Twenty minutes each morning—whether I’m ready to write or
not, whether I’m sleepy or awake, whether my back aches or my fingers hurt—I
write.
Fast. Nonstop. For twenty minutes.
It’s like digging fast. Just digging. Taking a shovel. Putting
it into the earth. Lifting soil. Repeat. Again and again. Twenty minutes. Each
day.
There’s something about getting the hand in motion, about
the
When I finish a big project, I usually have to take a few days to get my bearings. I look around, dazed, trying to figure out what to do next. Morning Pages help. Walking to the lake helps. Spring is inspiring!
My camera helps me focus—literally—when I need to slow down and pay attention. For me, that can be the key to opening up to new ideas.
I just turned in the fourth (and final) book in a nonfiction series for an educational publisher. It drained me more than I expected. So I’m filling the well. Here are some things I’m paying attention to.
Last fall, I buried 40 potted milkweed plants (3 varieties) under dry leaves next to the house. When the weather warmed up, I put them in the sun next to the garage. So far, 18 of them have sprouted. Three more plants (and one more variety) have popped up in the flower bed, which is shadier. Now I'm watching for monarchs. (Are you? Check the
migration map to see if they're in your neighborhood yet.)
A pair of white-breasted nuthatches were cleaning out a hole in a branch above the garage the other day. Will they build a nest there? I hope so. I love their weird calls (described by the
Cornell Lab of Ornithology as "a loud, nasal
yank") and the way they hop down tree trunks head first.
One of my favorite wildflowers, a
shooting star, is blooming in the park. What an encouraging surprise! Maybe I can go back to work now.
Bobbi started this series of
Teaching Authors posts about inspiration with a collection of wonderful quotes. Be sure to check it out if you need a dose of inspiration—and who doesn't?
Congratulations to Karen C, who won our giveaway of the YA novel in verse
Dating Down by Stephanie Lyons. (Read all about it in
Esther's interview.)
Baby Says "Moo!" is now a board book! Watch for a
Teaching Authors Book Giveaway in June.
The Poetry Friday Roundup is at
Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme. Enjoy!
JoAnn Early Macken
Mari L. McCarthy is the founder of www.CreateWriteNow.com, home of Journaling for the Health of It™ and the Journal Writing Therapy Transforms You blog. She guides writers (and we are all writers) in starting and keeping a daily Inner Healing Journal Practice that helps them solve problems, cure their dis-eases, and heal their life. A singer/songwriter, she is currently working on her third album--a smooth jazz rendition of favorite Broadway melodies. Passionate about goals and successful in accomplishing them, like getting the beachfront home she lives in south of Boston, she enjoys raising roses and her consciousness.
WOW: Welcome, Mari, we are thrilled to have you on The Muffin today. What is Journaling for the Health of It™?
Mari: Journaling for the Health of It ™ is a daily pen-to-page Journal Writing Therapy Practice where writers (and yes, we all are writers!) write freely about what they are thinking and feeling. JFTH helps writers get perspective on their life; understand why they think, feel, and behave the way they do; reduce stress; heal emotional wounds; and improve physical health. And… cure writer’s block!*
WOW: What great benefits! Sounds like EVERYONE should do it. How did you get started with journal writing therapy?
Mari: About twelve years ago, I had a Multiple Sclerosis (MS) exacerbation, where I lost feeling and functionality on the right side of my body. I discovered Julia Cameron’s "Morning Pages" and thought that would be a good, logical, organized, left-brained approach to teach my left hand how to write legibly. Shortly thereafter, I started remembering bits and pieces of my childhood; I started to hear rhymes and began writing poetry for the first time. I was starting to discover the real me, and it was nowhere near who I had been thinking I was. One day the phrase "Journaling for the Health of It" showed up on my pages, and I decided to create a business around therapeutic journaling and share it with the world.
WOW: Sounds like it was meant to be! How can journal writing therapy help a woman writer?
Mari: It helps women writers learn more about the person who really lives in their body. We carry around so much what I call “crazycrap” – erroneous messages we ingested as children (no wonder we have so many health challenges); and therapeutic journal writing helps us purge those voices and messages and live our life from the inside out. Using a journal at your computer when you are working on a writing project helps get through the stress, blocks, and assorted other women writer challenges.
WOW: This all sounds great and like it can really help someone's writing career. So, what are the journal writing services you offer?
Mari: I offer telephone or Skype private journaling therapy workshops dealing with "page fright" or writer’s block or whatever life issues women writers are attempting to deal with. I also offer special unlimited e-mail and telephon
Helia Phoenix has a great post about Morning Pages. In case some of you haven't heard the term before, Julia Cameron proposed the exercise in her book, The Artist's Way, where you write three pages of stream-of-consciousness every morning.
Read more about this in this Write For Your Life post.
No matter how you came to this blog post today, by chance,
by intention,
or simply by Good Luck,
may I be the first to wish you Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day!
Yes, you read that right: February 17 is Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day.
Not to worry if you didn’t know this fact.
I know I didn’t, until I turned to today’s date in my copy of Eileen and Jerry Spinelli’s newest book,
today I will (Knopf, 2009).
I’d been savoring the moment (translate: assigned blog posting date and subject matter) to kindly share this newly-published small but useful and inspiring book with TeachingAuthors readers and writers.
Today’s post became that random moment.
How perfect is that!
I ardently believe in Paying Kindness Forward.
I practice it daily.
I believe in Good Karma.
So consider this introduction to the Spinellis’ book my February 17 Act of Kindness.
FYI: February 15 through 20 has been designated Random Acts of Kindness Week!
Googling left me thinking the
Acts of Kindness Foundation was behind the designation.
No matter the Who, though, or even the How: I’m smiling and paying kindness forward to
you.I’d purchased the Spinellis’ book fully intending to use it as a journal-writing tool with my Young Writers.
The review blurb highlighted the book’s simplicity. In a single page entry for each day of the year, the Spinellis
(1) share a quote from a children’s book, referencing the title and author;
(2) reflect meaningfully on the quote;
(3) make a “today I will….” promise that relates to that reflection.
The February 17th quote?
4 Comments on Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day!, last added: 2/17/2010
Mary Jo C. writes, teaches, and works for a nonprofit young writers’ organization. She asks, “How do you organize all of your projects, both the paper files and the computer files, without things falling through the cracks? How do you keep up with markets you’d like to pursue and the deadlines for submitting?”
Thank you for the questions, Mary Jo! They made me take a close look at my own organization methods. My work, like yours, is made up of a number of segments whose relative importance varies over time:
- writing
- teaching
- freelance/work-for-hire writing projects
- school visits and conferences
- miscellaneous (blog posts, marketing, publicity, volunteer work, special projects, etc.)
For each type of work, I try to keep track of my progress and my plans. Some systems work better than others. First, the more successful ones.
My calendar functions as my short-term To-Do List. I update it and refer to it daily. I slip notes about important events such as school visits inside the back cover. I also keep a long-term list on a legal pad. I look at it and update it about once/month, when I transfer urgent items to the calendar.
I have learned (the hard way!) to stuff tax-deductible expense receipts and payment stubs in file folders as soon as I receive and record them. I keep the Income and Expense folders on top of a filing cabinet next to my desk where I can reach them easily. I also keep a small notebook in the car to record mileage—trips to the library or office supply store as well as longer research travel. It all adds up. At tax time, everything is right there.
For my classes, I keep records of attendance and grades in Excel charts and report them online. I keep textbooks, handouts, and all necessary daily records in a separate tote bag for each course and grab that bag on my way to class. Sometimes I walk out the door with a purse and several tote bags, but at least I know I have everything I might need. (I also keep library books in their own tote bag.)
For my submissions, I created a Word table that lists manuscript titles across the top and editor names along the side. When I submit a manuscript, I enter the date in the cell where manuscript and editor meet. If a manuscript is returned, I add an R after the date and submit it elsewhere. If it is accepted, I delete the column from the table. I can easily see which manuscripts are out and which editors have something of mine to consider. I keep a copy of the table clipped to the outside of a file folder that holds printed copies of cover letters and manuscripts.
I rely on e-mail to communicate with everyone: students, department chairs, people requesting information about school visits, writing group members, editors, etc. I create folders in my Inbox for categories such as teaching, writing, and work, and I add subfolders within them for each class, publisher, or project. (Documents on my computer are organized in a similar way.) I recently started using a second e-mail account strictly for teaching. I am always trying to clear out my Inbox. I rarely print an e-mail, but I do mark important dates, phone numbers, and deadlines on my calendar.
* * * * *My explanation for the less successful methods is that I operate under the principle that I remember what I see.
Work-for-hire projects typically require research that results in many pages of printed or photocopied information. Until a project is completed, these papers tend to pile up, so I group them together in one spot, usually on the floor. What I don’t do religiously enough is sort through these piles as soon as a project is completed and file or recycle all that paper. I usually return library books in time to avoid huge fines.
My own writing in progress is stacked on a file cabinet next to my desk in a teetering pile that includes everything from scraps of paper with a few words scribbled during the night to a ring bind
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I know I didn’t, until I turned to today’s date in my copy of Eileen and Jerry Spinelli’s newest book, today I will (Knopf, 2009).
You might find the journaling prompts at http://www.creativewriting-prompts.com/journalwriting.html as well as the ideas on different kinds of journals useful to get started.