Moleskine notebooks are a savior for me. I used to “journal” as a teen, though I use that term lightly because it was mostly covering gossip in math class and the freckles of my then-crush-not-fiance. I quit for a while and tried blogging, but my topics were so broad it fell apart like sand. A year ago, with a Christmas gift card to Barnes & Noble, I purchased a large set of three Moleskine notebooks. The first was for writing elements. Ideas. Images. Plot run-throughs. Character sketches. The beginnings of flash fictions. The second started out to be the notebook for my novel, though I abandoned it shortly after during a reread of the plot. The third, however, has been sitting empty on my shelf for almost a year. Until I picked it up in September. And you are so right, the first page is daunting. So I put a date on it and started writing. About anything. Everything. It ended up being a social commentary about my mother’s traditional values and stemmed into my own fears and insecurities. It was fantastic!

Journaling/writing freehand can really set you free! I encourage you to not only try your hand at novel-length stories, but try some shorter pieces as well. Flash fiction. Experimental work. They’re great mediums and journaling and stream-of-consciousness really helps with them. Great post 🙂

Thank you, Nettie x