WIP Wednesday: Writing Journals!

On average, I'd say that I do 80% of my writing on the computer, in a cacophany of clickety-clacking on the keyboard.  The other 20% is written the old-fashioned way, good ol' pen on paper.  My weapons of choice are usually a Sakura Micron 0.5 pen (color depends on my mood or what I happen to randomly grab) and one of my many writing journals.

I used to try to consolidate my writing into one journal at a time, before deciding that different journals for different projects was a good idea, and then ending up just writing in whatever was closest to hand. 

I also used to try to keep my writing journals free of doodles before wondering WTF I was thinking and doodling away. I now find that doodling is an organic and often necessary part of longhand writing: it keeps me busy while I think about what to write, without the time-sucking distraction of things like YouTube or Bejeweled Blitz.

My doodling habit began when I hit college and found that some lectures were very dull and my classmates' insightful discussion frequently left something to be desired; I sought refuge in the blank spaces of my notebook, alternately scribbling down stories and doodling like a maniac. People thought I was a studious notetaker.  And actually, I was and still am.  I just drew a lot at the same time and buried story-snippets amidst notes about Murasaki Shikibu.



Not pictured: Alz's notes from Japanese Literature.
Pictured: Alz's writing journal from Barnes & Noble.

Writing by hand works best for me when working out short story ideas or just kickstarting a stalled project.  It gives me more time to think about what I'm writing as I'm writing it, and I find it's often easier to force myself to keep on writing when I have a pen versus staring at a computer screen with all the alluring attraction of the internet tingling at my fingertips. 

I like journals with large margins at the top because that's where I jot notes and follow-up ideas and corrections, word banks and name possibilities and whether or not I'm hungry at the time of writing.



Margins are also good for random unicorns that have nothing to do with the story at hand.

My handwriting, as you may be able to tell, is a symphony of calligraphic perfection.  I never have any trouble reading my handwriting, particularly when I'm lazy or in a hurry to get stuff down.  Though it humbles me to say it, I am a paragon of penmanship.

I like flipping back through old writing journals because it gives me a sense of accomplishment, i.e. wow, I filled up an entire journal!  It's quite superficially satisfying as well as more seriously gratifying to know that even if it's a journal of rough starts and srsly unfinished bznss, there's a body of work to work with.  You can't work with nothing, after all.

It's even more gratifying when I flip through old journals and find forgotten encouragements that I wrote to myself.  Like this one:

So there's a glimpse into a couple of my writing journals. Do you keep a physical writing journal?  Do you like to write longhand?  Speaking of hands, do you think better when your hands are busy?

And last but not least, stay tuned for a special NYC vlog from Krispy coming on Friday!

P.S. (from Krispy) Also, if you haven't heard/seen it yet, LYDIA KANG has an agent!!! She's one of the coolest bloggers we "know," so go congratulate her! :)