July News and Announcements
July 2, 2008 · Written by Melissa Donovan
July is here and summer is in full swing. Happy belated Summer Solstice my fair readers! I’m happy about the warmer temperatures because I can’t function well when I’m freezing cold. I’m not saying the heat doesn’t get to me every now and then, but it’s a lot better than shivering my teeth off.
I’m also happy that the blanket of fire smoke that recently covered the state of California has finally decided to travel elsewhere. Life is much more pleasant when you can breathe.
Last month, posts here at Writing Forward were a bit sporadic. I used to stick to a regimented blogging schedule but then I got really sick back in March and discovered that people seem to like it better when I post a little less frequently but a lot more thoughtfully. This turned out to be a good thing because now if I have life overload, I don’t go into full panic over missing a post every now and then.
Posting might be scarce again in July since I have a busy month, full of work and family obligations. But I’ll be here. Even if I don’t post a blog, I’m usually around in the comments section or conversing on other blogs.
We’re shining the spotlight on journaling this month. This is something I think almost all writers have some experience with. What I’m curious to find out is how other writers use journals. What kind of journals do you keep or have you kept over the years? Do you have separate journals for your various projects or are you the all-in-one type? Plus, there are oodles of journal themes, from dream journals to art journals. We’ll look at some of those and discuss the benefits they can bring to our writing endeavors.
As always, feel free to leave a comment if you have any ideas, suggestions, or questions that you’d like me to address this month. Remember, journaling might be the spotlight topic, but it’s not the only one, so all suggestions are welcome. Guest posts are welcome too!
I hope everyone is enjoying the summer so far. I also wonder — do the seasons affect or inform your writing? Do you get more creative during summer or are you so busy enjoying the outdoors that your writing actually suffers?
Shine on everyone, and enjoy the sunshine!
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I wwill be looking forward to journal month. I am a journal girl. I have all kinds of journals and have been journaling since I was in my teens. That was a loooong time ago!
Wendi Kellys last blog post..The Perils of Perfectionism
I USED to keep a journal. Actually, I went for years without ever managing to keep it up, and then in 2001, I started and wrote devotedly for about 3-4 years (I’d need to check), and then it just kind of … fizzled. I think that starting my knitting blog (www.chappysmom.com) helped drive the last nail in the coffin–how many ways can you write about your day? There are times when I miss it, but not enough that I actually pick up the pen to remedy the situation. Sad, huh?
Still, I bet if my handwriting were better, or my typing less good, I would feel compelled to write in my journal more often. But my hand gets tired and what’s the point of writing if you can’t READ it?? (grin)
Oh, and, one of the advantages of being a knitter is that there’s always plenty of wool around to keep you warm. I pretty much never complain about being cold in the winter–it just gives me a reason to wear handknits!
–Debs last blog post..MM: That Is, for Example….
Journal month sounds fun. Actually, I just got through picking out the supplies to make a journal — an idea I got from:
http://www.creativityprompt.com/creativity-prompt-8-%e2%80%93-making-your-own-hardbound-journal/
Amys last blog post..Aim for the Middle: a Lesson in Professional Life and Potty Training
@Wendi, My favorite thing about journals is I think they help increase creativity. I have found a few problems with them too, though. More on that later!
@Deb (Punctuality), Yes, the same thing has happened to me. Ever since I started blogging and writing professionally, my journals have fallen by the wayside. But maybe it’s better that my writing is now being seen by other eyes
@Amy, I actually got into journal making a little bit several years ago. I only made a few and they were pretty small and thin, but I enjoyed the process. Reminds me how I wish I had more time for my hobbies…
I am very affected by the amount of light, what I eat, who I hang around with. I’m sensitive that way.
Right now I’m trying to balance everything and it is very hard.
I used to keep a journal but I don’t anymore. I used Julia Cameron’s method of morning pages, which worked very well for me because I had a difficult boss and it was good to spill all the shit out before I went to work.
Glad you recovered from your illness. I don’t know where you live in California but that sounds like it would be very uncomfortable. E
Ellen Wilsons last blog post..Brevity is Best for Blogs
Melissa,I’m looking forward to Journal month. In fact, just looking at the pictures of journals makes me want to race out and buy more. As for the weather impact, it rained 19 out of 30 days in June here in Michigan. Growing up in CA I took sunshine for granted. I am now finding that seasons do impact my energy levels. I’m fine with seasonal weather but my brain and body have not been okay with summer not behaving!
Karen Swims last blog post..Are you Free?
@Ellen, I’m the same way. I know people who are completely unaffected by these things and can’t understand why certain things have such a huge impact on whether I feel good or energetic, or whatever. Oh my illness was just the flu, but it lingered for weeks. Strangest flu I’ve ever had. The smoke last week was insufferable.
@Karen, I have a journal buying habit too. We don’t get a lot of summer rain out here but I wouldn’t mind it. When I lived in Hawaii (it was just for a few months), I loved how it would drizzle or rain while you were sitting on the beach. There was something so right about that.
I try to journal, but am always unsuccessful. I’ve tried being creative, poetic, and even just plain old chronological. Nothing ever seems to work. I do like the look of a shiny new journal, and I dream of the day that it looks like a dirty old well-used journal. That just never happens.
@Eric - I checked out your blog, you have quite a few entries. I’d say that’s pretty creative.
@Melissa - Yeah, I don’t know what it’s like to be a person who is not affected by things. I think some people are more sensitive than others. I wish I wasn’t so sensitive to things, but it’s not going to happen in this lifetime.
@Karen - This is actually a nice Michigan summer. I understand how you California people would suffer though, I believe Michigan is one of the cloudiest states in the nation. Look at it this way, there are the biggest inland lakes here and less smog. And there are no Earthquakes. And the traffic is not nearly as bad as it is is CA. I don’t understand how people get around in California.
@Deb - I just read what you wrote again. I guess what did it for me, why I stopped journaling, was I got tired of myself bitching. It was always the same old bitch. I had quite a few psychological insights, though. Good therapy.
Ellen Wilsons last blog post..Brevity is Best for Blogs
@Erik, I’m with Ellen. If you’re posting to a blog regularly, then you’re doing regular writing. Experts like Julia Cameron, who wrote “The Artist’s Way” suggest setting aside a few minutes at the same time each day to write in a journal. If you can develop the habit, your creativity will increase over time.
@Ellen, Yeah, being sensitive isn’t all that fun! Oh, and I thought the traffic in NY was bad. Not that I’ve been there — but from what I’ve seen on TV and in films…
Melissa, LA traffic is nothing compared to NY but in NY you can walk, take a cab (but hang on for dear life) or ride the subway. Although NJ is maddening and it can take you 1 1/2hours to drive 20 mins.
Ellen, yes there is a bright side, no traffic or smog and today I feel better there’s sun. I guess I was really spoiled by SoCal.
Karen Swims last blog post..Are you Free?
@Karen, Oh, LA yes, nightmare traffic down there. Ugh. I remember going through it to get to Disneyland when I was a kid — sheer torture.
My journal life; hmm, okay terrible title, but moving on. I think I was in 5th grade when somehow I came to possess one of those red 5 year diaries with the lock and key. In that I wrote memorable stuff like the weather and petty school bus arguments and the like. Between 6th and 7th grade we took a road trip from southwest Penna to southern TX and my grandmother gave me a standard wirebound notebook and said she wanted to hear all about it so I should write down what happened everyday (this was a 3 week trip). I have no idea what became of it as we moved a couple of years later and lots of stuff “disappeared.”
The red diary resurfaced around my senior year and was mostly blank so I re-dated the later blanks and used them to vent occasionally over the next three years. That has also disappeared which is irksome for personal reasons.
I used to make notations in the children’s baby books over the years which is a kind of journal in its own right. But then I started writing things on calendars and saving the calendars as a record of my/our life.
I got the idea in 1999 that journaling across the change of the century might be an interesting process so I bought one and found an empty one I had bought at a stationer’s going out of business sale decades before. A few entries were made here or there but nothing consistent. In early 2001 I hit an identity crisis that proved to be resistant to resolution and I pulled out the suspended journal and started writing. It started out like a drunkard’s path and for a while got pretty messy trying to resolve half-remembered events and conversations that had been haunting me for decades, and that my faith-based advisors dictated must be resisted as the high road, but until I wrote them all down and sorted out most of the order and the various degrees of responsibility they refused to rest.
I still keep journals for several reasons. One, it’s writing with pen and paper. Two, I get stuff out of the way that I don’t want bleeding into my blog. I think transparency in blogging is good but I think there are boundaries to that. Three, I become aware when I am majoring on minor stuff and it’s harder to ignore that there needs to be a shift. Four, it functions as an accountability device when I am working on a behavior change.
I also have more than one kind of journal. I used to keep and update periodically a “goals journal” but it has sort of been overtaken by events and it’s basically full so I would need a new one if I took it up again. I have a “silent retreat” journal that only is used for silent retreats which I haven’t done since Dec 2006. I like that those are in one place because silent retreating is an acquired skill and the growth from year to year, which can be seen since they are together, is amazing.
As far as journaling media goes I like hardcover, twin-wired with sort-of wide lines, and with at least 150 pages but 190 are preferred. I don’t like prompts. Most of the ones I have are by Markings and generally cost between $4 and $10. My silent retreat journal is a clothbound hardcover with an elastic band and though bound it opens flat.
Debs last blog post..Fourth of July blast in the past
@Melissa
We Canadians get pretty frantic about summer, because the warm weather only lasts so many weeks.
Early June is still cool, it hasn’t completely warmed up yet. But by late August, it’s starting to cool off again, and the leaves are already changing. Beaches empty out and cottages shut down after Labor Day.
Summer is my time to play. I spend as much time as possible outdoors (and if it’s a nice sunny day and I’m farting around inside, I actually feel anxiety!). I need to GET OUT. Hike, swim, fish, cycle…whatever.
I pretty much put away my watercolor paints in May, and don’t usually take them out again till October when it’s dark outside after work.
Housework suffers too, and so does a lot of “indoor projects”, including writing.
Oh well. You gotta make hay while the sun shines, so to speak.
Friars last blog post..Travels with the Bear: On the Island
@Melissa and Karen - Well, being a Midwestern person who has only been to CA I can’t judge NY. I would like to go. Hell, I would like to go everywhere.
@Deb - I’m kinda sentimental about pen and paper, also. It seems like it is all turning into something antiquated.
Have fun playing outside, Melissa. I will be gone for a bit, too.
Ellen
Ellen Wilsons last blog post..Getting Rid of Junk and Adding Some
@Deb (gscottage), I’d love to hear more about the silent retreat journals since I’ve never heard of them before. It sounds like you’re very passionate and committed to journaling, which is a good thing of course!
@Friar, I agree! Even though I live in California, I’m up north so it does get pretty cold in the winter. I don’t think I could withstand living in a place that gets snow. Brr, I don’t like freezing!
@Ellen, LA traffic is a total nightmare. SF is nothing in comparison although it’s not fun during commute hours! Hope you had a great weekend