OK, hands up everyone who struggles with emotive journaling!

Yes my hand's waving up there too. I find I have no trouble writing a little humorous story but as soon as I try writing 'feeling' stuff I tense up and it all reads quite stilted. Now there are obviously times when I really want to write something that expresses my feelings and emotions and a funny story or one-liner is just not going to cut it.

Enter the Haiku!

Haiku (pronounced high-koo) is a non-rhyming, Japanese poetry form consisting of 17 syllables, arranged in three lines: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.

What!!! I hear you cry. If I struggle with emotive journaling how can I possibly write poetry??

Now whilst the haiku in its finest form is an exquisite piece of distilled art, you will find it is not too difficult to write haikus of a lesser standard that are still good to read. The 17 syllable limitation really helps when you have difficulty in writing 'feelings' because you have to discard the non-essential words and just focus on the really important ones. Non-purists can be a little flexible with the 5-7-5 arrangement if necessary.

Here's an example: I scrapped a layout of my daughter's First Holy Communion from when she was 7 years old. I remember how I felt when she walked towards me in her long white dress and veil. But I had difficulty writing that feeling down in a way I felt happy with. Here is the Haiku I wrote instead.

The tears fill my eyes


So beautiful, gowned in white.


Childhood is fleeting.

So I challenge you to have a go. I think you'll surprise yourself.