I’ve recently come to believe that keeping a journal is one of the most important things a writer can do.  Over the years I’ve been on and off about writing in a journal – I kept a journal in high school, abandoned it, picked up it back up in college, started to think it was incredibly lame and dropped it again, and so on…

I wrote a bit about keeping a journal in a post from a while back, but thought it was important to expand upon.  I’ve been keeping one for a little over a year now and it’s something I plan to continue doing for as long as I still want to be a writer.  And for all of you who don’t necessarily want to be a writer, you should consider it anyway.

So, you might be asking, a journal?  Really?  I’m not one of the girls on a CW TV show, so why should I keep one?  Hell, I’m not even one of the dark-brooding-writer types who has to keep a journal for definition’s sake.  I mean, sure I can be dark and broody when I want to be, but I’m generally more of the smile your ass off, party hard, live large, and write-during-every-free-second-you-have types.  So what are the benefits of keeping a journal? Continue reading “Why You Should Keep A Journal, Author Voice, And Other Stuff”