As I wrote in a previous post, journaling doesn’t have to focus on what-I-did-today. Great journal entries can come from memories. And I said that I was going to journal about my memories of Washington DC, a city that I’ve been to countless times.
In summary, here is how the journal entry turned out. The details would bore you, but maybe the process will inspire you!
Right now, I am using an 8 1/2″ x 11″ unlined sketchbook. I began this particular book in May 2008; I have just a few pages left in it.
- Without fail, I begin with a header: Wednesday, Jan 21 2009 5:25 AM
- I wrote about watching the inauguration on TV. This was one page.
- I wrote just little bits about the different events that have taken me to DC: childhood field trips, hanging out in Georgetown as a young adult, business trips, taking my children to the Smithsonian, my favorite hotel (it is the Mayflower on Connecticut Ave. if you’d like to know). This was two pages. Two pages really isn’t a lot for all of these categories: just a few sentences each. But it was enough of an effort that some old memories bubbled up to the surface, and maybe later I’ll flesh out one or two of them.
- Then I drifted into stuff about my children, some related to the inauguration experience, some not. Two more pages.
Five (handwritten) pages. Twenty minutes. Time well spent.
{ 2 comments }
Five pages in twenty minutes??? Do you offer speed-writing courses?
Memories of what was happening in our lives is awesome.
It not just about us.
You rock!!
deena