Keeping Your Creativity Flowing

I use several tools to assist me with writing. Scrivener is my “Swiss Army Knife” for developing all of my content and keeping me organized. Social media keeps me in contact with the world. My website presents my content.

But one tactic I use to keep me moving along is my journal. Here are 3 ways journaling improves my writing.

1. It stimulates ideas: the mere action of writing in my journal gets my mind working in such a way that I begin to sprout ideas. These cover blogging as well as fiction. Oftentimes, I realize that what I’m journaling about holds the kernel of a blog topic or an aspect of fiction that are begging to be written. Sometimes I’ve gotten multiple blog and fiction ideas during one day covering several journal entries.

2. My journal builds consistency: I’ve found that the more often I journal the more often I write. On the other hand, the less I journal the less consistent I am with writing. It takes time away from writing other content but the trade-off comes in the form of the benefits. The activity serves to prime my mind for other content and by writing often in any form it becomes easier to write both fiction and blog content.

3. Keeping a journal also keeps me fresh: I find that “blocks” tend to be resolved by writing in the journal. If I encounter a problem with what I’m writing then I can explore the issue and come up with an answer. If I’m bothered by something else, I can write it out and get the issue(s) off my mind – possibly even develop uses for them in fiction. If I need to figure out why I’m not getting enough done I can examine my goals, priorities and schedule and often arrive at a way to alleviate those problems.

Journaling serves as a mutli-faceted method of exercising my writing muscles. It’s like one of those all-in-one exercise machines. It certainly keeps my creativity flowing un-checked.

Do you journal? Are there other methods you use to write consistently? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

Clip art licensed from Microsoft Office.

Waterfall photo courtesy MorgueFile (free photos)