It’s my favorite time of the month writers. Time to start thinking about a new challenge! In August we are going to try our hand at journaling. And not just any “Dear Diary, this is what I did today” journaling. We are going to collect some experiences, those moments of adventure, big and small, that expand our worldview, that enable us to write more confidently and more broadly about the world around us.
Here’s the plan:
Step 1: Set a journaling goal/schedule. Do you want to write one page each day? Every other day? For a set number of minutes per day? Come up with a schedule that works for you, buy yourself a nice new notebook, and get ready to write!
Then, you can go in one of two directions. Or you can try some combination of the two.
Step 2 (Option A): Try something new for 30 days and journal about it. This should preferably be some sort of tactile skill, something you can do with your hands or your body that is not writing, researching, or learning a new language. And ideally it should be something you can do for at least a few minutes a day or several times a week. Here are some examples:
- playing an instrument
- learning a new sport
- jogging, hiking, or swimming
- yoga or meditation
- taking up painting, sculpture, or photography
- learning to knit, sew, or quilt
- trying new recipes or learning how to be a mixologist
- trying out birdwatching or gardening
- starting a collection
Whatever you choose, remember, you don’t have to become an expert at it! Private lessons and classes are great. So are YouTube videos and how-to books. This is about trying something new and writing about it. It’s about expanding the universe of experiences you have to draw from when you sit down and write. There is no failure unless you fail to write about your failure.
Write about your experience from start to finish. Why did you pick this activity? What do you hope to achieve over the course of one month? Are you seeing improvement? Experiencing frustration? Have you met any fellow musicians/artists/chefs/birdwatchers? What is your setting? What are your tools? Describe what you are doing using all five of your senses.
Step 2 (Option B): Seek out new experiences to journal about. I’m going to post a list of 31 different ideas for things you can try, one for each day of the month if you’re feeling ambitious. Or maybe one or two a week is more realistic. The point is simply to experience something or someplace new and use it as a jumping off point for your writing. You don’t have to hike the Himalayas to expand your world. You can do it one small step at a time. Want some examples? Here’s a sneak preview of the list:
- Do something you are skeptical about. Go to a tarot card reader or psychic to have your fortune told. Try praying or meditating, essential oils, crystals, a gong sound bath. Try to keep an open mind.
- Learn to fix something. That broken hinge or leaky faucet, that button that keeps falling off. Write a little how-to guide for the project.
- Change your appearance. This could be as simple as a new color of lipstick or nail polish, a different shirt-tie combination. Try false eyelashes or unusual glasses frames. Buy (or borrow) a statement necklace. A fedora. Get a big belt buckle or a trucker’s hat. Feeling crazy? Get a tattoo. Chop off your hair, streak it pink, or push it into a fauxhawk. Let your three-year-old pick out your outfit. Write about how the change makes you feel and how others react to it.
- Sleep outside.
- Go to a bar you’ve never been to before and order a drink you’ve never had. Sit alone and write about it until your glass is empty. Optional: turn the page and order another.
- Give things the dignity of their names. Find yourself a good resource (if all else fails, Google is there for you), choose a category of things, and go ahead and identify the things in that category by name. Discover the name of every type of tree on your street, every flower in your neighbor’s garden, every bird native to your state. Learn the names of the fabrics the clothes in your closet are made out of, the representative architectural styles in your town, the names of streets, rivers, lakes, types of clouds, learn the names of the constellations in the summer sky, learn all of the fancy name for ways to slice carrots.
- Read a small-town newspaper from somewhere you have never been.
- Go to a fancy grocery store with a great produce section and identify a fruit you have never tried before. Buy it. Learn how to prepare it. Enjoy.
- Go to a restaurant you’ve never been to and (deadly food allergies aside) order whatever the waiter recommends.
- Go to a resale shop, estate sale, Goodwill, Salvation Army, a garage sale, or a yard sale. Find something completely weird that speaks to you, buy it, bring it home, and write its history.
- Visit with someone elderly. Really listen to what he or she has to say.
- Learn to prepare an extremely complicated dish. I’m talking New York Times Sunday Magazine fare. Something you love that you have always been too intimidated to try. A flaky pastry or delicate mousse, a real molé sauce. Take your time with it. Write while the dough chills, while the soufflé bakes, while the meat marinades. Write with the windows open because your are trying to get the smell of burned soufflé out of your kitchen. Write about how it was a major success. Write about how it was an abject failure.
Sound fun? Let’s do it! Join me on August 1 to fill your summer journal with new experiences!
