I’ve had a long term relationship with writing. I learned to love the creative medium at an early age. I started out writing poems and short stories. Most were pretty cheesy; but, my mother always told me they were wonderful.

After I married Kevin I began writing about our life together; but, it was mostly a “venting” process -  a way to clear the worries and frustrations of life from my mind.

Years ago, I experienced a little taste of the mind altering power of writing. I was annoyed with Kevin. I didn’t like how it felt; so, I decided to do something about it. I remembered hearing an idea that promised to help. It was a simple exercise to make a list of good things about a person when you are mad at them. Honestly, I wasn’t sure it would work. (I was pretty annoyed with him at the time.) But, I decided to give it a try. I spent the next 30 days writing one good thing each day about Kevin. Before the 30 days ended I had forgotten why I was annoyed. (I still don’t remember.)

A few summers ago, just before our anniversary, I decided to write the story of how Kevin and I met. I spent the next three months reminiscing and writing. As I wrote, I shared the story with Kevin. It was like re-living “falling in love” all over again – only better. We had an amazing summer – feeling closer and more connected than ever before.

Writing creates a permanent record of our thoughts. When we write “good things, loving things, happy things” we create a record of those things that can be easily reintroduced to our minds over and over again.

“Writing it down” has been such a tremendous blessing in my life. I want to share the joy I’ve found. I hope you will join me in a quest to create a permanent record of all the good things in life.

One of my favorite classes in college was freshman English. The instructor was interesting and, more importantly, he gave constructive critiques. My creative writing skills improved significantly during the semester.

He introduced our class to the use of alliteration and urged students to stay away from commonly used words that lack description, like really and very. Thanks to my professor, I try to remember to use more illustrative words, for example: remarkably, extraordinarily, tremendously, decidedly, particularly, assuredly… and I’ve learned that when I am stumped while trying to find a fitting word the thesaurus is a fruitful friend.

He gave me the desire to stretch my vocabulary and put more creative energy into my writing. I became an exceptional writer that semester. Everything I’ve written since ‘freshman english’ has been a literary masterpiece…   okay, I know you are laughing. Did I just hear a snort?

Okay, seriously – I went though some of my old journals. The pages were filled with “rambling mind dumps.” Not that I don’t encourage random mind dumping – it is quite therapeutic; however, sadly, even though I was writing every day, I wasn’t writing about my life. I missed the opportunity to write memories of activities and events while they were fresh on my mind. I only occasionally shared the things that were truly important to me.

I realized I have pages and pages of handwritten words that would put even the most enthusiastic reader (myself included) to sleep. Until I started going back through my old journals hoping to find forgotten memories, I had never considered how or what I was writing. I was disappointed in my work – I knew I’d been taught better.

I was determined to change my journal writing habits. I made a goal to change the way I kept a journal. Memories are precious and time is precious. The time I spend writing should produce something of value, right?

A few of the things that have helped me improve my journals:

1. Journaling by subject - I began creating Journals to help me focus on certain subjects that I wanted to be sure to write about. Sample Journal Subjects: specific people (I like to keep journals for my children), spiritual matters (gratitude, scripture study), events or activities (travel, vacations, holidays), goal journals (to track progress), Knowledge journals (when you are studying about a specific subject)… well I could go on all day. Hopefully I have conveyed the idea. (By the way, Journella™ makes it really easy to Journal by category – check out this post about creating categories.)

2. Story telling - When I am writing memories from the past I think it is helpful to tell it in story form, with a beginning a middle and an end.

3. Keeping Prompt Lists - I don’t always have the time to write in paragraphs. I’ve found that making lists with key thoughts helps me to remember details that would otherwise be forgotten.

Starting in January 2012 I started a new journal project called “Life.in.Lists.” – come take a look may be one of my lists will spark an idea or memory for you.