Ideas and Prompts for Writing in Your Art Journal

The journaling that you see on the page above isn't anything special or mind blowing. It's totally me though and that's what I'm after when *I* journal.

I usually start a journal page by writing the date (day, month and year) as well as a bit about the weather (temperature and anything notable. Anything other than sun in L.A. is notable to me.) Rarely do I write about my day in terms of "We did this or I did that..." It's more about what's floating around in the top of my head at the moment. I'll create love pages dedicated to my husband. I'll write about my son and how much I love him and how proud I am of him (or what he did that irritated me today!) I'll write a response to something I heard or read in the news that bothered me. I'll rant about something that's bothering me. I'll procrastinate (see the page above.) I'll talk about something that made me happy and laugh. I'll journal about my dreams, hopes, desires, wishes and things that I am yearning to do or see. I journal when I'm mad. I journal when I'm happy. I journal about EVERYTHING. I don't care who reads it or what they think because my journal is for ME.

A handful of some of my favorite, simple every day prompts for journal writing are:

1. Who is in the room with you? What are they doing?
2. What did you do today? What do you wish you did? What do you wish you didn't have to do?
3. What made you smile or laugh today?
4. Who or what pissed you off today?
5. What can't you get out of your mind?
6. What are you wearing? What do you wish you were wearing?
7. Describe a short segment of your day in detail.
8. What's bothering you?
9. Make a wish.
10. What did you really want to say?
11. How are you feeling?
12. I wish I could change...
13. I am so grateful...
14. Really?
15. I love it when...
16. I just read (watched, listened to)...
17. (Insert quote) and respond to it.
18. Where do you want to go?
19. I really want to...
20. Makes me happy (sad, mad, thoughtful, insert any emotion here) when...

I use these as a jumping off point if I don't know what to write about. I usually suggest to my students that they start their journaling by picking up a pen and picking one of the above (if they don't know what to journal about.) If nothing hits you immediately start by brainstorming. Write the prompt out onto the page. Then write as if you are talking back to the prompt, "Why am I writing this? I should be doing the dishes or something more important or...I can't believe what happened today..." don't take your pen off the page. Keep writing. If writing is hard, make marks or squiggles until you hit something that strikes a nerve and it gets you writing.

You don't even have to write a lot! Sometimes I write a sentence or two and I'm done. Sometimes it seems like a book. It's all about my mood and what I feel like I need to "say" and get out onto the page. I have been keeping a journal for a long time and I know when I've done everything that I needed to do. It's almost like taking a deep breath, exhaling and knowing deep down inside that it's done.

More tomorrow.