Entry # 230 - Some Thoughts on the Craft Book: Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson

Entry # 230 – Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson.

By Jan Bowman Entry # 230 – Week Three – Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson.
Here is a third entry in a series about craft books that I have found useful. And while many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available, sometimes when writers face a temporary lag in their productivity, when the flame of inspiration flickers a bit, it helps to read practical books on craft. I offer my impressions about these four books in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I hope to offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of four books that I recently reread.
A quick scan of the contents of Leaving a Trace, reveals an inviting organization of three parts that explore: Part 1 – The Successful Journal: Practical Inspiration, Part 2 – Transforming a Life: Patterns, and Part 3 – Meanings, Crossover: Moving a Journal into Creative Work. Johnson’s book inspired me to dig through dozens of my old notebooks to see what kinds of things I had recorded in more than thirty years of writing journal entries about my life and what I have seen and done.
Part One – explores ways to use past journal entries to trigger memories of events and to increase our observational skills of the world around us. Whether writers decide to use single purpose journals dedicated to topics like travel or books read, or whether they combine a range of experiences in daily journals, the journal is rich soil to replenish the imagination when we feel depleted and come up empty in our writing.

Part Two – looks at finding hidden patterns in journal entries that can only be recognized as writers see anew those topics and descriptions recorded over time.

Part Three – moves forward describing methods for using journal information in both fiction and nonfiction. Mining the journal data allows writers to “leave a trace by regaining a past and imagining a future.”


I did not reread the chapters in order. Instead I dipped into some that were particularly relevant to my current projects. And am pleased to say that after a couple of days of reading only two of my old  journals I gleaned three ideas that I will use in three stories that had stalled to a crawl.

 Special Note:  I have turned off the comments section temporarily. Am having hundreds of inappropriate email/comments from websites unrelated to writing.

Entry # 229 – More Crafty Essays About Notebooks

By Jan Bowman Week Two – Entry # 229 – looks at a collection of craft essays, Writers and Their Notebooks, edited by Diana M. Raab and with a Foreward by Phillip Lopate.


During a recent blog entry #228, I mentioned that many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available and useful. Sometimes writers face a temporary lag in their productivity and the tiny flame of inspiration flickers a bit, and at those times, it helps to read good books on craft. I offer my impressions in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I hope to offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of four books that I recently reread.
Essays in Diana Raab’s (editor) Writers and Their Notebooks, explore a diverse group of writers who use journals to develop their writing craft. Section essays examine five topics. Here are my favorite essays in each section:

1. The Journal as Tool – Kim Stafford’s essay, “the Place of No Limit” examines her journal methods as she uses intuitive pocket journal notes that move from the personal into poetry (upon reflection), and her methods recording notes on her computer into files that evolve into prose. Stafford offers examples of each and sample poetry and prose that came from those notes. 
2. The Journal for Survival – Zan Bockes’ essay, “Musements and Mental Health” speaks candidly of using the journal as a tool for therapy. Bockes’ entries deal personally with her own struggles with mental illness and her attempt to use journals to cope and reach catharsis.
3. The Journal for Travel – Bonnie Morris’s essay,”Writing in Public Places” describes the process of writing in public places and the rich insights writers can gather in observational notebooks. Whether journaling at a local coffee shop, doctor’s office, or a train in China, the writer’s notebook captures specifics of essential human behaviors in particular times and places.
4. The Journal as Muse – Rebecca McClanahan’s “Thoughts on a Writer’s Journal” explores multiple purposes for writing journals in the development of a writer’s life. Journals function as compost bin, life record, confessional booth or playroom for ideas.

5. The Journal for Life – Kyoko Mori’s “Forgetting to Remember–Why I Keep a Journal” describes his memory of his grandfather’s notebook, in which details of culture, language and ancestors were carried from the old world to the new world. It’s a profoundly touching essay.

 
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The following review of this collection appeared in the Midwest Book Review.
I did not write it. Wish I had.

“Writers And Their Notebooks is an anthology of essays by established and professional writers, discussing the value of simple notebooks to collect ideas, play around with words, discover new insights into evoking emotion with language, and much more. From sample journal entries that evolved into published pieces, to valuable advice for aspiring writers, to individual approaches to notebook keeping and much more, Writers And Their Notebooks is filled with tips, tricks, and techniques for getting creative juices flowing. An excellent supplementary reference for any would-be writer’s shelf.”
~Midwest Book Review

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