Why Journaling Makes Me a Better Writer and Cookbook Coach

Photo by Elevae

I’m a sucker for a journal. Any kind of journal,l really. Ones on money mindset, yearly vision casting, daily devotionals, and even blank ones I can fill up on my own. Journaling has transformed not only how I write, but how I coach cookbook clients with their book proposals and beyond.

If writing has felt like an elusive muse, or if you’ve felt something missing from your practice, I bet a journaling would change everything. Here’s how journaling has made me a better writer and cookbook coach, and hopefully, you’ll walk away with some tangible tips for yourself too.

Forces Slowness

I used to go to a weekly class at my gym that was a mixture of Tai Chi, yoga, and pilates, with the last few minutes ending with us in shiv asana (corpse pose). It was a welcome ending to an energetic class, but one lady would always dip at that part. I’d be dozing off, only to hear her yoga mat smacking against itself and her flip-flops flopping right out the door. 

WHY?

She could just wait a few minutes and not ruin the end of class for everyone else. But she’d always say she just couldn’t lie on the floor and do nothing.

I believe she believed that, but I don’t. 

We don’t give ourselves enough time to just be. I’m talking about staring-off-into-the-distance-and-just-letting-yourself-think-with-no-agenda-kind-of-being. It’s a practice, like meditation. 

Whenever I’m overwhelmed and running in circles, I know I need to whip out my journal. It’s especially helpful in the middle of the night if I can’t sleep. With a bunch of thoughts pinging around in my head, it’s hard to know what’s important and what’s not. And as a writer, I know nothing changes until something is on the page. But there’s a grace that comes when I arrive with my journal in hand with no particular agenda, just to spill my heart out.

I’ve found the overwhelm evaporates pretty quickly, and I’m able to see things for what they are. My thoughts become more clear because I’m giving them space. And I’m also allowing myself the space to just think. It’s easy to get caught in the productivity circus. But sometimes, you need a place you can process your thoughts, so that when you show up for work, your heart and mind are clearer.

Removes the Pressure to Be Perfect

In high school, I didn’t believe in editing. I’d spend hours editing as I wrote, believing it should be flawless before anyone saw it. That’s not how writing works, though. You put down things that may not be pretty and go back and make them lovely.

I’m surprised by some of my old journals and how good some of my thoughts actually were. There wasn’t any judgment because they were for my eyes only, so it removed the pressure to be perfect. I had the freedom to say weird stuff, be overly romantic (or mean), a little messy, and it was okay. It allowed me to be braver in my actual writing, too.

When you’re submitting work to be edited, it’s natural to want to edit yourself. But most of the time, it’s the work you don’t want to submit that’s the most powerful. Ten times out of ten, when a client says they were going to leave out a specific piece of writing, it’s the exact thing I can’t stop talking about. 

Creates the Opportunity to Dig Deeper

If there’s one thing I love, it’s feeling my feelings. But the problem with feelings is that they stay on the surface. As a cookbook coach, I see a lot of surface emotions on the page. Most food writers think if they say what emotions they’re feeling, it’s enough. It’s not. Happiness to one person may be a 5 a.m. walk on the beach, and to another, it’s playing chess with a grandparent. And there’s a reason those things make them happy—something you can’t see.

I know I’ve had that same problem in my writing, so with my journal, I challenge myself to define what’s beneath the basic emotions. What’s at the root of those feelings of sadness, hope, or fear? It can get repetitive, and just when I feel like I’ve said it all before, something new will appear, a deeper meaning to something I didn’t think about. That’s where the good stuff is. It just takes pages and pages to get there.

This is also something my one-on-one coaching clients rave about—my journal writing prompts. I’ve found most people who want to write a cookbook dive in thinking they just need stellar recipes. Agents and publishers want books that’ll change conversations and are over-running with a clear emotional why. 

That’s why I created my 5-day course, Writing Gold: 5 Days to Kickstart Your Cookbook Writing and Grow Your Audience of Raving Fans. I want to set you up for the best book proposal and writing experience possible. With daily video lessons and intentional prompts, you’ll be able to put your big dreams on the page so people will have no choice but to jump on your cookbook train.

Let’s clear out the cobwebs of what you think your story is and spend the next 5 days journaling towards your dream cookbook idea. Join Writing Gold now.