Allani Pfeiffer, Puyallup WA (USA)

email: crazyladybugg@hotmail.com

my stuff: www.allani.7p.com

flickr: Journal Pages

I started to journal when I was in 8th grade for an English class assignment. We were given prompts and then graded on how much we wrote in an alloted amount of time. I hated writing- I never knew what to say... then one day, we were give the assignment to just write whatever we were thinking as we held the pen in our hand. That seemed to unlock my "write brain" and I filled 2 pages with all the things on my mind. I remember how great it felt! From then on, each morning for our journaling time I would ignore the prompts and just write whatever came into my brain at that moment. Soon, English was my favorite class.

My journals have evolved a lot since then. After I dumped the spiral bound lined notebook I went to bound books (usually from the dollar store). Eventually I got bored or burned out or who knows and I stopped writing in my journals as regularly. I think part of the problem was that I would read over the past entries and they were so depressing to me (there was a heap o junk going on in those books) and just opening the book to write more wasn't so appealing. Eventually, I came across some visual journals and books on journaling and they were a spark to my lost creativity. Since then my journals are not just for words. I collage junk in them, draw "badly" (but I'm getting better), trace stuff, and try to focus on the positive happenings to keep me coming back to my book. I keep a journal or sketchbook with me everywhere I go. In fact, I also keep journals for both of my kids too. One day, they can each take their books with them and hopefully continue on writing their story for themselves.