In June I taught a class on Journal Writing to a group of ladies in my neighborhood. You can read about it here. That evening I promised them that if there were enough interested in starting a writing group, I would help and we could get started at summer’s end.
Summer’s end is here. We have a group. Anyone is welcome. Let me know if you’d like to join in . My hope is to send out weekly prompts, ideas and journaling cheer. Below is the first installment of many to come.
The Stonewood Writing Group (SWG)
Hello Ladies!
This is the month we are beginning our new writing group. I’m excited and hope you are too. The goal of this group is to start writing if you haven’t been in a writing groove, or if you are already writing some, to write a bit more than you have been. Or maybe you’d just like some ideas about how to make your journal entries more interesting. We will also take a look at writing pieces for your personal histories or your family’s history.
As we get started, here are a few things you will want to think about.
1. Please commit to writing for at least 8 minutes each day. You know you can make time for this! You will be Amazed at how much you can write in just 8 minutes. There are no police. Think of a really good reward each week or each month you meet this goal.
I will be feeding you ideas each week of additional writing you might want to do (like prompts to write about, a list to make, examples of topics you might like to try for yourself, or motivational thoughts to keep you going).
2. Where will you do your writing? Do you write in a book or paper journal or do you use the computer? If you are using a computer (I recommend this), do you have a folder dedicated to your journal and things you are writing? You might want to create a special folder for your writing. You can add sub-folders if needed as we go along. For example, I have a Journal Folder, and I create a journal document that I add to each day. In a year’s time, I usually have 3 documents with 4 months in each document (2025.1, then 2025.2, then 2025.3). I write a lot, so I like to break the year into sections. You can keep it all together if you like. All of my yearly journals fall into chronological order and I just add to them as we go.
I start each day’s entry like this:
Thursday 18 September 2025 Writing Group Begins, donations to SLC, Stake RS Activity
You can see the day of the week, the date, and a few key things that happened that day right up front like a header. This makes it easy to find things later and it’s a nice summary of the day. Then I begin writing. I usually put the time of day when I begin and end, just because I like to do that. I like to know when I’m writing on the day of. If there’s no time of day, I know I am going back to catch up. Not necessary, but it makes the history of your life a primary document, recorded at the time of, rather than a memory of that day (which is better than missing something).
Tip: If you want files in your folders to fall in chronological order, label them YEAR- MONTH-DAY, for example: 2025-9-18. This will simplify your life. You can add a descriptor word after the date if you like.
The folders I keep in my WRITING folder include things like:
Journal
Topics written about (then I have named documents here)
Topics to write about (topics, ideas or prompts I want to write about)
Memoirs (personal stories from my life)
Writing Prompts (as I complete them, I move them to the written about folder, I find these in articles, in books, or from other writers)
Writing by others that I like (examples of well-written pieces, articles or memories)
My life Chronology
Small Plates (spiritual experiences)
Family History Miracles
People to write about
Writing Tips
These are all just ideas of how you might start organizing things in your mind and in your computer. Using a computer allows you to copy and paste and share and you can search in documents for key words to find things. It will simplify your life. Don’t be afraid. Remember to always save your work in a place where you can find it. Get help getting started if you need it.
3. Take inventory of any and all journals you have kept during your lifetime. They may be in notebooks, loose slips of paper, bound journal books, or in computer files. Start bringing them all into one place. You need to know what you have. Don’t forget the emails you’ve sent to friends or family members. These may be some of the best records you’ve kept. They will be stored in your computer email archives unless you deleted them.
4. FROM NOW ON, when you read, write, or hear something important enough to preserve, start thinking of your journal as the final resting place for those notes or thoughts. If you prefer to write your journal by hand, consider moving into a looseleaf binder so you can add things like printed emails, news articles, or notes you’ve taken elsewhere. If you choose this option, be sure to use quality acid-free paper and a good pen for writing. Start carrying a small notebook with you to jot things down in that you will want to write about when you have time. If you use gadgetry, use the notebook features to keep track of these things.
5. SO, your job this week is to think about these things and start writing for at least 8 minutes each day. Write about your goals for this writing group. List the things you did each day. Describe some of those things as you have time.
Don’t worry right now about all the things you haven’t written about. Just jump into right now and start with TODAY and go forward. We’ll talk more about catching up later, a bit at a time.
I hope you are excited to get started!
Please send me an email to let me know you received this and answer these 3 questions:
1. What have you written so far?
2. What would you like to do differently or do more of?
3. What would you like help with?
Thank you for joining this group. You are welcome to share these emails with friends or family. This is going to be the start of something good.
I will shoot for sending something out every Thursday.
Maybe from time to time we will meet in person at my home.
Maybe sometimes you will share something you’ve written with members of our group.
I am your friend,
Ann Lewis
ann@jalfamily.net
