This month’s
newsletter has two articles: One is about how you can help your
children express themselves in writing at any age. Read a true story
about how I handled a meltdown with my young son many years ago. And
there’s a clever tip from a LifeJournal writer about an effective way
to keep writing consistently in your journal.
Lots happening in May with LifeJournal! We have three webinars
scheduled to start this month. There’s a free webinar on May 14 about
the basics of LifeJournal: www.lifejournal.com/free_webinar This is a
great way to dip you toe into the world of webinars, if you haven’t
ever attended one. And it’s an easy and efficient way to learn the
ins-and-outs of LifeJournal. Please sign up to reserve a spot.
Then, Sheila Bender (content partner of LifeJournal for Writers and
author, poet, and essayist) is offering two webinars starting soon: One
is a writing workshop online meeting for five consecutive Tuesdays. If
you have even a whisper of a thought of taking a journal entry and
turning it into a more polished piece, this webinar is for you! Learn
more about the webinar at writers.lifejournal.com/webinar_writingworkshop.
All levels of writers will find this workshop useful. (Sheila is a
first class writing coach who makes the learning process fun, valuable,
and encouraging.)
The second webinar is a three-session webinar with Sheila and me, which
not only guides you through the LifeJournal for Writers program, but
also shows you how to integrate the program into your writing life.
Learn more and sign up at writers.lifejournal.com/webinar_LJW.
And the last pitch for LifeJournal stuff, before we get to the meat of
the newsletter: If you are looking for unique, reasonably priced, and
meaningful gifts for Mother’s Day or for recent high school or college
graduates, consider LifeJournal!
I hope that the new flowers springing up, the birds warbling, and the
warming air are calling you to sit outside with your laptop and write
in your journal!
My
two children are now both in their 20s. When they were much younger,
when they would see me writing in my journal, they’d ask me what I was
doing. I explained that I like to write things that I was thinking
about so I could remember them and review them later. Then, I’d give
them some paper and pencils/markers/crayons to write and draw—which
might buy me a little more time of uninterrupted journal writing.
During the times I was in my best parenting mindset I would remember
that pushing an idea on a child rarely works—and sometimes actually
backfires. The trick is to wait for an appropriate moment when the
child is receptive and might see the merit of an idea. One particular
teachable moment about writing stands out for me; it occurred when my
son was almost four years old and in pre-school. Sounds pretty early
in his life to experience the power of words, doesn’t it? Here’s
what happened: READ MORE>>www.lifejournal.com/kids
Tip: Using E-mail to Keep Continuity in your Journal
I just got off the
phone with a long time LifeJournal writer, someone who has been using
the program since 2001. We were talking about different ways that she
uses LifeJournal and she mentioned that she doesn’t write in her
journal as much as she’d like. (I would bet that probably 90% of
journal writers would make that comment!) She said that she had a great
technique that fills in some gaps.
"People need trouble
-- a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it. Artists
do; I don't mean you need to live in a rat hole or gutter, but you have
to learn fortitude, endurance. Only vegetables are happy." --William
Faulkner
“A book is made
from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called
“leaves”) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and
you hear the voice of another person – perhaps someone dead for
thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking,
clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is
perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people,
citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the
shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.”—Carl Sagan
