Keeping a Journal or Diary

A diary, as we know, includes "a person's experiences, thoughts and/or feelings." en.m.wikipedia.org

It is often the place where we take our scrambled thoughts, write them down, and get some control over them. It allows for analysis and organization, or a way of simply recording an interesting event.

When writing Northern Escape, I unknowingly used many of these forms of creative nonfiction, merging them with the story.

The artists’ retreat was appealing, being that she was a bit of a shutterbug with an untapped creative side. Grace would actually be pretty pumped about this little adventure if it weren’t for the knot in her stomach and the tension in her neck. That being said, it was the perfect escape. In her pack was a notebook that could be used as part of her cover. It would give her an opportunity to get away from the crowd and get the troubling thoughts out of her head and onto paper. Her journal had helped her survive the past two years, and she knew it wouldn’t fail her now. Northern Escape

Take some time this week to do some journaling. Write for 10-15 minutes a day, or every other day if that seems too much of a chore. Write when the spirit moves you or schedule it for bedtime or first thing in the morning.

Here is another excerpt of Grace having some downtime after arriving at Thompson Lake for the artist's retreat.

She pulled out her journal to try to get some perspective. Tuesday, June 9th I woke up this morning and made the rash decision to go on a canoe/camping trip geared for artists. I am not an artist but will pose as one in order to hide from Psycho Cop for a few days. The thought of him makes me sick to my stomach. I’m trying not to show it, but I’m terrified. I don’t know if or how I will ever get away from him. Maybe if I’m able to stay off his radar for long enough, he’ll calm down, mellow out, and find some other poor woman to trap. She stopped writing there. If he moved on, someone else would have to suffer as she had. And possibly not be lucky enough to escape. Grace knew then she had to do more than hide. She needed to find a way to stop him. Northern Escape

Check out my YouTube video on this topic!