What's in Your Journal?

Does anyone else have a collection of journals that are more blank than filled? We have a full Rubbermaid tub full of them at our house. What finally worked for me was to put EVERYTHING in the journal. I have recipes, magazine clippings, and notes from conferences in addition to brainstorming sessions, book and word lists, and story outlines. For the first time, I filled an entire notebook and it was the most satisfying feeling!

What do your students include in their writers’ notebooks? Is it all assigned material? All handwritten? All for “writing class?”

Writers Need to Wonder

Many writing teachers begin the year by having students generate lists of things they know about as potential topics for future writing. Love it/Loath it, Inside/Outside, and similar prompts are all over Instagram and Pinterest. These are great, but they’re not enough.

Writers need topics that get them curious. 

My first (adult) dive into writing fiction was a short story based on a letter my Grandma wrote to my Granddad when they were in high school. I started by brainstorming questions that it raised and imagining the missing parts of their real love story. 

Consider ways to guide your students from lists of topics to lists of things they wonder.

Frequent, Predictable Writing Practice

Writers' notebooks are great, but only if they are part of a frequent, predictable writing practice. A new school year is the perfect time to re-establish good habits. Dedicate time for writing and be willing to protect it. Hold yourself accountable by putting your schedule in writing. Set commitments, create goals, and make them public.

Your commitments are equally important in your life as a teacher writer and your students’ development as writers.

I commit to “being in the chair” journaling, drafting new material, and editing/revising previous manuscripts at least 10 hours per week. I'll get four of those hours in the mornings and nights while kids are sleeping and the others on the two days that both will be in "school." My goal is to submit my first novel manuscript to agents by October 1st.

Back to School

It's strange not to be in back-to-school mode. For all of you who are, I thought I'd share my grandma's third grade class picture from 1932-33. It just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same! There's a story here begging to be written!

Writer's Notebooks

The writer’s notebook is an essential tool. Its power lies in the fact that it’s more than a school activity. Authors from Dr. Seuss to Jane Austen kept track of their ideas in journals. 

As a writer, I’m particular about my notebook. I want hardback with lined paper, preferably narrow ruled, the larger the better. I can use a composition book in a pinch, but unlined pages are worthless to me.

Consider ways to give your students choices for their writer’s notebooks. Spirals, composition books, or journals they bring from home are easy options. Do you have friends with stacks of unwanted journals they’ve received as gifts? 

If your students come to you with a standard spiral or composition book, consider ways to allow them to customize. Collage, photographs, paint, or contact paper go a long way! Remember that the things we care about as writers matter to our students, too.