Keeping a creative writing journal is something that most people in the writing world keep. It is not a journal of your everyday thoughts, that is something of a different nature. A creative journal is where you spend your time creating stories, ideas and building worlds, and shaping dialog. Let us take a look at how to start. First, you will need a book for ideas. Make sure that it is a book that will only be used for creative writing and decorate this book in a creative way that will help stimulate creative thoughts as you write. Second, it is very important to spend at least ten minutes a day writing uninterrupted. You might have things to do and that is okay, but spend at least ten minutes a day writing in that book. 

What do we write? If you do not know where to begin, I have selected a few options to help you start. Make your first entry about yourself. Describe yourself in the most detailed way possible. Write and rewrite the ending to your favorite movie. Pick a person you have never had a conversation with and write down a dialog that you would start and continue in a conversation with them. Write about yourself as if you were someone else looking at yourself. Start world-building by describing a fictional world you would like to live in. 

Every day spend time writing in this book until you have filled it with all kinds of thoughts and conversations. Now we let them grow. The growth process is where we take one idea and take it to the next level, and expand it. We design more characters for it, we build a world for it, we make dialog for it. You will see that your creative journal will seem to multiply with time as one idea takes up a whole book, and others are fragments of ideas clustered together. Never underestimate the power of a small idea. Small ideas gave us wizards and hobbits and Frankenstein. These journals are not about perfection; if anything it is to prove that an idea was yours. Creative journals can be filled to the brim with fragments until one day you realize that these fragments can be put together to form a story. 

There is one rule in creative journaling, which is to spend a little time each day writing. The rules don’t stipulate how long but the minimum is ten minutes a day for you to start with. If you feel like you have nothing to say that day, write down how you feel about not knowing what to say. Try to ask yourself questions as to why you feel that way and as soon as your ten minutes are up you will realize that you have had a full dialog. Not every idea is a winner, but not every idea will stink either. Spend time every day and invest in your creative future only you can build