As a kid, my parents had always encouraged me to keep a journal.

Why.

Use it to write about your day.

Not only did this not make any sense to me, but it also upset me very much because I wanted to do other things like watch television.

Still, I gave it a chance. Maybe I would like it.

Here’s one of my earlier entries:

I woke up at 8 today. I had an egg sandwich for breakfast. It was delicious. I went outside and rode my bike around the block 7 times. I came back home and had lunch. I had some cereal too. It was Cheerios. After, I watched some television. It was very exciting. The end.

Reading it now, I find the simplicity charming. But I remember back then laboring for hours to write entries like these. Every additional word took tremendous effort and concentration. If I had known what writer’s block was at the time, I would have said I had writer’s constipation.

I just didn’t think my days made for very interesting journal entries.

Most of the books I liked were young adult fantasy novels, which I saw as “good writing”. How could real life, with all its rules and limitations compare to those worlds where it seemed nothing was impossible?

So I started trying to emulate that, and rather than include what I felt were trivial details about my own life, I preferred to think up fantasy lands and adventures.

With this practice, I became a technically good writer for my age. My grammar and spelling were solid. I eventually attended a middle school called Mark Twain for the Gifted and Talented (and humble). Each new student was assessed in two “talents” and if he did well enough in one, he would attend the school specializing in that “talent”. My talent was Creative Writing and I remember vividly the essay I wrote during the test. I wrote about a boy who travels back to the time of the dinosaurs. His adventure is cut short by an approaching meteor, but right before impact, the boy wakes up from his dream. I thought this was a great way to end my stories at the time, and I used it both frequently and shamelessly.

Just as my parents did, my creative writing teachers would have us write daily journal entries as well, and from time to time, they would collect these journals to grade. Imagine the shock I felt when I, someone who had been practicing this for almost my entire life, saw that I got a B- for my journal. I didn’t really understand what was wrong with my writing. I thought I was doing the best I could, by writing about those fantasy worlds and making up stories. Didn’t JK Rowling do the same thing? Would my teacher give Rowling a B-?

One day, I decided to ask my friend who I knew got good journal grades if I could borrow his journal, just for a night, to read.

Every word he wrote was heartfelt and inviting. All of his vulnerabilities and emotions were clearly laid out, as if he had nothing to hide. No detail was spared. I couldn’t turn my eyes away. That night, I read his journal cover to cover.

And from that day, I brought his style into my own journal entries. I started getting A after A.

As a middle schooler, I lacked the ability to express exactly what I learned.

But now I finally can. Because I am not in middle school anymore.

I think the mundane experiences of your own are fascinating to others because they are opportunities for a connection. To find that someone else views life in a similar way as you do is an unparalleled feeling.

A person can see a sunset everyday, but still be moved by another person’s description of a sunset.

The next time you write, try not sparing any details. Don’t self-censor. Just let the pen connect your mind to the paper and release your thoughts. Of course, this applies much more to free writing than a business email, but I think if applied in the right context, you will impress yourself with just how much more immersive your writing becomes.