When Vicki Grove visited our MWP class, she talked about her journal writing practice. She keeps one small notepad where she jots down ideas as they come to her and then she has another thick bound book where she collects these smaller pieces and where she writes longer pieces.

She collects ideas from the people and places she visits. For example, on the day she visited class, she collected the paper placemat from McD’s where she had breakfast. She found it highly ironic that McD’s is giving us heathly eating guidelines along with an 800 calorie meal. Another example she gave was that while she was here she went down to the workroom and looked at the bulletin board. She found some of the signs were just so funny or so tragic. For example, one poster asked people whether they were fed up with how this country is being run. And, only two of the dozen or so tabs at the bottom had been ripped. Tragic.

When she is writing and gets stuck, she reviews these things from her daily observations and if one strikes her at the time, it might end up in one of her books.

She carries her notepad and her journal with her wherever she goes. I could see the fondness she had for her journal and enjoyed the wittiness of her stories.