A writer works with words. With this, a journal is one of the essential tools. And writing on a journal is a habit. It is where you can flex those creative muscles, making the blank page for your other projects less daunting.

Speaking of writing projects, many of these began in a random journal entry about a relative visiting, a chore, a conversation you overheard and decided to jot down. In fact, many journals have become books in themselves.

There are very few rules to journaling:

1.     Write anything

2.     Never edit yourself

A journal is a playground. There is no other place where it is acceptable to devise your own rules and make mistakes. Its pages will accommodate anything and everything: doodles, multi-colored ink, news clippings, big letters, misspelled words, rough sketches, stickmen.

Start by getting a notebook and pen that you are comfortable with. Ring-bound, hard-bound, ruled pages, pocket-sized or A4: it depends on what you feel like. Others are content with writing on any available scrap of paper and keeping these in a box. Others rely on a small computer. No matter how it looks like, make your journal feel like home.

You may start with writing how your day went. As you keep writing daily, more thoughts will enter your head. Dreams, nightmares, tasks, conversations -write them down.

Some people keep dream diaries. This little notebook is kept next close to the bed. The moment you wake up, write down all that you recall of the previous night’s dream. Our memories of dreams fade very fast. The key to the dream diary is to write as soon as possible, while you still remember many details.

If you feel that there’s nothing to write about, doodle or sketch. Just fill in the page. Here are some other exercises you can do in your journal:

1.     Make a list of your favorites. Then make a list of your pet peeves.

2.     Tape or glue in one of the day’s junk mail. Write an imaginary letter to the sender. Or make a better version of the flyer.

3.     Consider you feet. Describe it. Tell the story of your feet: where they want to go, where they have been, how they feel right now.

4.     Make a cut-and-paste poem.

5.     Create a mind-map from one word that pops into your head.