A journal of creation serves as witness,
scribe, and memory. It is a continuing dialogue of the
creative impulse from inkling to eventual realization.
At its completion (whether the pages are filled or not
depends on the person and the project; sometimes a half-filled
journal is inexorably complete), a journal is a record
of a creative passage, providing proof that the greatest
pleasure is often connected to the making, not to the
end product. And if one views process as the most interesting
aspect of creativity, then the journal itself is the art.
As Adrienne Rich noted,
“The notes for the poem are the only poem.”
