Marcus Cain’s Literary Journal Experiment

Here’s a paragraph from my own journal, followed by variations.

September 30, 2019

Today was the start of week 5 for the fall semester. It’s a little rough since my days continue to start at 6am and end around 9:45pm. Throughout the day there are several hills I try to get over throughout the day and the most difficult one today was classes. I kept falling asleep. Oops. It’s probably because I forgot to make lunch – running a little low on energy. I woke up a little while coaching.

Variations:

1.    Chronological Accounts (No Emotions)

-      Today I woke up skipped my workout at the gym because had too much homework for the day before my classes started. I fell asleep in class a lot. That evening I had a great time coaching.

2.    Bullet points (Informal)

-      Start of week 5, fall semester

-      The length of my day

-      Several hills like classes

-      Fell asleep

-      Didn’t make lunch

-      Coaching

3.    Reflection on Greatest Emotions (Singular Thought)

-      The 5^thweek of the semester is kind of like the rest, and I beginning to get more tired even though I woke up by the end of the day. 

4.    Descriptive Positivity (Turn Around Event)

-      “Can we blast Taylor Swift and have a dance party?” My kids that I coach on Mondays at 7pm are now my dance party crew. They constantly are high energy and honestly believe that listening to Taylor Swift on full blast gives them powers to practice harder. I have to say, I believe it works. They are constantly dancing around to each station but focus when it is necessary. It’s a whole lot of fun that really gives me energy to get through the last few hours of a 16-hour day.

5.    Reflective Questions (Rhetorical)

-      Is it possible to survive 16-hour days that are on a constant cycle throughout the semester? Why do my days feel like a constant roller coaster, only the hills are high and lows of physical energy? Is falling asleep in class the new study habit I’ve mastered? Is a peanut butter jelly my only source of energy throughout the day? What if I coached all day; would keep me awake longer that sitting in classes? 

Reflection: I like the 4^thvariation because it focuses on the positive of the day rather than the negative. What happens throughout your day is usually forgotten if it is negative, so it is important to write down and remember the positive moments. However, I do like variation 2 because it helps me remember what happened that day for reference. I think using alternate approaches is a great way to understand your life through different lenses. There are different ways we can approach life and even more so there are different approaches we can write about life. Experimenting with different variations is a fun way to look at your day in a new way. 

Henry's Literary Journal Exercise

Journal Entry:

I woke up this morning and got straight to homework before class at noon. I’m trying to stay a few days ahead so I don’t fall behind. Classes were normal, although I learned some weird stuff about The Book of Mormon and how it was translated. Crazy. After class just went to the library and got some more studying done before dinner with Sam at Taco Bell. After that we basically just sat at the Romneys and chatted. Nothing special but I had a good time. Pumped for movie Tuesday tomorrow night.

1.        

-          Lots of Homework

-          Class

-          More Homework

-          Dinner with Sam

-          Romneys House

(rushed, literal)

2.        

I woke up 3 minutes before the alarm went off. Literally nothing worse. I hate starting the day and just diving straight into homework. My morning routine felt rushed. My classes were boring as always. Except we learned some weirdddd stuff about Joseph Smith. Idk. I got trapped at the library for a few more hours then Sam and I hurried to T Bell for dinner. Then basically just sat at the Romneys for a while..I’m kinda sick of just sitting around

(Negative, annoyed)

3.        

Even though my personal study was rushed this morning, I’m glad I took the time to sit down and pray and read. I think it helped me in my studies throughout the morning. My classes weren’t too bad so that’s nice, although I learned about Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon by looking into a hat? That was wild, but it didn’t really bother me too much. I got to see some friends at the library before Sam and I went to Taco Bell for din. Always hits the spot. Then we basically just hung at the Romneys house for the night. We didn’t do anything but I love just sitting there and talking to them. I feel lucky to be friends with them.

(happy, grateful)

4.

I’m tired so this might be short. I’m getting kinda sick of the day in day out routine. It’s just getting old. I feel like I just do the same thing over and over again. I need to find new ways to be happy throughout the day. My schoolwork is weighing down on me. I constantly want to lay down and nap but I never have the time. I need to go to bed.

(no effort, tired)

5.

Who knew that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon using a hat? I mean I guess I knew about the seer stones, but looking into a hat was a little bit of a twist. I appreciate that BYU is teaching this stuff in depth instead of glossing over it, though. I think that is the right approach. And when I think about it, is there any way that translating an ancient text would seem normal? Like, it had to happen somehow. So it’s whatever. Just kinda surprising to hear at first. Anyways, my day was good. Just normal study and homework stuff then went and chilled with friends.

(focused, optimistic)

Using a different approach each time helped me to focus on different aspects of my day. It is interesting to see the different things that come to mind when I choose to write more about certain topics.

Ana's Literary Journal Exercise

September 22, 2019

Journal Entry: This morning I did my communion report for English 385—so I went to the Provo Community Congregational United Church of Christ. I came a little early, and it turns out, the first person I met was from Hawaii, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was visiting there for his niece’s baby baptism—we talked until church stated. Everyone was friendly. There were three baptisms that day. The only song they sang that I knew was “I Need Thee Every Hour,” but at least I knew one!

Variation 1:

--Hawaiian LDS member: friend to me at the Provo Community Congregational United Church of Christ (met when I came early)

            --Reverend Cupples: talked about sacrament of baptism, had three baptisms

Variation 2:

 I went to a church I had never went to before, and even though it was unfamiliar to me, I ended up learning a lot, and got to witness three baptisms. I even got to meet new people. It turned out to be a great Sunday despite my nervousness.

Variation 3:

“Help me figure out how to write this assignment.” It’s what was going through my head. Reverend Cupples and several members of the congregation helped my visit be an enjoyable experience. There was even a part when Reverend Cupples was talking about being children of God (with the baptisms taking place), which was great, as that was a theme I kept hearing throughout the week.

Variation 4:

The first person I happened to meet wore a plain red tie with a white shirt—matching with his son. At first I thought I blended in well when I also observed the wife and aunt (who were dressed up in floral dresses, similar to me), but then the father started to talking, and when he started to ask me about BYU—he told me he was a member of The Church. So the cat was out of the bag, and he explained to me he was only there for a baptism taking place.   

Variation 5:

How is it that the first person I meet turned out to be of the same religion as me when I did my communion assignment? Why do they do infant baptism vs. our child baptism? Why do they only participate in baptism in so often? How was I so fortunate to be able to have them sing at least one song I knew (“I Need Thee Every Hour”)?

When I use different approaches, I am able to focus on different details of the same story—details I may have overlooked in the writing process or didn’t think were that important at the time I was writing. For the variation of the asking questions, in specifically, it gets me thinking more about the event or about my ideals, which I can either answer on the spot, or come back to later, or never answer and have them there to open up to and reflect on. The list, for example, can be more as a way to get my thoughts down on paper without going too much in detail (the only reason why I have never liked this approach when it comes to journal writing—I love it for research paper outlines, creative writing drafts, etc.—is it’s more of a beginning stage for me, not a final product.