Write Better, Keep a Journal

What’s the best piece of writing advice you could give?

“Write everyday. Just keep writing.”

If you want to be better at anything, you have to practice. Writing is no exception. For most writers, especially casual writers who don’t write as a full time career, this can be hard. The writer’s worse enemy is writer’s block.

If you’re working on a novel, you might get writer’s block for a day, a week, or maybe even a month or longer. If you write freelance articles for a trade, you might be at a loss for ideas for a period of time. Still, it is very important that you keep writing everyday. The best way to fill in these spaces of time, no matter what type of writing you create, is by keeping a journal.

Use a notebook and write with pen or pencil, or you can use your computer. There are so many different ways you can use a journal. Write in it like a diary recapping your daily events, or use it to capture your thoughts and impressions.

The most important part of journaling is to keep writing, but try to make it work for you. As a creative writer, you may want to use your journal to develop your skills. Practice descriptive writing by creating an environment or capturing an existing one, or spend time developing characters you could use in the future.

Try to use your journal on a regular basis, not just to fill in your writer’s block time. Be consistent and you will see an improvement in your writing and you will have lots of new ideas all the time that you could use in your structured writing later on.

You may call it your journal, diary, notebook, or anything else. Whatever you decide, stick with it, practice, and you will reap the benefits.

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