Waxing and Rolling: the Benefits of Journaling

I have had and am having the privilege (yes, there’s a great price to pay for it)of sitting at the feet of those who have blazed literary and publication trails. Kathleen Alcala, Dr.Carolyn Wright, Bruce (Holland) Rogers, Wayne Ude, Kirby Larson, Bonny Becker, David Wagoner, and too many numerous instructors over the years to mention, have all contributed to the dialog of craft, myth-lore and grammar. If this sounds like name dropping – so be it. But the truth is, these people are passionate about their work. They are likewise considerate to those who are equally passionate – and that means me.

I mention them as a segue to journal writing. I do not know, save one, their habits on journaling. But I’m guessing by their output that it is prodigious. The one I do know is David Wagoner. During our residency poetry workshop class David announced that he takes two times a day to journalize. I will not mention what those two times are because I feel that to journalize is to meditate and ruminate and (as the Buddhists say) be mindful – and as such, it is as sacred a moment as one can imagine.

I have never been much of a journal-ist. And, in fact, early on, in attempting to find my location in the world of writing, I found myself avoiding it for a number of reasons. Chief of these reasons was that I kept turning my entries into story as soon as I would begin to write. Nothing wrong with that except there was a tendency to produce too many unfinished works.

Eventually, I came around to keeping many journals up to and including: wax paper. In Jack Heffron’s book, The Writer’s Idea Book, was the suggestion that a long stream of paper (such as butcher paper) might free a writer from the normal constraints of jotting notes on a sheet of paper (though arguably a computer scrolls much in the same way). If he mentioned a roll of wax paper, I can’t recall. I am currently on my second roll of wax paper and use Heffron’s book as prompts to write ideas.

Bringing this together – it was David who pointed out that these kinds of journals are a great wealth of material when exploring different subjects to write poetry about. As a novelist, I can readily see how such rumination and observation can assist in scene setting, character development, and so forth. And as I am a proponent of handwriting one’s thoughts (again, for the usual number of reasons) I have had great fun writing on a 200yd. roll of wax paper. Which, by the way, seems to work best with a no. 2 pencil.