writing.
I really enjoyed reading this!
I discovered, for me, that with the strain that is adulthood, journaling became incredible difficult to do. And so, I agree with your arguments against it, but at the same time, I also agree with your second motion.
I believe journaling is necessary for every writer. It is how most people became writers, after all. First, by writing for yourself. And of course, the greats have told us that great writing is writing you love to read and it all starts with your secret journaling.
I just hope I’m able to prioritize it and do more of it. Thank you, Anne!
Catherine, thanks for your comment. You make a good point, that journaling is often the gateway to becoming a writer. Making the time for it takes a bit of focus at first, and then it just becomes normal, and is more likely just to happen without much effort once the habit is (re)established. Enjoy!
One of my most popular workshops is the one on Journaling for Your Health. The medical research comes down on the side of establishing a consistent journaling habit.
Thanks for the great post, Anne.
My problem with journaling is that it can quickly become THE focus for my easily distracted brain. If I get snagged by journaling when I sit down to write, I’m more likely to stay there instead of moving on to my main project. I have to make sure I get snagged by my main project first if I want to get anything done.
For me, walking and gardening are the places where I address ‘ those questions not readily answered.’
Linda, sounds like you’ve found the practices that work for you. That’s what counts 😉
I’ve been journaling for 41 years. It’s saved me thousands in therapy and empowered me to solve many problems myself. In the form of morning pages, it clears my mind so I can focus on writing for my reader in my work. And when I wrote my nonfiction book, returning to my journals to check my memory accuracy and get details proved invaluable. Journaling rocks!!!
Lovely! This is great to see, Evelyn. #journalingrocks
I appreciate this conversation because journaling is intrinsic to my life and my writer life.
My first response to pros and cons is: do what feels right for you! There’s really no
best practice for journaling; it’s way too personal, idiosyncratic, and mood/time-dependent. In fact, that’s what I love about it, no rules, mine all mine, however I please.
I’ll also share that since I write true stories (from my life), about half my books came from journals of potent life passages. (Including my new book this summer, “Nicaragua Story—Back Roads of the Contra War”.) <= Not meant as a plug, but if I hadn’t kept a detailed journal in Nicaragua in 1986, there wouldn’t be a book now (that’s way more comprehensive than a journal now). But that journal was never intended as a book! It’s cool, though, that the journaling habit might bear unexpected fruit later.
Most of all, I love free-style writing. It’s kinda ‘the real thing’ for me—exercises the writer muscle. It’s also a nice way to later look back and laugh at ourselves. And it’s been hugely therapeutic through hard times, not to mention a record-keeper. (What year was it she stole that diamond ring from me?) (Was it summer or winter when he dropped me off by the side of the road and kept driving?)
But I understand the creativity-drain aspect of journaling; I rarely journal during editing a manuscript or writing something from scratch—I’ve only got about 3 hours of fresh juice per day.
Thanks, Anne, for opening a chat about something really important to so many, many writers.
So glad you can relate!
Thanks, W.M. I think you’ve just helped me solve my creativity-drain conundrum.
Like you, I’ve got a limited amount of writing ‘juice’ per day. I also have a tendency to get distracted so I stay focused on my projects since journaling tends to take over.
Maybe I could try journaling between projects, though. I do enjoy it. It’s helped me through hard times and has generated lots of ideas. I like the idea of a more targeted journaling practice.
Linda, I agree alternating time for creative writing projects with time for journaling can work.
When you imagine ‘targeted journaling,’ what do you have in mind? Using your journal for a specific purpose? During designated periods of time? Something else?
Assuming journaling is similar to diary writing (as I call it), this topic is close to my heart. Every evening before bed, for the last 33 years (ever since I was fourteen), I write in my diary to summarize and reflect on the day.
I’m a nomad, so a lot happens in my life. The problem is that this typing event takes up between 30 and 50 minutes every single day, depending on what happened that day and my detailed report. And, this makes many people gasp, I proofread and edit every entry afterwards. While I enjoy writing, I’m often exhausted in the evening and I sometimes even curse this infatuation and dedication to journal every day.
But… here’s the positive and I am convinced of this revelation. As a Belgian, I never took creative writing classes – in English or Dutch – and I never really learned to write well in English or study English literature. My diaries have helped me improve my writing – of articles, stories, and a book. And that is worth a lot!
Liesbet, that is a real commitment, indeed. And as you have appreciated, your dedication to that commitment turns out to have provided you with meaningful rewards that might have been hard/impossible to gain in other ways. Thanks for this. Go, Liesbet!