As someone who identifies as a creative, it is very important to me to be working on at least one creative project. Something I was struggling with up until the beginning of this year was finding a way of keeping a track of all my creative thoughts. And then I had a fairly simple solution to my problem- I would start a creative journal. You might be wondering, what the heck is a creative journal? In this post, I will explain what I mean by a creative journal, why I use one and how you can use one while making it unique to you.
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| A title page in my creative journal |
What the Heck is a Creative Journal?
Good question. A creative journal, put simply, is a journal where I store all of my creative thoughts and plans. It's just a plain notebook with all of my creativeness in it. It isn't anything fancy like an art journal or a bullet journal.
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| An example of one of my blog post planner pages |
My creative journal is a black hardback Moleskin notebook. I've just started adding some drawings to the blank pages and there is a lot of colour coding depending on what I need to write about. I use it to plan my blog posts, keep a track of what books I want to read and what books I've read. I also use it as a place to store all of my big writing projects. I have since started to add other lists such as a list of all the digital content I watch (films and tvs) and to track all the books I purchase. Like I said, put simply, it is for tracking all my creative plans and projects.
Why I Use One?
I decided that 2020 would the year I get my creative plans sorted and keep on top of all my creative thoughts. I am someone who often has creative plans just pop into my head and I always forget to write them down, or I spread them around multiple notebooks. By having a set journal, I now have one place for all my creative thoughts. I've been using it since early January, and I've found I'm no longer in such a creative slump. I've had lots of ideas and I can't wait to find the time to write them. I do already have a notebook called "writing projects", which I think I will use for rough plans and the research parts. I can also transfer my current projects into my new journal.
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| One of my creative project planner pages |
The increased productivity I've found since starting one has been a real inspiration, especially during the current climate. Like with any other journal form, having one place to store all of your thoughts is handy.
I've also found it very relaxing to actually spend some time away from technology and use an old fashioned pen and paper to plan everything. You could also do this digitally if you wanted to, but having a bit of time away from screens has actually been very relaxing and good for my mental health.
How You Can You Make Your Own?
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| My book tracker for January 2020 |
It's quite easy, all you need is a notebook and your thoughts. It depends how you want to split up your projects. For me, the three main areas of my creativity are my blog, books and writing. I have a couple of minor lists, which I might end up incorporating into bigger lists depending on how things go. I would recommend colour coding the key sections of your journal to make it easier to find what you are looking for. Something I've also started to do is to add title pages to each month. I was inspired to do this after seeing a tonne of bullet journal videos do this. They don't have to the prettiest or the best drawings, if you're having fun that's all that matters. This is also a chance to develop a new skill. I wanted to develop my drawing skills in 2020, so by adding little drawings where I can I am improving this new skill.
If you are looking for something fun, easy and new to do during the current situation, then look no further than starting a creative journal.
Carenza :) x
