The Art To Writing

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. - William Wordsworth.

Writing. Journaling. Keeping a diary. Its something a lot of teenagers do, as they attempt to figure out the massive changes in themselves and the world around them. Many only do it for a few months or even years, before stopping and later throwing away the books they'd kept. I still have many of mine, in shoe boxes that I've stored in different places. Until I have a long term home, I'll take them with me whenever we move.

As I was writing this, I realised that there are different types of journals out there. People keep journals for everything; like food journals, weather journals, sports journals, travel journals. So I would like to point out that, even though I would love to explore other forms of journaling, I'm writing about the type of journal for my mental health. A place I can vent and get everything out of my head and help me move on, away from the issues that I written about.

Now, there is quite a simple art to writing or keeping a hardcopy journal:

1. Notebook. Find notebook you like and feel comfortable writing in. Paper thickness and texture play a part in this. Another aspect that plays a part in your ease and enjoyment in a particular style of notebook is whether or not it has lines, dots, squares or is blank.

2. Writing tools. Find a pen or a pencil that feels comfortable in your hand. A pen or pencil that is good quality and won't ruin your ease of writing.

3. Space. Find somewhere where that you feel most comfortable writing down whatever you're planning to use the journal for.

4. Decide the type. As I mentioned about, you'll need to decide what type of journal you want to keep before you actually start writing. Otherwise it can be quite a messy endeavour.

5. Pen to paper. And start writing. let the creativity flow out of you. Write for yourself, as if nobody's going to read your words, ever. What you write is for you alone... and no one else.

6. Finding time, making time. This one might be tricky. Sometimes I've had loads going on and have struggled finding the time to sit down, even for a few moments, to scribble a few words. It takes time, dedication and determination to work it into your schedule. It takes time to build a habit.

I know that its something that takes time. I've been writing since I was eleven; I hadn't even intended to start journaling, but I did. I think it helped fuel my outlook on the world. I had somewhere to store my thoughts and feelings, especially during the many seasons of my life when I had no friends. I have dyslexia and I think that the creative writing flare was down to having that safe place to play with words, and how words are written.

In my next post on the topic I think I may take some time to write about each of the above ideas in more detail to, hopefully, give you a better understanding of how I've made each one work for me, and some suggestions on how you can make it work for you.