Making observations

It strikes me, as I'm reading through the blogs, that many of us come to the table of journals with the idea that journals (and in this case, blogs) are for writing our feelings down, or writing about our innermost demons, or writing about our personal lives. Of course, journaling can be all that, but it can be so much more.

Good writers use journals to reflect, not only about themselves, but about the world around them. Say you like to people watch. Journaling would be one way to write down all the idiosyncrasies you observed about the strangers that crossed your path. Or say you go to the beach. Writing down the experience, in descriptive detail, can help the flow of creative juices. The idea is to write about the world around you in a manner that shows some critical thinking. Of course, you can simply write about your feelings or reflect on personal matters. But if that's not you, and you're dreading this assignment because of that, think about it in other terms: it'll be your chance to make sense of what's going on around you.