Hi everyone! How are we feeling as we creep out of 2021 and towards 2022? I for one am having zero expectations. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
That is not to say that I am going to settle for the same old, same old. Big plans, starting from small changes.
When I was twelve years old and about to graduate primary school, I received a present from my English teacher. She gave me a journal, and on the first page she wrote, 'I look forward to reading your stories in the future.' Well, it has been over 25 years, and I have been writing many, many stories. I doubt she's read any of them (unless she's an avid reader of fanfiction), or if she even remembers a quiet, bookish student who liked to doodle in her textbooks and wrote a lot. But that journal was a precious treasure that I filled with my own memories.
I can't remember when I stopped writing journals. Some time in my teens, I suspect, when friends and relationships and studies took up my attention. However, it is high time I revisit this habit, if only to strengthen my writing discipline.
I have already prepared four months' worth of writing prompts. Below I am including January's prompts. Every day at 10am, I'll spend 10-15 minutes with my iPad at my desk responding to them and then take a screenshot to post to my Twitter account. At the end of each week, I will select two to three that I liked from my daily exercises and post them on the blog. And at the end of the month, I'll share the prompts for the next month. All of this is laid out to keep me accountable! (Thank you, Atomic Habits. Review to follow.)
Let me know if you want to join in and build a journaling habit. I can't wait to begin!
(If you want the prompts in text version, follow me on my Twitter @aklee_writes. I'll post the prompt along with a screenshot of my journal entry of the day.)