The realistic answer to the question: Can I Turn my Journals into a Memoir – is probably no. But, journals can provide a great source of material for your memoir.
Fear not. This blog will help you understand how to make those journals work for you, what to salvage, and what to let go of.
Is Journal Writing the same as Memoir Writing?
No. There are many differences between writing a journal and writing a memoir.
A few differences include:
1.Language
It is easy in journal writing to forget about language and its many nuances. Often the writer just wants to ‘get rid of’ an emotion, and is not concerned with using creative language to fulfil the immediate goal of getting words on the page.
2. Memoir Writing is more in-depth than Journalling
Usually journal writing does not have a structure, whereas memoir writing adheres to the structure of story, while keeping the language tight without over writing it.
3. Journalling can be (really) overwritten
In writing memoir the memoirist is aware of their writing voice, and how to show their story without overwriting it. Journal writing has no boundaries, therefore allows the writer to write and write. Many writers that engage in journal writing often have to learn how to not overwrite their story.
There are many differences between writing a journal and writing a memoir.
4. Journalling is generally not written as story
The purpose of journalling is very different to that of memoir writing. Memoir Writing is shaped and woven into the constructs of story, whereas journalling does not abide by any writing rules.
5. Journal Writing is not necessarily creative
Journal writing can be creative, but does not have any hard and fast rules on how to achieve this. Whereas in writing memoir the memoirist is always seeking to write their story as creatively as possible.
Do my Journals have any Value?
The value in your journals depends on how they were written.
Journals can help to:
- trigger memories
- recall names
- remember experiences and incidents
- remind us of specific dates and place a view on our past re repeated concerns, relationships and patterns
- evoke emotional honesty
- remind us of forgotten memories
- recollect small details that were once important
The value in your journals depends on how they were written.
So there is a lot of value in journals from the above point of view, but while a journal is part of your well of memory, journals are generally written in a very different way to that of a memoir.
The Difference Between a Diary Entry and a Memoir
This is the crucial distinction.
A diary entry records experience close to the moment it happened. A memoir usually revisits experience from a later vantage point. A diary says, “This is what happened today.” A memoir says, “This is what that time meant, and this is what I can see now.”
A Diary is not the same as a Memoir
Diaries are immediate. Memoirs are shaped.
In your journal, you may have written page after page about an argument, a journey, a heartbreak, a job, or a friendship. That material may be vivid and true, but memoir asks more of it. It asks:
- Why does this matter now?
- What larger theme does it belong to?
- What changed because of it?
- What did I not understand then that I understand now?
That gap between recording and storytelling is where memoir begins.
Exercise: How to Turn Your Journal into a Memoir
Exercise – Writing Voice
The next time you journal, think about the above questions, and before you start writing, as an exercise to help improve your writing voice, see if you can reflect on what the incident means to you now in a reflective voice. This piece of writing could then become part of your memoir!
Do read my web page How to Write a Memoir to help you further.
How to Read your Journals like a Memoir Writer
When people first return to old diaries, they often begin by reading everything in order. That can be useful, but it can also become overwhelming. You are not looking to preserve every page. You are looking for what glows.
Try to read your journals as a memoir writer, rather than as an archivist.
In your journals, notice what appears again and again. Notice what still has emotional charge. Notice where your attention sharpens. Notice the entries that make you pause, laugh, wince, or ache.
You may begin to see patterns such as:
- a longing for freedom
- conflict with a parent
- the struggle to belong
- a difficult marriage
- creative ambition
- illness, caregiving, or grief
- faith, doubt, migration, or reinvention
These patterns are often more important than the individual entries themselves. They point towards subject matter, which is a crucial element in writing memoir.
Notice the entries that make you pause, laugh, wince, or ache.
To understand more about memoir writing, read my blog post: Memoir vs Autobiography and read the differences between the specific forms of writing.
TIP TO DEEPEN YOUR WRITING
If participants in my online memoir writing course and memoir writing retreats are avid journal writers, I often advise them to park journal writing while they do the workshop.
There are only so many hours in the day when one can write, and if you expel all your writing energy into journalling, it’s possible your creativity and enthusiasm will be depleted, and therefore not able to give 100% to writing your memoir.
Plus writing memoir demands a different mind-set to that of journalling, so best to focus on the outcome you want – your memoir!
This will give you plenty of opportunity to go deeper with your writing and your story.
Go Write!
Want a helping hand and guide to put this into practise?
The Memoir Writing Workbook (240 pages) is based on right-brain/left-brain visual writing techniques. It has 36 multi-part focused exercises and 45 writing tips to help trigger memory and learn story creation. Each chapter with examples, show how to develop and write memoir, using the unique Memoir Map.
Do join Irene for a FREE LIVE Chat on How to Start a Memoir Writing Club
Or join Irene in her 12-week Online Memoir Writing Course or on one of her Writing Retreats
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