One indispensable writing strategy for me is journaling. Until I write them down, my thoughts are usually a jumbled, incoherent mess. Processing them through journaling lets me see what I’m thinking and helps me develop my ideas. My “Thinking Journals” are plain spiral notebooks that I write in with a black Parker Jotter pen. Their simplicity frees me to be open and imperfect.
- I record key pieces of information from research that I want to remember. I ponder and analyze them. I consider why they are important and how they frame other pieces of information.
- I ask questions and try to answer them. What do I not yet understand? Where am I confused? What else do I need to learn about?
- I create lists, concept maps, comparison charts, timelines, and other graphics to organize information and help me see patterns.
- I identify themes that I see emerging from the research. At some point I decide which theme will be the center of the book.
- I express problems, frustrations, and disappointments and talk myself through ways to solve them. I also take note of progress, insights, and encouraging experiences.
- I brainstorm different ways of approaching and structuring parts of the book. What are the pros and cons of each? What best fits what I want the book to be?
- I’ll freewrite several different opening sentences for a chapter or section. Which sentence best leads into the material? Which one is most interest-grabbing? Which one invites me to keep writing?
- I consider the audience. What will readers want to know? What background information do they need to understand the book? What do I want them to gain from reading the book?
- I’ll try whatever helps! I’m no artist, but once I made a sketch with stick figures that turned into the conclusion for my first book. For my upcoming book, I wrote out a song for one of the characters.
What are your experiences with journaling? How have you found it useful in your writing?
Meet the Author:
Christine Liu-Perkins is a founding member of the Nonfiction Ninjas. She is the author of AT HOME IN HER TOMB: Lady Dai and the Ancient Chinese Treasures of Mawangdui, which received starred reviews and appeared on multiple “best books of the year” lists. She has also written articles for Dig Into History and Highlights. For her upcoming book, THE QUEST FOR A TANGRAM DRAGON (Bloomsbury, August 2024), she created numerous tangram configurations that she traced into a Thinking Journal while travelling overseas. Learn more at www.christineliuperkins.com .
This just might be the key to taking time for reflection.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joyce. I find it helps to process and make decisions along the way.
DeleteThank you for sharing about your helpful and inspiring Thinking Journaling process with us! I don't journal as much as I used to these days, but I used to enjoy journaling favorite quotes I came across with colored pens and making them into drawings. It's so hard to find the right system for keeping notes and thoughts from the writing process organized and accessible; I can't wait to try the Thinking Journal techniques you shared with us! I couldn't get the website link in your bio to load, but I plan to keep an eye out for your upcoming release, THE QUEST FOR A TANGRAM DRAGON, it looks like a fun one to sit and read with my daughter!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joyce! I hope journaling proves helpful to you. I agree it's hard to keep everything organized! Separate from my Thinking Journals for processing thoughts, I organize my notes in Research Tables that I described for last year's NFFest https://www.nffest.com/2023/02/tables-of-questions-and-answers.html .
DeleteI keep spiral notebooks for each project, and do some of the things you noted in your AWESOME post. But I hadn't thought of them as "thinking journals" or "project incubators" - and now I will. And I'll incorporate a couple of your ideas into my process, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sue! Sometimes I don't know I even have thoughts about something until I try to write them out.
DeleteChristine, you must be much better organized than I am. I have SOOOO many journals with SOOO many pieces of information in them. I suspect I should have one notebook per concept? Is that how you manage them? I do appreciate your advice and your providing the range of thoughts you write about.
ReplyDeleteYour suspicion is right, Colleen. I write in a general journal until any particular idea gains shape. Then I start an individual journal for that project. Not completely seamless; I might copy over writings from the general journal that are relevant to the new individual journal, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded of how that idea developed.
DeleteThanks! I definitely need to get better organized. I do have "idea" journals, many of them. LOL. And then I start taking some notes in a different notebook about a topic, but my notes are both electronic (currently using One Note) and handwritten, as well as supplemented by printed material such as articles. I really want to find a more organized way to keep track of both my thoughts and my research.
DeleteThank you, Christine, for sharing your journaling techniques. Awesome info!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Charlotte!
DeleteI love this idea, Christine! In the past I have put questions, resources, comp titles, books/articles to read at the end of my research notes. But I find that distracting when I'm in research mode. I will definitely try your journaling technique-I think it will help me with organization and focus. Thanks for a great post. And congratulations on your upcoming release!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Debbie! I hope journaling works for you.
DeleteThanks for sharing the journaling techniques. Indeed, even for me who has been trying to write a book for years, the diary and the wine maps are very helpful. Be well!
ReplyDeleteKaterina, I hope the ideas help with your book-in-progress. I worked on At Home in Her Tomb for 14 years, but I'm glad I kept at it.
DeleteThank you, Christine, for sharing your thoughts and how to keep a Thinking Journal.
ReplyDeleteSuzy Leopold
You're most welcome, Suzy!
DeleteThanks for sharing! Your Thinking Journal sounds like a great brainstorming tool.
ReplyDeleteI love to go deep into rabbit holes and dig through information. It often sparks ideas that relate to my stories.
Manju, yes, Thinking Journals help me brainstorm (and provide a place to record those elusive ideas). Like you, I love rabbit holes, too!
DeleteI tend to mind map when my thoughts are too jumbled. Journaling helps me collect random thoughts and ideas in one place. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteSue, thank you for sharing how you use mind maps and journaling!
ReplyDeleteThis is a fabulous idea! Instead of my many, many slips of paper and file folders, so much could go into a journal for each project!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tanya. Anything that helps us get organized is a good thing!
DeleteChristine, your thinking journal and content is one of the best applicable tools I’ve learned! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Nicki. I hope it helps make your writing more fun and productive!
DeleteChristine, that looks like an adorable book! Such a cool premise to combine tanagrams and dragons. I haven't tried doing a journal for a book, but I have two that I think will benefit from trying this strategy. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you, McMarshall. I'm very excited about the book. I hope journaling helps with those two of your projects!
DeleteThank you Christine. I love this idea, and will refer to your brainstorming list!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Josette. I hope journaling works for you, too!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea. I write notes to myself at the top of my various drafts, just thinking on the page about what I'm trying to accomplish, what's working, what's not working, etc. Some of the content overlaps with what you're doing in your thinking journals. I like the idea of a separate document/place where I could hold all of those thoughts. Dated, as my draft documents are, so that I could cross-reference to see what thinking inspired/affected each draft, etc. Hmm...thank you for this!
ReplyDelete