| During the last 10 years of newsletter writing and software development, I’ve corresponded with and gotten to know many journal experts, who each offers his/her unique and deep perspective on the subject of journaling. I thought, wouldn’t it be a great service to all kinds of journal writers, if there were one place where a group of top-notch journal experts collectively educated, encouraged, and interacted with the worldwide journaling community?
After I contacted Kay Adams she enthusiastically supported the project, taking on the job of convening the Journal Council–the group of journal writing experts working together. So, with great excitement I introduce to you this new and dynamic organization–the International Association for Journal Writing, headquartered at www.IAJW.org The Journal Council–the voices of 30 pioneers, researchers, and leaders in the field of journal writing–have each written articles on a range of journal-y subjects: journal writing for better health, for emotionally therapeutic purposes, for pumping up your creativity, for getting more in touch with your spiritual side, for improving your creative writing. The library is growing constantly! For IAJW members there are monthly telechats with Council Members, a Discussion Forum, links to websites, introductions to each of the Journal Council members, products, e-books, e-prompts, and more! Classes, webinars, online groups led by a Journal Council members are all available for a reduced fee for members. However, even if you don’t join IAJW you can still take a class or purchase products (at a non-member fee). IAJW is dedicated to helping you get more out of your journaling, to learn more about yourself–to live a more joyful, productive,and fulfilling life. Juice up your journaling! Juice up your life! Sincerely, P.S. If you are looking for a great gift for the upcoming holidays, give LifeJournal software and a membership to IAJW. It’s a gift that will be appreciated for years!
Ten pitfalls of journal writing to avoid 1. Feeling guilty that you don’t write often enough. 2. Feeling like you have to write perfectly–that your grammar and spelling should be perfect, and sentences must be well crafted. 9. Not writing because you are worried that you don’t know what you are going to write about.
There are solutions for all of these issues. IAJW offers lots of support and encouragement, interaction, and knowledge from others to learn how to move past the journaling pitfalls.
Keep a Writer’s Journal like the Pros with Sheila Bender If you like the idea of seeing into the strategies of other writers to find your own smartest, funniest, most sincere, most outrageous, and most I-never-thought-I-could-write-like-that writing, this class is for you. Over four weeks, you will delve into the task of seeing what happens when you exercise guaranteed-to-work new strategies for expressing yourself. Find out more…
Turning Travel Journals into Travel Essays and Books with Eric Maisel Online structured journaling group with Sue Meyn Want to gather together with others to enjoy a journal writing class? Sue Meyn, LPC will facilitate classes via teleconferencing and help you tap into more of your “magic.” Find out more…
I received an email recently about a LifeJournal customer wanting to enter multiple daily pulse information for a day. That is, to not just enter ONE value– for example, mood– for the day, but multiple values as he moved through the day. There’s a solution: You can create two scales for your mood which will track your RANGE for your moods for the day. One scale is called “lowest mood.” The other scale is called “highest mood.” At the end of the day, you can enter what your lowest ranked mood of the day was under “lowest mood,” and you can enter what you highest rankded mood of the day under “highest mood.” That way you can track not one average mood value for the day, but see what the range of moods were for a particular day. Additionally, one could add explanatory notes–for example, “My mood was lowest in the morning waking up, and highest when visiting with Charlie in the afternoon.” End Quotes: “Write the whole truth about the life you know.” ~Henry Miller
“In the fall, when you see geese heading south for the winter fly along in “v” formation, one might consider what science has discovered as to why geese fly this way. Each bird flaps its wings creating uplift for the bird immediately following. A flock has a greater flying range in formation than a single bird would have on its own. When a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly rejoins the formation. The goose takes advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front. The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those flying up front to keep their speed. When a goose gets sick or wounded and falls out of formation, two other geese will fall out of formation with that goose to follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with that fallen goose until it is able to fly or it dies. Only then do they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their flock. People, who share a common direction and sense of community, can reach a goal more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another. It is harder to do something alone than together. It is beneficial to take turns doing demanding work. By sharing leadership and depending upon others in a group, there is a chance to lead and an opportunity to rest.”–Anonymous
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