Are you a loner writing a Journal?

Every New year, me and my brother used to receive new diaries from our parents. They usually came from the banks they were affiliated to or the clients whom dad dealt with, in business. We loved to hold it in our hands, sniff the freshly printed pages and feel the glossy paper inside it. Elated as we were but for reasons of our own. One may thrust upon the phrase, “Oh! Boys will be boys”. Even on that day, when I was closing in on the teenage years, gender equality was on my priority list. There wasn’t any compartmentalization for boys and girls. My parents were certain about the capability of both the genders and believed, sometimes one outran the other resulting in an equilibrium of both the sexes. So, while the boy tore pages from the new book to make paper planes and send it to the ‘fan-mars’, the girl wrote poetry.

And… once you get into the habit of writing daily, one cannot escape the lonely pleasures it subjects one to. In utopia, without being judged by the free opinion-givers, the little writer can open up to a self-made world without prejudices. Occasionally the comfort is genuinely addictive, it wards off the non-writing community of young people who believe by now that all journal writers are loners.

The pale yellow, artificial aura habitually offered to writers who are by now termed as ‘boring, gloomy and unimpressive’ hits you below the chest. The scribbler doesn’t take it to heart but when they are in company, the journal hardly comes up for discussions. “What’s it that you cannot tell us which you have to write down?”, “Show us what you write.”, “hey, someday let’s look into it without their knowledge, I so want to read it” are some the conversations that happen in the writer’s absence.

Perspectives apart, famous author Ron Klug believes that “ A journal is a tool for self-discovery, an aid to concentration, a mirror for the soul, a place to generate and capture ideas, a safety valve for the emotions, a training ground for the writer, and a good friend and confidant.”

Truly so. When you sum it up, a journal gets you closer to your-self. “It is impossible to write a journal and not discover more about yourself” states Stephanie Dowrick, writer from Australia and a social activist.

It is a boost to one’s mental health too. Various surveys on positive mental health in children and adults stretch it to the advantages of keeping a journal in hand. It is truly therapeutic, a form of expression when you are overloaded with anxiety or face regular bouts of stress. Journal writing can come in handy to suppress the overloaded mind and give relief to the person who is searching for ways to flush out the pent-up emotions. So, during therapies psychologists many a times put focus on writing a journal as well.

What more can it do but help improve the writing skills in a writer. Everyday scribbling is a brilliant way to naturally work upon the language and literature. It promotes vocabulary building, speed and one can freely try out writing in various styles and forms.

We had various excuses to publish a journal from The Alcove. Instead of diving into a family journal, creative journal, memory journal, personal journal or a science journal, we brought out an all-in-all journal which anyone can relate to. It is not complicated with maps and circuits inside the pages as we wanted to keep it simple and writer friendly. Understanding the elements a writer notes down, we have created a section for books to read, already read books and anything related to writing or commenting on books. Similarly, a writer’s corner is a much sought- after section that has been named ‘the mood tracker’. This section has been created keeping in mind the drifting moods of a writer, focusing on their mental health and giving them a space to express and vent it out.

Scribbles is the place where one can have the liberty to do anything they desire. It is open to illustrations, sketches, random notes, poetry trials and so on. I personally recommend the ‘Cove of Gratitude’ section. It’s good to thank the world and thank yourself when you have had a moment. Going back to what you have written inspires at a later stage when one is down and out or even at a time when one needs motivation to move on. Expressing gratitude keeps one closer to reality and it is a good habit to cultivate.

There are other relevant sections in the journal which is a dedication to the writers of the splendid Elizabethan era. In today’s discussions the names like Ben Johnson, Dorothy Leigh, George Chapman, George Harington do not pop up for acclaim. They have been half forgotten and half laid to rest. We have consciously tried to revive the brilliant literary masters and celebrate them in the journal for giving us the golden age which is regarded as the prosperous age of English literature.

The hard bound journal acknowledges the Queen with her crown in the cover and talk about Playwrights, Artists, Actors, Poets and Dramatists of the creative age. If not to write poetry, it is journal one can keep in hand to express oneself, note down points or simply because you are grateful to the Elizabethan Era and wish to show your gratitude by picking up the journal from our Cove.