2b: Journal Writing Experience

Last week I wrote about my day each evening in a journal based on the variety of frameworks defined in the Reader, for example, Moon and Reid. I wrote about what I did throughout the day and found I sometimes elaborated on specific events that happened, whether they were related to my professional practise or personally. I wrote in 7 different frameworks for each day.

List;

I started off the week writing in a list structure, a method I found quick and easy to complete. Although most of what I wrote was very random and at first appeared to have no connection with each other, I found there was one common theme of emotion. I found my emotions affected how I wrote my list. Towards the end of the day where I was clearly in a good mood, my list structure became less of random words and blunt sentences, and more of detailed sentences describing how certain events that occurred had made me feel, still making sure to stick to a list form. Looking back at my old diaries, I noticed I would make lists of my day from time to time. When I wouldn't have time to write a full descriptive entry like I normally would have done, a quick jot down of what I did each day was perfect as I would always plan to return to the same page and fill in the blanks, my memory being jogged by random word after word. Although I never ‘filled in the blanks’ with my Boomtown Diary towards the end of the festival week, (something I really regret not doing!), I still am able to remember most of the things that happened just by reading through a list of the day.

Graphs, Charts and Diagrams;

When I first read this as a suggestion I was more than confused as to how I could portray my day in a graph, for example. But after researching the book ‘My Life in Graphs – A Guided Journal’ Knock Knock, I began to like the idea of using these graphs, charts and different diagrams to portray my day and what I have done, deciding to use a pie chart as my guide. Below is a photo of my roughly drawn chart.

Once I had created this chart, I spent a while looking over what I had done that day and I could quickly and clearly observe what I had achieved and what I really needed to do more of. I was surprised to find how little productivity was achieved. Although I wasn't keen on the actual drawing process, I found it interesting to reflect on what appears to be the main parts of my day; Stress, Procrastination and Daydreaming, and think why I felt stressed or didn't do any work, and how I can avoid making these things re-occurring actions.

Description;

Next I wrote in a descriptive style which I enjoyed and didn't find too hard to do. Normally when writing I tend to use this style as when reading a book, it is the detailed description giving me a clear imagery in my head, that makes me hesitate to put down my book. ‘Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s’ – Stephen King. I had 3 main bullet points to my day that I used as a guide; What happened? What were the main events? Where and When? When I read over my entry, although it is short, I can clearly picture exactly what happened because of the extent of my descriptions.

Initial Reflection;

I enjoyed writing in this style as, for me, it was the similar to writing in the descriptive style had used previously, (and in my old journals), except this time including my feelings, emotions and thoughts. This is my natural and most preferred style of writing. I included short ‘quotations’ of thoughts that had been going through my head throughout the day, and I found once I had begun to write, the words just kept flowing. Emotion is something that mainly controls what most people write, especially in the case of a 
journal. 

Evaluation;

I found writing using an evaluation style was one of the best ways to reflect with as reading over what I wrote now, I find it blunter than the previous two entries. Using three main bullet points again; What happened? Did I learn anything? And Verdict? As a basic structure, I found my entry was to the point, with hardly any waffle. I can clearly see how I reflected on that day, and what I learnt worked well and what did not.

What If;

Writing my journal entry for the day in this style did not work very well for me. Writing what I could have done or what I would have loved to have happened was not easy to reflect on as without realising I began to delve into negativity, realising what I would have loved to have happened etc reading all the unrealistic expectations of my ‘perfect productive day’. I struggled to write the sentences with this style.

Another View;

I love creative writing, so to use my imagination and write as another person or object, in this case being my bed, and making sure to include the thoughts and views of this person or thing was something I enjoyed doing although I did struggle a little with this style. I found it weird at first trying to think of how my bed would possibly view my day. I personally would not use this as a reflective tool as I found I didn't really reflect, just created a short, vague story of my day in another’s eyes.

Overall I found it hard adapting to each different method of writing, but with certain styles I wrote with a steady flow and felt I had things to write about. I love the method of trial and error in general; discovering new ways of doing things that are helpful to you, gaining knowledge and also confidence to try something new and out of your comfort zone. If I had to choose three styles to continue writing in they would be; List, Graphs/Charts and Initial Reflection as I feel I can personally reflect in these styles to a certain point, gain confidence and knowledge but I choose these styles mainly as a learning curve; where I learn what I need to avoid as well as the techniques to aid my reflective practise.