For inspiration, you might try referencing our journal writing resources. And here are some ideas for journal formats that might help loosen you up. Pick one that calls to you, or try a few until you get into the rhthm:

• photo journal (primarily for those with digital cameras) Make pictures, paste them in, and write your reactions. You can also do this with old photos and photos from albums, for reminiscence. If possible make Xerox copies of the photos and paste them into the journal. Then write. Also, collect pictures of yourself, as many as you can find (within reason). Make Xeroxes or scans and paste a different one onto a new page. Then study each picture and write, which will probably reveal things about yourself you never really knew were in there. You can dialogue with yourself in each of the pictures.

• The Untruth Journal - Write a journal that is entirely untrue. (Don't do this too long; it might convert you into a fiction writer!

• Activity-based Journal - hobby, interest, etc. (for example, golf, running, even Monday Night Football) Write at the end of each interest-based event.

• Journal writing with audio recording (Record sounds or thoughts. Then listen to them. Then write.

• Unsent Letters journal - Write to someone (someone you know, someone you would like to know, perhaps someone who is no longer with us, perhaps a character you create -- or imagine talking to someone else as you write. The important thing is to get another 'person' involved as the target of what you create.

• Drawing-based journal: Begin entries with drawings or even scribblings. Then write. Or stop to draw (more)

• Multi-level journal: Make a dividing line vertically down the page. It does NOT need to be down the middle. Then write your journal entry on the left side. Later, make comments on what you wrote (should not be critical, like "This sucks" but rather reflective, or reactive, adding ideas you didn't include originally or branching into new thoughts.

• Star-burst entry: Draw a box in the middle of the page, that will just record a single thought or idea or recollection, probably no more than a sentence. Then, around it, draw a circle or a box to contain each thought you have that branches from the main thought, and link them by lines. Number each box or circle. Later, take each of the thoughts you think are most important to you and make separate journal pages to continue the thought. Use the numbers for cross-indexing.

• Dream journal, inner dialogue journal, children journal, interactive ice-box journal, travel journal, workplace journal, ideas journal, snippets journal, manuscript circulation (online?)