Another one of my disclaimers: it’s 1:40AM right now, and I’m pretty out of it. Not sure if much of what is below makes sense. Forgive me for not editing it, but I’m exhausted.
I’ve been thinking about journaling lately. I’ve been keeping a journal pretty steadily for a while now – I don’t write often, but I keep the same notebook instead of jumping from one to the other, and whenever I write I feel very relieved. I love it. I wonder if I should start doing it regularly, as part of my routine – doing it first thing in the morning or right before I go to bed or else find some better time during the day. It’ll be hard to keep it up during school-time, though, so I need to consider this.
I’ve also been thinking about how so many bloggers manage to write about their personal, everyday lives in an interesting way. I’ve always had a problem with this, partly because I put such low significance to anything that happens to me. Let me clarify – I find whatever happens to me important, but that’s natural and expected; the problem is that I seem to think that nobody else could possibly find anything that happens to me engaging and worth hearing about. Only through therapy have I succeeded in forcing myself to share more of my everyday life with my friends. I used to expect them to yawn – inwardly, if not outwardly – and find me incredibly dull. I’m slowly learning to accept the fact that my friends love me for who I am and want to know what’s going on with me. They shouldn’t need to ply me with endless questions just to get me to tell them about the internships I’m applying to or how my current work-in-progress is going.
But then there’s the issue of the internet. Sure, my friends are interested in me. But why should random readers who stumble on my blog care about what I’m going through? I realize that I read many blogs where people share their personal, daily lives in a way that I find entertaining and I keep coming back to read more. How do they do it, though?
I’ve been thinking of experimenting with adding a new page on my blog, another one that I’ll post to every day, that will be more of a journal. Then this, the main page, would hold my fiction and thoughts on writing.
How about you guys? What are your thoughts on journaling? If you’re a regular, would you be interested in seeing me add a more journal-like page to my blog?
Slightly Ignorant 
Look at it this way – the very best stories are those that relate the most to every day life. What happens to you is significant and how you write about it is even more so. It’s all about perspective and believing that you see the world in a way no one else can. 🙂
Keep writing . . .
See, that’s exactly it, though! I agree with you completely, but the problem is that I often feel that when I try to write about how I see my own personal world, my own personal everyday life, the words turn to ashes and become dull, commonplace, pointless.
I like the sound of that. Having the main page for writing-related thoughts and stories and another page that’s just a journal. Journaling…I love to read others’ journals, and I love to look back on my own. In a way, I think that’s why I started a blog. To record the progress of my life/the life of my WIP. Um, anywho, I’m not much of a regular yet, but I think I’d love to see a journal-like page here.
Thanks, blueghoul! I’m still mulling this over, but I’m thinking seriously about doing this.
I love reading other people’s journals as well – that’s part of what got me thinking about the whole thing.
I consider many of my personel beliefs and feelings to be private, but that’s me.
They do say you have to talk about youself to get people interested in what you have to say, but I’ve never understood it – All the really popular bloggers seem to
do it though, it’s a pattern I’ve noticed. So if your comfortable letting it out – it probably coulden’t hurt your ratings. I do read the thoughts of others without judgment – when they hold my attention.
Oh, I agree completely. When I say that I’m thinking about starting a journal-like page (and I probably didn’t make it clear enough in the post) I was thinking of writing anecdotes of my day-to-day life, a place where I could practice making things that happen to me sound more interesting, thus hopefully making me a better storyteller.
Here’s a tip. Sometimes, you can lie a little. I recently visited a candy shop in florida, saw some tequilla flavored lollipops with real mealworms inside, and thought of how crazy it would be if someone’s weird older brother bought one,
then walked around eating it to freak out his younger sister. It was just an idea,
but when I recount it to others, I mention that there was this older kid eating
one to freak out his buddies. I find it adds something to the story, even though
it didden’t happen. No one can find out for sure, and if they could, who cares.
Like it or not, it’s just an example of how you can take liberites to improve a
much flatter situation. I would also mention things from your childhood. Try and
recall something that got you into trouble, and explain why you thought it would
be a good idea. The logic of children can be funny as heck.
First of all, I understand how you feel about not thinking that anyone would find personal things interesting — but I’ve also noticed that some of my favourite blogs are where people do share things about their personal lives. And in answer to your question, YES, I would be interested in reading a journal-type section of your blog! I always wonder how (and what) you’re doing, but I am maybe too shy to ask. I figure if you want to share, you will, and if you don’t want to, it means you’re not comfortable doing so, and I don’t want to pry. But. I do wonder. =]
Re journalling: I’ve discovered that I don’t journal so much as keep notes of random thoughts. There’s rarely a diary-like entry in my notebooks. But at the same time, I have to keep a notebook with me pretty constantly so that I can jot down any semi-interesting thought that comes into my head. I get really stressed if I have to try to remember something in order to write it down later.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Exactly, Erin – I love that kind of blog as well. It’s just that I fear that my life isn’t interesting enough to merit one of those. Awww, sweetie, don’t be shy! We should go back to emailing anyway, so that we can keep up with each other *huggles.*
I’m jealous – I carry notebooks around with me all the time as well, but I usually don’t take it out of my bag to jot things down in it. I wish I really managed to make myself do that, but I always think “nah, I’ll remember it later.” Which, of course, I don’t >.<.