So you’ve gotten quite a number of entries in your journal and now you’re wondering how you can organize this hodge-podge of musings.
Please note: There are any number of ways you can organize your journal. This is only one way of doing so.
One Way to Organize Your Journal
First, number your pages.
This will make it easier to set up your table of contents (TOC).
Next, set aside a couple of pages in the front of your journal to be used for your table of contents.
Having a table of contents will allow you to quickly identify where entries are in your journal.
This will make it easier to locate specifics for any piece of writing you may be working on.
After setting aside a couple of pages for your TOC, read through your journal entries and label them.
As a writer your journal can be a source of inspiration and ideas.
Look at your journal with your writer’s eye and start marking entries with titles such as –
* characters
* story ideas
* plot, or sub plot
* location
* family news
* lists of anything (to do, grocery, favorite colors, etc.)
* drawings, and sketches
* logo ideas
* book cover ideas, etc.
You can even break these categories down into sub categories such as
* Story Ideas –
o short story or
o romance
* Characters –
o male
o female
If you’re the typical journal writer, there is no rhyme or reason to your entries.
As you go through and categorize your entries, grab a few colored highlighters.
Use these highlighters to mark similar entries with the same color.
For instance, highlight all your short story ideas in yellow.
Mark all your ideas for characters in blue.
If you have any sub categories, they get their own color or some derivative of the primary color you have chosen for the main topic or category.
Continue on in this manner until you come to the end of all your journal entries.
To increase your ability to quickly identify which entry is in which category, color a spot on the edge of each page related to a specific topic.
Or, you can use those colored flags or small Post-it note flags found in any office supply store.
If you use the Post-it note flags, write the topic on each flag.
Once you’ve gone through each entry go back and make your table of contents.
List all of your topics in any way you wish.
Alphabetically may be best and the easiest to scan quickly.
This way, if you are looking for a specific character you would simply look in the ‘Cs’ instead of having to read through the entire TOC.
As you create your TOC, write each category in its corresponding color (i.e. if you chose blue for ‘characters’ then you would make the word ‘characters’ blue in your table of contents).
As you add entries to your journal, you will then number the page, title your entry under a specific category and mark it with the chosen color.
This will help you keep your journal organized.
There are any number of ways to get your journal organized.
How do you keep track of what’s in yours?
About Patricia Bumpass
Patricia (Pat) Bumpass (www.patriciabumpass.com) is a North Carolina-based freelance writer. She writes a weekly blog for her current employer while building her freelance writing business. Pat enjoys writing and has journaled since she was a teenager. She lives with her son who is blessed with Autism.
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