A Gratitude Journal for Writers

Two summers ago I started to keep a "Gratitude" journal about my writing. I saw a journal book with the title "Counting My Blessings" at my favorite thrift shop. It had a very appealing look and I just had to buy it. It was inexpensive and sturdy looking so I knew it would last a long time.

Each page is broken up into several sections with a box to list the date. This makes it easy to write short descriptions about something that brought me joy and gratitude related to my writing.

My how time flies! It is hard to believe it is over two years since I started writing online and started this gratitude journal.

I was a novice at online publishing when I started this journal. My first entry is about how someone named Giuseppe in Italy left a really nice comment on a poem I published. That rocked my world as I was new to using the Internet for anything but for research.

It was really fun to start one summer day by reading a comment from a country I have not yet visited (but long to!). Online writing opens up the world for writers. It is so much fun to meet other writers and readers from around the world.

One of my favorite entries in my gratitude journal is about when InsightReuters published my humor piece about The Grinch that I had written during my birthday week. I was just feeling giddy and felt like being funny so I wrote the piece as a little birthday present to myself to allow my wacky humor to flourish. Reuters is located in London a place dear to my heart. Also it was so much fun to have a comedy piece linked to by such an esteemed news agency.

I love the feeling of sitting down with my gratitude journal and documenting the writing experiences that bring me joy. It is also fun to look back over the entries as time passes and recall details that I would have already forgotten if I had not documented them in the journal.

And just tonight I added an entry to my gratitude journal that AC's own Michelle Devon (Michy) sent me a contract to publish a letter I submitted for her 'Unsent Letters" project.

Yay, that e-mail made me quite happy so I had to dig the gratitude journal out of my desk and write about this. I used to travel to Texas for business so it was fun to get a contract from TX and reminisce about times there.

I hope I continue to have happy writing experiences to document in my gratitude journal. I think it is important to find some quiet time to think and write about the joy that writing provides in my life.

I recommend starting a writing gratitude project. It doesn't take much; it would be easy to make a journal or just use a notebook. Or most bookstores and thrift stores have journals to buy too if you desire something a bit fancier.

Document your accomplishments as a writer. It is important to keep track of happy events and treasure them always!

Happy writing!