Discussion

Now it's time for your journal writing to take off!

You may want to keep two separate journals. One in a notebook for yourself, and the other on your computer so that you can submit it in a Word document to the drop box each week.

Your assignment is to write two entries in your journal, 1-2 typed pages each. Write these in any order you choose.

1. Go to a public place, such as a park or a grocery story, and observe and listen to people. Write in your journal what you see and hear. Be sure to include as much actual dialogue as you can remember.

2. Describe a conflict you experienced sometime in your life between you and a friend or family member. It could be at work, at home, or when you were a child. (Before you write this, check out the examples of conflict between friends in your assigned reading for today.) Hint: Spend a little extra time on this conflict experience. You will refer to it again in your Fiction Project.

When writing to your journal, always take the time to include details, colors, feelings, and action. Listed below are two examples; the first is weak, the second is stronger.

Weak Journal Entry

"We went to the mall and saw a scary man."

That is too general. It is a diary entry. You want a journal entry with more detail, with description, dialogue, emotion, detail, action, and conflict.

Stronger Journal Entry

"Jen and I went to Spring Hill Mall Saturday night and had the scare of our lives. We got there just as the rain came pounding down on our Subaru Station Wagon. We parked, but when we got out, our little green plastic umbrella blew away into the storm like a kite. Just then a tall man in a red shirt ran over and offered us his big black umbrella. We thanked him and sprinted with him to Penney's. We thanked the man again, but then he started following us! We could see his Adam's apple sliding up and down like he had a miniature gerbil in his throat."

And so on.

Think you can do it? Sure you can.