How to journal well

"You journal every day? I don't know how you do it! I started a journal in high school, but I never kept it up...I've always wanted to start again, but I can never find the time..."
Sound familiar? WELL YOU HAVE BJS (Bad Journaler's Syndrome). Side effects may include upset stomach, shortness of breath, use of the oxford comma and carpal tunnel. NEVER FEAR. I, JO, AM HERE TO OFFER MY HUMBLE ADVICE ON HOW TO JOURNAL WELL. BJS is not fatal...in fact, it's completely curable. All you have to do is write. Duh. Here's how, in case you're at a dead end:

• Figure out your style. I only like to write with a blue pens with a extra fine tip on graph paper notebooks. Oh dear. Now that I've written it out, it sounds neurotic. IT'S NOT. It's just my style. Yours might be typing stuff up on a private blog. Or fountain pen on a scroll. Whatever! Make it cool, personal, cozy...you want it to motivate you to write, right? Right.
• Carry your journal in your purse or backpack everywhere you go. 
• Develop a schedule. I always read a bit of a book, journal a little and read my Bible before I go to bed. That's my ritual, a comfortable rhythm. Yours might be to journal on your commute, or after lunch... Whatever it is, make it something easy, something that will be natural, feel normal.
• Never, ever self-edit. Go ahead and give yourself the dignity of being messy. No one will ever read it. Curse. Write in big ugly letters. Use bad grammar. Misspell things. Allow yourself to write, and I mean really write. Later, you'll want to read exactly those misspelled things, and not some perfect cursive watered-down nonsense that doesn't mean anything to you.
• Every time you write doesn't have to be some soul-shattering, earth-ending revelation. It's okay to write one line about how you made pasta with your little sister. Just write!!
• Don't write in the lines. Try writing from different angles, like writing a "letter" to the person you're mad at, crushing on, etc. Or talk to yourself in second person. Write out your prayers. Literally write at a different angle by flipping your journal upside down or to the side. Draw diagrams and graphs for your emotions or how much pie you ate. Everything doesn't have to look the same.
• Don't put it off. Stop saying you will write tomorrow, next week, semester, year...you will never write anything. If you don't have your journal on you when you think of something to write about, send yourself a text or write it on a napkin. Treat your ideas as if they are very important...which they are.
• Copy the greats. Get inspired! Go reread Anne Frank, or read letters and journals of classic authors. Go read other blogs. I always write more when I'm reading a L'Engle novel.
• Take it seriously, especially if you're a writer. If writing is a gift God has given you, it's your responsibility to do it faithfully, just like if He had created you to run, you should try to run as much as you can. Be faithful in the fullest sense. You will not write your next novel unless you know yourself first.
• Remember, ultimately, journaling is not actually about you anyway. It is a spiritual experience of both verbally processing in the privacy of your own soul and recording the narrative of growth through your life. 

Moral of the story: develop a ritual, break all rules of writing, don't apologize, be wild, make it special, because it's important. Hope this empowers and inspires you!

So, all of you writers out there -- how do you journal? What's your secret? What keeps you motivated?