Three Steps to Journaling An Article

Did you know you could journal an article?

Maybe you have journals full of ideas and you just didn’t know it.

Or maybe you have some great ideas swirling around in your brain and you just need to grab a journal and let your pen do a brain dump.

Do A Brain Dump In Your Journal.

A brain dump is free journaling or getting your thoughts on paper first. Some call this pre-writing. Often we want to skip to the writing stage and just plunk out an article full of great points. For some, this comes naturally. For the rest of us, we need a plan. We need to decide our main point and set that up as the skeleton to build on. Maybe you have plenty of journal entries to get you started. If so…

Dig through your journal.

The best articles are born from something you had to overcome. If you have something in mind, then dig through your journal and find some scriptures, prayers, or practical things you have overcome.

Include scripture and practical tips.

For example, I knew I needed to give up sugar for a month and let my gut heal. The articles/teachings/podcasts that helped me the most were the ones with scripture and practical tips. Isabel Price suggests replacing the desire to eat sugary treats with a walk. That was practical. I could walk up and down the stairs a few times. (And yes, it helps.)

Think of the articles that have helped you the most. Emulate their formula. There’s a reason the article helped you. It met a need. Maybe it gave practical suggestions and encouragement. If you are serious about writing articles and hosting a blog, print off a few of your favorite articles and dissect them. Hi-light them. Maybe actually cut them up (I have). Find the formula that you are drawn to and use it as your framework.

Pick The Main Point.

If you are one of those people who didn’t like outlining in college or high school, you may have slept through this section. Maybe you just never saw the need to put down main points because you already know what you want to say. I get that. You may be one of those people who needs to do this assignment backward. Write out your whole article and then go back and pick out your main point.

It may be that you HAVE the main point, you just don’t know what it is until you type it. I struggle with this sometimes. I know what I want to say. I just don’t know what my headlines are. A friend of mine often helps me with this through a discussion or actually editing my articles. Find someone to help you if you need it! Don’t let this step deter you from writing!

If you don’t know what your main point is -try summing up your article in a sentence. For instance this article with birthed from my practice of using journal entries to start an article. My main point – You can journal an article. Then I worked out the three steps I use to move from journal to article. On an outline, those would be I, II, and III (if I did it old school). After that, I add my subpoints which I’ve included as subheadings. These would be A, B, C, and so forth. If you don’t want to outline that formally, no problem. Just find a system that works for you. But use something. Don’t expect your writing to organize itself just as you don’t expect your closet to organize itself. Wouldn’t it be great if it did? (The closet and the writing.)

Once you have your main points-

Add A Personal Example

Once you have your main points, add a personal example, maybe a story from your own life. People are more likely to connect and retain your info if you first connect with them on an emotional level. I’ll be the first to admit, sharing your personal stuff can be triggering. On the other hand, if sharing your trauma, that you already lived through and came out on the other side of, helps someone- it’s worth it, right?

Need some help writing an article that triggers you? Find it here –Three Tips For Writing A Scene/Article That Triggers You

Use questions to engage your reader.

You could use teeny assignments within your article to get them connected. Here’s an example from one of my articles (which became part of a book, How to Have Peace When Your Kids are in Chaos):

We must make sense of our past to be fully present for our kids. 

We parents often believe that our past — that is, the way we were raised — is just a book on a shelf of memories. It’s not. Triggers are where the past and present intersect. We can’t assume our past is not affecting our present parenting.

Take a minute right now and think about the last chaotic interaction with your child. Did you see your child as rebellious, contentious, and constantly pushing your buttons on purpose? Are you looking through the lens of your past? Does each interaction take you back to your childhood and the way Mom or Dad responded to you, or are you looking through the lens of the child’s past? Are you seeing how their former caregivers/bio parents responded to them (not to judge them or their past, but to better understand them). 

Often our daily tussles are not about our kids at all — they are about us. That’s not to say that our kids from hard places don’t have a past. It just means our past is running interference on the play.

Did you catch the series of questions? Those questions are intended to help the reader connect with the information on a personal level. When reading a series of questions, does it make you immediately answer them in your head? Good. That’s what they are for.

Once your reader has a personal connection, now is the time to offer some encouragement and practical suggestions.

You can pepper encouragement and practical suggestions throughout your article or make a list and talk about each suggestion. The important fact to remember -people will spend an average of 37 seconds reading an article. Some people just skim, so use headlines to help them decide what is important!

Sum it all up.

For those people who just skim, you’ll want to make sure you have headings and subheadings. And for those of us who really love the content, but forget the first step by the time we get to the end – sum it all up.

conclusion

For journaling an article you’ll want to remember –

Do A Brain Dump In Your Journal. Or dig through your journal to get your creative juices flowing. Find an entry (or series of entries) about something you have overcome. This is a great starting point. Then – Pick your main point – whether it’s “You can give up sugar for a month” Or “You can journal an article. Choose a way to format or outline your articles. Next, pull out some personal examples. You want to connect with your reader emotionally, as well as meet a need. Use questions as a springboard for that connection. Then provide encouragement and practical examples. Finally, sum it all up! One practice I use when finishing an article – I copy and paste my main points and subpoints to make sure I cover everything briefly. Think of your summation as the cliff notes to the article. Some people may only read the cliff notes. So make sure your summation is clear and concise (something I struggle with).

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