type

As you look for new ideas, never discount your experiences or expertise! Also consider what you enjoy reading and/or doing. In any case, write about these and return to them for ideas later in a writer's journal. I've been keeping one for some time and found that it worked for me, so much so that I've devoted a website to it: www.profitable-pen.com. If you are interested in submitting an article for this website, let me know!

__________________
Dorothy Zjawin
Suggestions for using your journal as an idea source for articles, stories and books
http://www.profitable-pen.com

larryta3

looked at your site...put on favorites for later possible use..interesting answering waht if questions...I wrote a What If poem


first four lines goes like this

What if the world was different with no wars?
What if you read books that were no bore?
What if animals talked and humans could hear them?
What if the universe were movable as cars and limbs?


Yes, I might could use your site , thanks....

Anonymous

Hi larryta3

Thanks for taking a look at my site and writing a poem based on one of the suggestions. I would be interested in seeing the rest of this poem and post it in the site when it is done, if that is okay with you.

thanks again,
type

larryta3

sure...I figured the more sites the better....I may not ever be paid for my work but who knows...

should I post it here or do you have an email address......

larryta3

I did put some of it on your site.....this could be a book if you really think about it.....cause there is alot of what if?

Anonymous

You're right about there being a lot of material for other writing projects in your what-if poem. I was going to suggest that you consider developing one of those what-ifs into an article or a story. You might get some interesting results if you care to share those results, that would be wonderful. I would look forward to reading that work.

larryta3

That might be good...I will think about it..

Kitten Courna

A man who keeps a diary pays
Due toll to many tedious days;
But life becomes eventful---then,
His busy hand forgets the pen.
Most books, indeed, are records less
Of fullness than of emptiness.

--William Allingham

__________________
Cadmus: Poor child, like a white swan warding its weak old father, why do you clasp those white arms about my neck?
Euripides; 'The Bacchae'

Anonymous

Hi Kitten Courna!

Just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed the poem.

Yesterday, I came across an article called "Golden Notebooks" by author Alexandra Johnson in the Writer's Handbook 2003. She includes a few suggestions for writing in journals along with some inspiration (the best part, in my opinion), such as "No matter how messy or incomplete, journals are the missing links in creative life. For centuries, they've (journals) helped beginning and seasoned writers trigger new work and sustain inspiration." Johnson also mentions other authors who have kept journals and mined ideas from them, such as Anne Frank, Oscar Wilde, Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein, Darwin, Tolstoy, and Anais Nin.

Thanks again. Type

larryta3

I did like your poem kitten....

Kitten Courna

not mine, one of Mr. William Allingham, though it's a delight to keep it about.

Sure lots of people have kept journals that have turned out famous, (da Vinci, Einstein, Darwin probably just needed a place to keep all their ideas, though Darwin probably could've used the emotional support that a diary gives.). But have you ever read, perchance, the diary of Andy Warhol? He recorded taxi fares and meetings with Duran Duran. A lot of his journals come off as records of tedious, inane, day to day living--which is an essential part of the Pop Art movement. His journals were a reflection of the artistic ideas he was already expressing through prints, films and foil-lined flats in New York among other things. It is more likely that Ms. Johnson sees journals as "missing links" because they explain something to her that she had not been able to see in their art; they explain the jump from a mind's idea to a hand's art. As for minding ideas from them, perhaps an ignorant quote from one's former self could inspire a bit of chagrin and help with understanding a younger mindset, but usually a person can just as easily -remember- it without taking notes.

__________________
Cadmus: Poor child, like a white swan warding its weak old father, why do you clasp those white arms about my neck?
Euripides; 'The Bacchae'

larryta3

You never know....you may need an idea that you have writien down years ago for a terrific book one day....three years ago I didn't know I could write poetry much less enjoy writing...my sister gave me an idea and I ran with it and she thoguth it was good and she suggested after a few poems for children to check into other sites....writing.com has helped me alot

Kitten Courna

*keeps ridiculous inexplicable notes everywhere, and uses them like a secret code* I can usually recall within a few minutes what each one means.

__________________
Cadmus: Poor child, like a white swan warding its weak old father, why do you clasp those white arms about my neck?
Euripides; 'The Bacchae'

larryta3

Thanks for displaying my poem for all to see on your site...and one day I will try to expand on one idea and see where it goes...for when I have an idea or story or poem I really never know where it leads me...this writing stuff surprises me immensely.
Thank you again, Type

Anonymous

And you are welcome! If you have developed anything new from something you've written, let me know. I'd like to see it. I thought that your poem has a lot of potential ideas and readers would find it very interesting.