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Posts Tagged ‘journaling technique’

Journaling Prompt – Narrate An Inspiring Picture

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Beauty holds great powers. One of its super-powers is to break through blocks, including the writer’s block.

When you look at an inspiring picture, the beauty in it so vast, so powerful, words start to come up by themselves.

At first you can only identify a few single words, scattered in the wind of thought, but the longer you look at the picture, the more you can keep up with the flying words and identify more and more of the words and string them together into beautiful sentences, portraying everything you see and feel while looking at it.

For this week’s Journaling prompt I urge you to look at some amazingly inspiring pictures and follow the word flood.

You will be amazed with the results this technique yields.

Don’t stop at other people’s photos. Take a look at the latest pictures you’ve taken or at your favorite ones and start writing.

Narrate the beauty and transfer it into words.

You can write an entire scene – what you can see in the picture, what is the sequence of events that has brought such beauty and what will happen next…

Then…

Let me read it (please, please, please!)

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Please share your narrated beauty! I’m looking forward to read about your beauty in the comment section of this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Borrow An Opening

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Writing technique: Borrow An Opening
[Photo by: Eduardo]

The beginnings are the most difficult step in journaling (or any type of writing). Staring at a blank screen, a blank paper or an empty journaling tag can be very frustrating.

After the first sentence is drizzled onto the paper, the rest usually follow in a potent stream.

Having said that, the beginning is many times the most important part of our journaling. The opening words are like a welcoming committee, inviting the reader to keep on reading.

I have a great technique that solves the “opening-syndrome”.

Instead of desperately looking for the right words to come out, borrow the opening sentence from your favorite book, or the book currently on your nightstand, and go on from there.

To help you with this technique here is a list of the 100 best first lines of novels.

Now let see if you are up for a challenge – try to write a complete entry in your journal (or a short story, or journaling for a layout) using ONLY opening lines of other books.

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Have you tried this technique? Was it helpful for you?

Have you challenged yourself with the extreme version of this technique? I’d love to read it, so please share by replying to this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Let The Pictures Tell The Story And Your Words Set The Tone

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Let The Pictures Tell The Story

This series of photos I took a year ago conveys an entire story. The story of my niece trying to have it her way and disappointed at failing to do so. I was visiting home and wanted some alone time with my sister (her mother) and she wanted to keep her mom at seeing distance…

Any words will take a way from the story which the photos depict succinctly.

For this week’s journaling prompt try to accompany powerful photos with a series of powerful words that set the tone. No more. No less.

  • Don’t use whole sentences but rather single words.
  • Use adjectives.
  • Try to add a powerful verb.
  • Concentrate on the mood and setting of the story.

I would support the series of pictures above with the following words:

  • Negotiating.
  • Disappointed.
  • Hopeful.
  • Winning…

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Have you tried this journaling technique before? Do you feel less pressure when writing a bullet-point list? Share your thoughts by living a comment on this point.

To set off this technique share a list of words that describes your day today. I am looking forward to hear about your day!

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Journaling Prompt – New Technique: Volcano Eruption

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Volcano at Landmannalaugar, IcelandI took this picture in Landmannalaugar, Iceland about a year ago. I climbed this volcano, which for me represented the battle of will over mind. (Most people just ran up and down…)

While taking this personal challenge I was thinking about the intensity of the eruption and the meaning of the eruption – both physical and metaphorical.

Journaling. Real openhearted journaling is a lot like a volcano eruption.

Your inside is burning and feels like it is going to explode and once you let it out – burning magma is pouring out. Once you really let loose and allow your best and worst feelings to come out, you can no longer control the flow.

However, as the emotional build-up is completely dissolved and all there is left is rubble you can then start afresh.

For this week’s journaling prompt try the volcano eruption journaling technique.

Step 1: Erupt. Go to whatever “quiet place” that works for you. Take a pen and a paper pad (or your journal) and start writing about a subject that has been smoldering in your mind lately. Write non-stop for an hour or so. Let your feelings and thoughts loose. Allow yourself to rant, to judge, to over analyze, to have pity, to envy, to covet, to wet your journal pages with salty tears (if it comes to that). WRITE – without editing, without thinking, without boundaries. Just write EVERYTHING.

Step 2: Start afresh. Take a break. Breathe deeply. Sip a tall glass of green tea or a fat mug filled to the rim with hot chocolate or a frothy cappuccino. Take a walk. Go to sleep. Steer clear of your journal for a while and relax. Then come back, read what you have written and come up with a positive and constructive thing to write for every negative scribble that erupted before.

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Have you tried the volcano eruption technique? How did it work for you? Leave a comment on this post and share your thoughts and experience.

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