Creating a Writing Journal
I wanted to stop forgetting appointments and lunches with friends. I wanted to keep track of events days, weeks, months and even years into the future. After 18 months of watching YouTube videos, I discovered a minimalist system that has worked well for me. I’ve been bullet journaling (called Bujo on YouTube) for two years now. It has revolutionized and simplified my life.
The must dos for creating a personal journal are fairly simple:
And that’s it. Short, simple, and most of all, in one place.
Last year I decided to also create a Writing Journal. When I first started my writing journal, I kept track of how many hours I wrote each day. I no longer do this. I write incessantly. However, if you find that your writing time is being co-oped by your day-job, your family obligations, etc., you may wish to add a time-tracker to help you prioritize and regain control of your time.
My must have pages are:
YouTube has proven to be a fantastic reference for me to begin journaling. But I had to disregard a lot of what I saw. I do not decorate my journals. I am not overly picky. If I make a mistake or draw a line in the wrong place, I fix it and move on. I am definitely not a perfectionist. Some of the journals on YouTube are best described as works of art. My journal is a tool. I do the minimum amount of work needed to make my journals useful, and then I get back to writing.
Happy Writing!
Kidd
Once in a while you come across a book, that after reading it, makes you pause and think, even marvel because you’ve encountered life from an entirely new perspective.
Alison Green Myers’, debut novel, A Bird Will Soar, is such a book. And a recipient of the prestigious Schneider Family Book Award given by the American Library Association for excellence in the portrayal of the disability experience in literature for youth.
Axel, an autistic boy, feels most at home in nature. It is his peaceful place to think and make sense of his parents, and the garden of people in his life that grow up around him and become family. Axel also discovers that he can learn about people by bird watching. His favorite is the eagle. When family calls, the eagle focuses on the nest and never abandons it. So, he wonders why his father left. The eagle also knows just how high it can fly. Something Axel wishes his mother would let him discover about himself: to trust him and give him room to navigate using his own intuition and instincts.
When a tornado hits, Axel’s predictable world is turned upside down. His home is damaged and uninhabitable, locking him out of the safe space of his own room. Fallen trees have made his beloved woods unsafe to visit. The eagle’s nest with its young that he has been observing has been blown out of the tree by the fierce winds. And his estranged father has returned home. All of Axel’s knowledge and hopes are put to the test.
Can he care about his father as much as he does about the eagle? “To feel something so strongly for another living thing.” (page 93). Will his gut instincts lead him to make the right choices and decisions? Will he finally learn just how high he can fly?
A Bird Will Soar is insightful and captivating. Alison Green Myers masterfully takes us into Axel’s mind revealing this unique character’s thoughts, feelings, and coping mechanisms. The book is also a beautiful exploration of the symbiotic and beneficial relationship between humans and nature.
If you read and were intrigued and entertained by the novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, you will be enthralled and elevated by, A Bird Will Soar.
Buy the book and start soaring!
Veronica Jorge
See you next time on March 22nd!
Belated Happy Valentine’s Day! Or…not. It’s not for everyone, apparently only for those in love. And that leaves out a lot of people. But maybe today we can look at it as just a celebration of love. Familial love, brotherly love, these are as important as—arguably more important than—romantic love.
So, what can we do today to be more loving?
You might be thinking, well, all those people fighting can just stop. That would be a great step. (That’s what I’m thinking!) But unless you’re one of “those people,” that isn’t something you can participate in. So, what can you do today to add more love to the world?
Here are some of my ideas based on my own life circumstances:
Funny, the first two were easy, then I had to sit here and think about what *I* can do today or this week. But once I got past the third or fourth bullet point, the ideas started flowing!
I hope you’re thinking of some things you’ll do. No matter how small it is, it will make a difference, so do it! At the very least, it will make you feel even a little bit happier to bring a little happiness to someone else.
And that’s worth it.
Have a wonderful day!
P.S. If you’d like to read a short Valentine’s Day story with superheroes on a date, a villain, and a happy ending, try My Bullheaded Superhero Valentine, a side novella in my Adventures of Lewis and Clarke superhero series. I hope it makes you smile!
Tari Lynn Jewett lives in Southern California with her husband of nearly thirty years (also known as Hunky Hubby). They have three amazing sons, a board game designer, a sound engineer and a musician, all who live nearby. For over fifteen years she wrote freelance for magazines and newspapers, wrote television commercials, radio spots, numerous press releases, and many, MANY PTA newsletters. As much as she loved writing those things, she always wanted to write fiction . . . and now she is.
She also believes in happily ever after . . . because she’s living hers.
Tari’s newest title is Love and Mud Puddles, available now.
Hannah loves her accounting job, the condo that she purchased herself, and her best friend Melinda. What she doesn’t love is baking. To be fair, she’s never tried. But when her cousin shames her into bringing homemade cookies to the family Christmas Eve celebration, she begins a quest to make the perfect holiday cookie.
Paramedic Josh also occasionally teaches kids’ cookie baking classes at his family’s bakery. When a beautiful accountant mistakenly signs up for a children’s holiday baking class, he realizes immediately that she’s in the right place.
Can this local hero help to save Hannah’s Christmas? Or will it all go up in smoke?
The theme: Season’s Readings
Bethlehem Writers Group is seeking never-published short stories of 2,000 words or fewer for a chance to win.
Winners will receive:
First Place:
$250 and publication in our upcoming anthology: Season’s Readings: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
The Guest Judge is Marlo Berliner is the multi-award-winning, bestselling author of The Ghost Chronicles series. You can read an interview with Marlo here.
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A novel of taut suspense and danger from New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin.
More info →Gettysburg, June 27th, 2013 to July 2nd, 1863: Will Dan Rodin change the course of the Civil War?
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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