One of the books I just read is all about writing to become more healthy. It explains that the more you write and face your feelings, the more healthy you naturally become. It makes a lot of sense.

One of the things the book emphasizes is a "morning journal". Somewhere you go each morning and just jot down your thoughts as you start the day, to give yourself a foundation for the day's progress. I've been doing that for the past week and I really enjoy it! I've been using my dragonfly journal and the nice wooden desk set up in the "music room". It overlooks the back bird feeder. I actually get some sunlight for a while! I'm sure the sun is helping me, but I think too the journal helps, to write in it each morning as I start my day.

Does anybody else do a morning journal? What do you think of the process?

Hey Lisa,

I don't have a morning journal, but I do keep a night journal. Before I go to bed every night I try to write about the happenings of the day and the feelings I had about everything and what I hope to accomplish tomorrow. That sort of thing. I am a diabetic and I have to keep a food journal, a medication journal, you name it LOL... but I love to write, so it's all good!

That sounds great, it sounds like you are combining my morning journal of to-do things in with my gratitude journal of evening thoughts. It sounds very efficient since you already have other journals you have to manage!!

In terms of doing a to-do list, do you find writing that down helps? I definitely think organizing my thoughts before each day is helping me to get more done. I am really enjoying the process. The time spent definitely makes me more efficient. I.e. it "gains me time" in the long run to spend it.

I definitely think it helps to have a to-do list. It helps me to keep track of everything I need get done in a day, which sometimes seems like a lot. If I can write it down and mark it off and see that it's been done, I can focus on other things more easily and feel like I accomplished at least that much lol...

Trying to start a freelance writing career is not as easy as people think it is, that's for sure. I usually have tons of e-mails to attend to, query's to send out, articles to work on, etc etc etc... A to-do is a must for me...

Wow Debbie that does sound like a huge undertaking! That is very impressive that you are heading down that road! What system do you use to manage your work?

I keep a gratitude journal that I try to write in in the morning. It definitely helps me set the mood for the day. I used to pull a tarot card for myself each morning as well and I've been thinking a lot about returning to that practice and writing down my impressions in my journal as well. I know that used to help me a lot back then.

~Leah

That is definitely cool to have something random to ponder each day. Some people use tarot cards, some people use quotation cards or inspirational cards. I should think about making a way for BellaOnline to create those! I'll look into doing that

Well Lisa, I am certainly not as organized as I would like to be lol... but I use a couple of things to manage everything. I have to be able to see it written down or I will forget it. So I use my journal of course to keep track of what I need to do the next day. But I also use a big dry erase board and a huge calendar that is big enough to write in the blocks for each date. I also have everything on my computer and I have a calendar reminder on there also.

I have to manage not only what I am doing in my freelance career, but I'm a diabetic and I have a huge schedule that comes along with that. I'm also a single parent, so I have to add in all the things for my daughters, ball practice, choir rehearsal etc. etc. So my date book is indespensible lol...

If you have any suggestions as far a system to keep up with all that would be great lol.. I know you have a lot on your plate also, how do you keep it all straight?

The dry erase board is brilliant Debbie! That way you can always have it fresh with your current info in an environmentally conscious way

I have 3 months of calendar hanging by my desk with actual time-based appointments. That way I can scan it without opening anything or clicking on anything, it's always right there.

Then I keep to-do lists for my main tasks. Many different books I've read talk about how it really helps to "emphasize" things in your mind if you have to re-write them every day. So even though Outlook is "efficient" (you write it once, it stays there) that also means it gets forgotten. If every day you write on your list "clean the back gutter" then you get it driven into your brain and someday you are sick of writing it down and you just do it. So I see the value of that!

That sounds like a great idea. If I keep writing something down I can remember it a lot easier.

Luckily a lot of the stuff I have to do that doesn't revolve around writing is time sensative. Like the girls have practice the same days of the week, at the same times, so that helps.

As far as writing goes, I just have to make sure that I really keep tabs on what I am doing with each project and any time I do something else with it, I have to remember to write down the new changes. So, If I start a new project I'll have the title and the next thing would be the outline, then I'd have down the query letter, which five publishers or magazines or e-zines etc. that I sent it out to. Then when I get something back from those five I send it out to five more if need be. So I just keep adding to the file on each one, til I sell it or get the ok to go ahead with it... so it's neverending lol... I sometimes have 5 or 6 projects going at a time, but I love it, so it's ok.

One of these days I may come up with a better system but for now this works for me.

That sounds like a great system, and it keeps everything organized for you! Well done!

I am just not writing regularly in my morning journal. The problem is I get up at 5:30am, take my son to the train station and then fall asleep again. So I don't write then. When I wake up later I feel like I already "started my day" so I don't take the time to write. I really should get back into the habit, it was quite helpful to focus even for 10 minutes to sort out my day's tasks.

I will make an effort tomorrow morning to do that!