How to Write a Daily One Sentence Journal:
I have been using this practice for several months now and never really thought about how I manage to write my journal, I just write them.
I realized when I decided to use this assignment for writers in this program that you may benefit from more of an explanation as to how I go about writing a daily one sentence journal.
So – here is the breakdown of how I did it today.
Final one sentence journal says:
Contrasts were painted today with vivid hues and earthy fragrances which will continue to linger and teach me lessons.
“Pretty cool sentence”, I thought to myself.
The process to get to the sentence looked like this:
#1 - I wrote the main themes through my day. Conflict (lengthy argument with a friend, stretched across the day) Struggle (Emma was home sick today from school, I have not had a day home without children in over a week, this always stretches me when I have creative-and-business goals to achieve) new beginnings (this program started) and a floral design class (something I didn’t really want to do, not much of a floral design kinda gal, but I wanted to hang out with the women who I knew would be there.
Then I mentioned the main characters or events:
Friend – Emma – teaching class – being a student
I realized contrasts were evident. I wanted to easily describe the contrasts. And I wanted to share a bit of the outcome of the contrasts “linger, lessons”….
These characters, events, and my experience of the characters and events became my sentence.
Here are some other examples of recent one sentence journals:
May 17:
Autism support at church was a floodgate of shared-stories and feeling of safe haven and tending to home felt so nurturing… and finally, the BECA meeting said, “Yes, I am an artist, a mom, a leader, an activist.”
May 16:
Though I valiantly tried, today I could not fit everything I wanted to do into my time box so I settled for Michelle’s graduation and dinner-reception, Guinevere’s 30th Bday, Jennie’s party…. because I wanted to show up and love as much as I was able to show up and love
May 15
It is feeling like an eternity since Sam felt tip-top.
May 13
Sam’s temperature scampered up the thermometer as my heartbeat followed in pursuit, feeling fiercely protective even though others may think it does no good. (Pshaw)
May 11
Restless sleep during my journey meant a lot of sleep, albeit still restless, and only a slight surge of creativity – not restless at all – followed.
May 9
I felt so glad to settle into a perfectly comfortable bed, sipping watered down cranberry juice, after an emotional roller coaster of a day.
What do you notice about these sentences?
I notice they are, for the most part, fairly brief. My favorite recent daily sentence said:
I have found Utopia (this just happened to be on Samuel’s birthday.)
They usually describe specific activities and my responses to them. Sometimes they are veiled with metaphor.
Sometimes they clunk me over the head, begging to be written.
Sometimes they take longer to write, like today’s sentence.
What I have found is they consistently work to ground me and help me to discern what is important to me in the here and now, in the today –
Writing a Daily Word Journal is different – and the same – in several ways.
First, it is more of an over-arching, succinct description.
Here I will share the words which go along with the sentences, so you may compare.
May 18: Learning (Second choice, Fruitful)
May 17: Mutuality
May 16: Busy
May 14: Restless
May 13: Fever
May 11: Journey
May 6: blessings
Though I loved May 7 entry: What? (the only punctuated word, though it would be bold, italicized and with an exclamation point, too, if I could.)
Now, it is YOUR turn to get started.
Please, don’t worry about getting these sentences right or wrong.
As long as you write something you ARE right.
J
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