Conversational Journaling

Conservation, defined as "communication by two or more people, often on a particular topic," is all around us. Every day we talk and have meaningful and fun conversations. How often do we include conversations in our layout journaling? Despite the fact that it can be very insightful to include conversations in our layouts, we often neglect it.

Why include conservational journaling in your layouts? Consider these advantages:

1. It allows you to provide more than one perspective on a topic. A layout can be more interesting if the journaling is contributed by more than one source. Your viewpoint can differ greatly from someone else who was also at the same event or involved in the same decision. Even if the conversation involves a disagreement, it brings greater perspective to your thought process and decision making.
   
   
2. It allows you to record the exact conversations that led to a discovery, a funny moment or a decision. To remember those moments carry a notebook or small notepad. Write down the exact conversation as soon as possible in order to preserve all the details.
   
   
3. It allows you to provide more details on an event. Instead of "she was so funny," the entire joke or humorous incident can be detailed.
   
   
4. It is interesting for others to read.
   
   
5. You don't have to force others to journal to get their perspective. Instead you use what has already been said. That takes a lot less pressure than getting others to write something. At the same time, it gives you the ability to use their words.

Here are some forms of conversation that can be used in layouts:

Chat: snipets of conversation.

Denise: Stop reading, Jackie. You've been reading long enough.

Jackie: What! You're forbidding me from reading!

Mike: When it's been six hours straight - yes!

Jackie: My parents are so mean!

Dialogue: a more formal rendering of the conversation including quotation marks.

I walked into the room. Jackie was in the same position with book in hand. It had been this way all day.

"Stop reading, Jackie," I said to her. "You've been reading long enough."

"What!" she exclaimed, "You're forbidding me from reading!"

"When it's been six hours straight," Mike said. "Yes!"

"My parents are so mean!" Jackie said, stomping into the next room.

Quote and reflection: a quote from the subject of the layout and a reflection by another person. The technique of "quote and reflections" allow you to include the actual words of the subject and then provide perspective by another person. In "Explore Your World," I included a quote by my daughter, then reflected on how I felt about her quote.

E-mail and letters: written communication between people. Make sure to use e-mail or letters from both perspectives in order to give the feeling of the conversations taking place.

Reflective Conservation: thoughts about one or more conversations. When the words of the conversations haven't been recorded in detail, consider writing about the conversation itself. In my layout "The Push," I remembered a serious of conversations between my daughter and me. I wrote about the conversation and included one quote I did remember.

So, get busy recording those conversations and making wonderful layouts. This article reminded me to create a layout about Jackie reading too much, and I'm glad I was able to record that experience.