With a goal of 14 challenges in 28 days, there’s no time to waste! So ready or not, today we move on with yet another Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge topic.

Today we’re going to tackle a method that’s a bit less commonly used, but when executed well, really gets to the heart of “real life” scrapbooking. It’s something I refer to as “stream of consciousness” journaling, or freewriting. In simpler terms, it’s just sharing what’s running through your mind at a particular time or place.

Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge #9


If your goal is authentic storytelling, stream of consciousness journaling can really fit the bill. In its most basic form, this type of journaling is simply sharing what you were really thinking during a given situation or time period. Probably the easiest way to start is to choose a photo of an event and journal about what you were thinking about at the time that event took place.

Sounds easy, but if you find yourself in the habit of always painting a rosy picture, this may be a bit more challenging for you – and probably a great exercise in creating a more accurate picture of your real life. Another challenge is truly capturing your thoughts, particularly if you’re like me and those thoughts tend to jump all over the place and come faster than would seem possible to accurately record.

To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, check out this page I created a while back after a long drive home from a meeting…


"What Was I Thinking?" by Kristin Rutten @ Log Your Memory




The stream of consciousness journaling method works especially well for special occasions and milestone achievements, such as gazing into your newborn’s eyes for the first time, watching your child graduate from high school or sitting on the sidelines during the championship game.

But it can also be a great way to document the more difficult parts of life, such as what you were thinking and feeling while sitting beside a hospital bed or dealing with a relationship gone awry.

Here are a few more examples to help get you thinking …


"Thankful" by beehive50 @ Designer Digitals




"Seven Dull Thoughts" by Bush Girl @ DigiShopTalk




"Art Journal 2 {thoughts}" by digigrandma @ Designer Digitals




The Rules:

  1. Pick a topic and create a new scrapbook page that tells your story by sharing your thoughts.
  2. Post that page in this album in our Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge Gallery. The deadline for all Sweet Talk Challenge Layouts is midnight (MTN) on Wednesday, March 3, 2010.
  3. Visit this thread in our Community Forum and link us up to your layout.
  4. Once your link is verified, the above Sweet Talk award will appear in your profile and in your signature.
  5. Keep an eye on this page to track our Log Your Memory Sweet Talkers!
  6. Watch for the next Sweet Talk Journaling Challenge topic … make sure you don’t miss a post by subscribing to our Blog!

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