“Keeping a bullet journaling notebook is all the rage, especially among bloggers.” Janice Wald
One of my dear friends, who turned 70 this year, hiked the Camino Santiago this summer with her two sisters – all in their sixties at the time. We had breakfast the other day, and she GAVE me her journal to read. What a privilege!
Most of my writing is blogging which is a small part of my journal shared with the world. No matter what you enjoy writing, if you’re like me, you have journals all over the house and scattered over several online and offline storage disks, which you hope don’t run away like my hard drive did.
What we put in them deserves some thought as we begin the new year. I wrote this post several years ago when I had my professional blog, and have recently updated.
“Sometimes the only paper will listen to you.” Anonymous
According to mental health experts, journaling has the colossal power to improve your life. Why not embrace those amazing powers to transform your writing and blogging as well as your life? Journaling is something you can do in a few minutes a day anywhere you are to realize these seven benefits.
Secret #1 – Sharpen Your Focus – Keep Lists
“Keeping a journal of what’s going on in your life is a good way to help you distill what’s important and what’s not.” Martina Navratilova
You process 60,000 and 80,000 thoughts per day. If you don’t sharpen your focus, you will spin in a million directions. However, journals don’t have to be perfect.
Bloggers make many lists, and journals are better than scraps of paper for keeping lists. Here are a few lists that help me. What lists would you add to this list?
- To-do lists – I like a written journal for this. To-do’s are not limited to writing; they help you prioritize your life.
- Planning Future Blog Topics – I used a written journal to research and plan my Story Chat Challenge and then created a spreadsheet to organize the anthology. I used Google Docs when I planned my Writer’s Quotes challenge.
- Frequently used passwords & user names – abbreviated so you understand them but a hacker doesn’t – I use a Google Spreadsheet for this, so it is always with me.
- I use the Bookmark’s Bar File labeled Blogging to list blogs in files under challenges, participants, and other categories of bloggers. I include the real names of the bloggers because when I first meet people names are hard to remember. Favorite Blogs – a great post for new and returning bloggers.
- Compelling headlines & powerful words – a list of 180 words by CoSchedule – I’ve used Google Docs for these, but the spur-of-the-moment ones are best in a written journal or your phone – which is easy to carry.
- List of Projects – pictures to take, PowerPoint presentations, video, or audio to create or find
- Goals – I use a written journal to start this process, then move to a Google Doc, Spreadsheet, or Calendar.
Secret # 2 Journal The Past – Today
“Preserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell.” Louisa May Alcott
- Record any life events. If you are remembering a fight or overhearing an interesting conversation, write the dialogue.
- Don’t forget about local, national, and global news that ignites your passion. I record especially moving news in my written journal.
- Record data. I created a Google table to record data daily from weight to diet and medicines to emotions during chemotherapy so I could report accurately to the doctor.
- Become a researcher of the things that interest you. I take notes in my journal, usually in a written one.
Secret #3 Release Emotions Honestly
“Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.” Susan Sontag
Recording your life events segues perfectly into this next topic.
If you are writing fiction, your raw emotions might be just what you need to provide depth to a character. I just read a story in Doug Jacquier’s new anthology of short stories, Witcraft 24: Because not everything has to be serious. One writer included two dialogues of bikers who were riding a bus. The second conversation was about him, but the bikers didn’t know it. The result was hilarious.
Secret #4 Remembering What Other Bloggers Wrote
“Paper is to write things down that we need to remember.” Albert Einstein
- A blog itself is a form of a journal. Links to posts I like are easily shared with others. My friend Jodi, A Touch of Style shares links to posts in a newsletter every Saturday. I never delete them from my emails from her.
- Links in the comment section are often good ways to go into depth a topic you are discussing. Using comment section of the blog helps me refer back to conversations as well.
- Keeping a journal nearby makes it easier to write down things you read on your favorite blogs. This is more tedious for me.
Secret #5 Develop Perspective – Detach and Analyze
“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” Anais Nin
Analyzing the written word clarifies your thinking. Use your journal to analyze blog posts, opinions, quotes and more.
When I wrote book reviews, I cut and pasted what other reviewers said about the book I reviewed into a Google Doc, my journal. Then, I agreed or disagreed with them and gave my readers my most logical reasons for doing so.
Analyzing quotes adds perspective to your journaling and, therefore, your writing.
Secret #6 How Journaling Increases Learning
“Journaling is like whispering to one’s self and listening at the same time.” Mina Murray
As a former teacher, Secret #6 of journaling is a no-brainer. My fourth graders kept a journal and recorded their work and how they felt about it. Their insight amazed me. Two of my students gifted their journals to me and I treasure them.
Writing improves memory and cements learning. Drawing deepens it even more. Experts Pam Meuler and Daniel Oppenheimer argue that handwriting increases learning over using a laptop.
SLOW DOWN – Read what you wrote in your journal. Reading aloud helps you process information. Rereading helps you draw conclusions. Reorganizing and categorizing helps you made decisions.
Secret #7 Develop Consistent Writing Habits
“Most would-be writers begin in the wrong place. They begin by wanting to write a book. Don’t do that. That’s too big. Too audacious. Too easy to fail at. Start small, maybe with a blog or a journal (you know, Doogie Howser style).” Jeff Goins
Do you feel like you are wasting time if you journal?
If you are writing a novel and are on a roll and you’ve spent the last ten hours pounding the keyboard, maybe you don’t want to journal that day. But maybe you do.
For example,
- Get your journal out and write, “I finished 2,500 words on my novel today. Jason’s character is coming together.”
- “I spent the day writing to editors. I sent out 10 emails.
- 25 great power-word titles for blog post pitches
- Use your journal to keep track of where you sent your ideas. Go back in a few days and record their responses.
- Encourage yourself. When I first started blogging, not many people wrote responses in my blog comments, but one of my friends told me, “I loved your post about gardening. I read it from beginning to end, and it was long. You are good at this.” Alice
You can use your journal to practice or just enjoy writing. Write to Done published a fabulous post several years ago that is still valid and includes real insight into journaling, How to Make Your Story More Powerful with Journaling.
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” William James
As you browse through your journal, or journals, if you see an inkling of a story you’d like to submit to Story Chat, email me at alwayswrite01@gmail.com.
Summary
A journal serves as a valuable tool to transform not only your writing but your life as well.
I hope this post was helpful and validating. What are your experiences with journaling? Let’s chat!
Upcoming on Always Write
- Story Chat Digest 2025 January 7th “He Didn’t See It Coming” by Amanda Forestwood
- Over a Cuppa – January 8th My 2025 Word of the Year
- Story Chat Digest 2025 #2 “A Slight Delay” by Philip Cumberland
Lots of love to all of you in 2025
Marsha Ingrao Always Write 
63 responses to “Embrace These Seven Secrets of Journaling to Refuel Your Writing and Blog Posts in 2025”
[…] Embrace Seven Secrets of Journaling […]
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This is a gem of a post, Marsha. A great resource that I’m bookmarking. Thank you! ♥
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Thank you so much, Corinne. That’s the nicest things I’ve heard about my tip in a long time. I debated about redoing the article and reposting it. You make me happy that I did. 🙂 xxx
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It’s one of those that is always relevant. Glad you did. 💜
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Thanks again, Corinne! 🙂 xxxx
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I do journal daily.. whether in the parking lot before work, or before bed at night. Good luck with all your projects for 2025.
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I can say I’ve never journaled in a parking lot, but I answer blog comments there. Like right now while Vince is getting gas in the car. Thanks for the good Luck. I wish it right back.
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You’re welcome, Marsha.
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Good idea your own notbook. I not a Writer. Iam reader. I have no Idea . Thanks, Marsha!
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Both are important, Raj. 🤗🤗
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Thanks, Marsha. But iam a only for reader. I have no Idea for writing blog.
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No worries, Raj! Enjoy the read – but you know you are writing all the time when you write all these beautiful comments and encourage your blogging friends. 🙂 xx
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It okay , Marsha. Iam so happy, you respond my comment. And give you value to my comment. I inspiring. God bless you.
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🙂 xxx
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Thanks 🙋
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Marsha, I kept a daily journal for nearly 30 years, but I gave it up when I started blogging. The blog still satisfies that need for me. I like many of your ideas, especially about making lists and jotting down topics for blog posts. Thoughts drift away much too quickly these days. Timely post for the beginning of a new year. Thank you.
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Thanks, I’m so glad it was helpful, Suzanne. I know I’m preaching to the choir here. Sometimes it’s just great to have a chance to sing the same familiar song in harmony. We love journals la la la. 🙂 xxx PS I think blogs are one of the best kinds of journals. You not only have your words, but all your friends, too. 🙂 xxx
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Marsha, I have always thought of my blog as an opportunity to share my thoughts with friends who don’t interrupt and don’t judge!! Yep, the best kind of journal. 🙂
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How true. IRL, I am terrible about interrupting. It’s so automatic even after trying to control it.
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I’m a songwriter and I recently started a song and was stuck on the first lyric line and couldn’t get any further, which is unusual. Just by chance I found an old journal from over thirty years ago. Reading it I had chronicled how a girl I’d broken up with just a few months before was phoning me regularly again, but I knew it was only because she was feeling down, and as soon as she was better the calls would stop. This proved to be true. But the journal reached out to me in the present and gave me the inspiration for the rest of the lyric. I’m delighted with the song, will be recording it soon and if the recording goes well, I shall be releasing it on all streaming platforms and be making a video. All from the journal entry I wrote three decades ago.
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What a fabulous story! Thanks for sharing!
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Love this comprehensive time consuming post with all of the quotes and tips Marsha! Journaling is the cornerstone to writing for me but I’m throwing some out this year. Love this google tracking chart with your meds and the copying and pasting reviews.. I’ve gotta get better with technology that can help that I HATE! lol
Oh no, I missed my date or is that 2025?
lol 😂
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You’re throwing out journals??? Whaaaa? Did I write the wrong date? I’m glad you like the post though. My next Wednesday post features you, so you won’t want to miss that one!!
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hahahahha.. just the trash ones, don’t worry. Loved it! Oh my, that is so very kind.. thanks in advance… i think.. lol xoxoxoxo❤️
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I’m a big list writer. I have lists for everything. It helps keep my mind calm.
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I thought you were just naturally calm. I know about your lists, though. You had a huge list of things we could do in Melbourne. It worked great! We saw a lot in a few days. 🙂 xxx
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I am a big list-maker, but they are often written on random pieces of paper and can be easily lost. I like the idea of having multiple books, each dedicated to one thing (blog post ideas, to-do lists, gratitude lists, etc.). That way, I may be able to keep track better.
I actually started sort-of a journal on Jan. 1. I jot down a brief (1-2 lines) overview of the day, write at least one thing that I felt grateful about, and then, if I have one, an idea, observation, or thought that “could” turn into a blog post. It’s day three so we’ll see… 🙂
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There you go. I’ll be watching your blog posts for journal updates, LOL! 🙂 xxx
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I never thought of blogging in that light Marsha, thank you.
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There you go, Phil! You’re doing it and didn’t even know it. 🙂 xxx
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Some great ideas here to get the creative juices flowing. I have higgledy piggledy notes that are writing tips that I gather as I go along. A salient word, a delicious phrase or something helpful. This year I have started gathering them into one book – buying a new nice book that appeals helps to get started on journalling. i don’t always do it, but can’t stop when I start.
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I saw some interesting journals in the store today as I was looking for a new one for my Bible study and prayer journal. It had lots of quotes and some good advice on every page. I almost bought it, but I thought, I should create some of those. I have plenty of materials for one. 🙂 xxx I’m sure you have plenty of tips for several posts, if not a book. I love all your discussions. Those could be a book as well. Those are priceless. 🙂 xxx
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Good idea to make your own notebook, Marsha!
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I haven’t done it yet. But I think it would be a good project. 🙂 xxx
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You’ve shared some great ideas, Marsha. When I was still working, I used lists all the time. One trick (to keep my mood in good shape) was to begin the list with a few things that were already done. Then I could cross them off and make it look like there had been progress.
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Hahaha, leave it to you to be creative, Dan. I love that! 🙂 I get it, though. We had to do monthly updates for our job, and I had to start keeping a journal for work. I had forgotten about those. I wonder what I did with them? We all had to be pretty production conscious.
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I’m glad no one’s keeping track of my production these days. It feels good to be lazy now and then.
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hahaha, mine, too! 🙂 xxx
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You hive of industry- I’d get nothing done if I wrote all those journals and, good grief, spreadsheets! I love your enthusiasm, Marsha. My blog posts come straight out of fresh air. I read and reread them to be sure I’m saying what I intend, in the best way that I can say it. I research stuff as I go along, so sometimes posts take longer than others. I do journal, on my phone, when I travel but not otherwise, though I do have tomes from the days before blogging. I daren’t sit down to reread them- it’s down the rabbit hole time and a me I hardly remember. Let’s celebrate our differences.
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I’ll celebrate anything you want to celebrate, dear Jo. I don’t spend hours and hours on them unless I’m using them for something important – like organizing my brother’s financial situation after his wife died in May. That was an ordeal and a half. I had only a week to go through 20 years worth of unfiled paperwork to determine where her money was and how he was going to access it. I lived by my journal in those days. 🙂 xxxxxxx
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It sounds like a nightmare, Marsha. I would put my faith in you every time.
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Let’s hope you never have to!
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#1 – No longer have to do lists as they are too big and not enough gets crossed off to be satisfying, plus I would have to add things to cross off when other things pop up to do 😁
#2 – My blog topics are always the same as I host set topic themes
#3 – I use an address book, a paper one, for passwords but they are in my code so no-one will understand them
#4 – See above for same reasons
#5 – Headlines are a whim
#6 – Projects are in my head. Too lazy to write down and wouldn’t refer to them anyway
#7 – Too much of a day by day person to have goals and aspirations. They are in my head as more pipe-dreams anyway
Always write a journal. I call a diary, when travelling daily. Also stick in tickets, maybe postcards and other things collected that are able to be put in the pages.
The rest of the secrets are givens mostly 😀
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Thanks for your lovely comment, BB. I really get your #1 point! Sometimes my lists last for weeks, and I finally scribble them out because I’m never going to do them anyway! We do a lot of listing when we are doing remodeling or real estate chores. It helps keep Vince more than it does me.
When my brother’s wife died in May, and there was so much paperwork that needed to be understood and solved, the journal saved me. I took notes from the court-appointment video training series we had to watch to be probate representatives. I took pictures of it when I quit taking the journal because of all the important information I had in it. Most of the time, it’s my Bible study, prayer journal. But when I start a new year of whatever challenge – mostly Story Chat now, I write out my goals and thoughts. It was helpful organizing the book into genres this year, too.
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Understanding legal stuff, it would be quite handy.
My building list was very handy building my house
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You built your house? I love that! We’ve just done remodeling, and I say “we” rather loosely. I have pictures of demo days with me in them. LOL
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Yes I did build my house. I did have help for some of the more professional complicated stuff.
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I’m impressed! When we bought our house in Woodlake, it was almost a complete tear down. We also bought the property next door. Vince designed a beautiful house to build. But in the end, we loved the remodel so much that we never built the other house.
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A post I will need to reread and refer to in the future as Diane mentioned there are many good points to keep our brains active in a good way. All the best, Marsha.
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All the best to you, too, Suzanne. They save my life sometimes when my brain forgets how to work. 🙂 xxx Lots of love!
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This post made me want to get out my old journal and stoke it up again, Marsha. The scribbles on pieces of envelopes aren’t that functional and my memory is on the fritz or I’m distracted by “Squirrel!”
Thanks for the great list of ways to keep our brains engaged for writing or just for living. Now, where did I put that journal….
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Hahaha. I just told Janet that I had to go buy one this morning. I thought I would find one at Dollar Tree, and I thought I knew where that was, but I was wrong on both accounts. The I went the wrong way to get to Target, and took a short cut through a housing area where I had to wait for a garbage truck because there wasn’t room for both of us and the garbage can that someone left in the middle of my lane. I finally made it to Target, and you know the squirrels that live there. I ended up with a Valentine’s throw, a massage ball for my foot, and, yes, a journal. Whew!
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LOL. Now you have something to journal about. I never did dig mine out (squirrel!), but I think I know where it is.
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I use my computer – Google Docs, so Alexa can read along for many things. My poetry, for example is all on Google.
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I need to spend time away from the computer since I’m on it all day long. (I just got up and found my paper journal!) Lol. Thanks!
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You’re welcome. Anytime I can help! 😻
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I work better when I have a project. Sending my novel off to publishers soon. If all else fails, I will self publish.
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Best wishes, Shari. I hope you get some positive bites.
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❤️
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I set this aside to read when I have more time. I too have journals/notebooks all over the places, some filled, some partially filled, some almost indecipherable. 🙂 I’m torn between using my laptop, which is SO much faster, and notebooks, which I really prefer. Probably a mix works, but if I could just write as quickly as I can type. 🙂 Typing was the best high school class I didn’t really want to take. It’s been the most useful throughout all the years.
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I didn’t take typing in high school because I didn’t want to ruin my GPA, but I waited until college. I think I got a B, maybe an A, but it has been a huge help. Computers with all their correction devises help so much. However, I still do journals. I went all over town today trying to find a new one. The last one I bought fell apart at the spirals right away. I kept fixing it until last night, I was done with it. Maybe I’ll do something with it later, but the new year is the perfect excuse for the new journal.
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I can’t get myself into journaling, I know I should but I haven’t got there yet. A few months ago I went to an exhibition at The Cambridge University Library, it was a brilliant day out. The walk to the library from the Round Church took me through some beautiful parts of the city. The exhibition itself was really interesting and I came away with two things. One was a quote by P D James, “Nothing that happens to a writer, however happy, however tragic is ever wasted.” The other was discovering that Agatha Christie used a separate notebook for each of her books, an idea I have used, I have bought the books but so far haven’t used them. I wrote a blog post about the trip.
I was disappointed that a workmate of my daughter and a fan, visited the exhibition on the same day at the same time as me and we didn’t know.
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Your blog is a journal of what you have been reading over the years, among other things. You don’t have to start a paper journal just to be journaling, Phil. You’re doing it.
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