Starting a Writing Journal

I'd love to learn to write better, but my inclination is to take a picture instead., a photo by []Aaroneous Monk[] on Flickr.

10/30/13

What does one write in a writing journal? If what I've read is to be believed, you write about anything as long as you keep writing. So here I am, writing. I'm tapping away in a Panera Bread where I have not purchased anything, but inhabit a booth like a literary freeloader. In all truth I'm afraid to write. I see people write long stories or blog posts that go on and on and on, and I wonder, "where do all of those words come from? Why can't I just write and write and write?" My brain is always striving to be concise and say as little as possible to convey the idea or image I am trying to get across.

OK, see, here it is again. I stopped, looked around, and now I'm forcing myself to tap on keys again. I have started a journal like this a few times in the past and it never gets past one entry and that entry is terrible, so self conscious, so contrived, so dadgummed forced that I never want to try it again. But here I am, tap, tap, tap. You can't get from A to B by hanging around A and complaining how hard it is. Where will that novel come from? Where will those short stories wrung from life come from full bloom? I guess by doing this writing practice thingy.

And now, almost as soon as I've started, I'm finished. Family duties call and there is no spiriting myself away to some beautiful isolated locale to create imaginary worlds and revel in what amounts to self-therapy. At least this entry got made. I've gotta be happy with that, I guess.