Five Reasons For Keeping a Journal

I used to be an avid journal writer and recommend it for anyone wanting to jot down information about important events or for those suffering through tough times. Journal writing is very cathartic and soothing. If you’re looking for directions, answers and searching for meaning, there’s no better place to start then with the stuff that’s already inside your own heart. It’s writing that doesn’t need research because it comes from within. Here are five good reasons to keep a journal near you at all times.

 The Art of Writing

1      They aren’t teaching penmanship in school anymore. Make it your personal mission to continue the tradition of the written word. If you need to practice cursive writing, then you might want to try this fun practice website where you can type something and then print it: Practice cursive writing

Once you’ve mastered the basics maybe you’ll go on to calligraphy which is still considered the “art of writing” and still used for thank you notes, invitations and announcements. A journal is a wonderful place to practice your calligraphy or cursive writing.

Dreams

2    A journal is a great way to document dreams. Someday in the future when you reread your dream journal maybe you can understand why those dreams happened in the first place. If you feel your dreams, nightmares or visions are personal, then get a diary with a lock, or find a secret place for storing your journals.

Travel

3    Keep a travel journal filled with all your sightseeing and dining experiences. Someday when you need to round out an article or blogpost on Costa Rica or Hawaii, you can use some personal experiences to make the piece meaningful or heartfelt. Readers want to know about the actual places you have visited and what happened when you landed at the crowded airport, what you thought of your hotel and which restaurants were the best. And when you write your memoirs, you’ll be prepared!

Therapy

4    Words can be shields through the tough times--especially during times of mourning and loss. If you have recently lost a friend or relative then write your feelings down in your journal before posting your pain on Facebook. Get it out. Let the tears stain the pages. Your supportive friends will be there when you’re ready to share your summed up emotions. Write until you understand which direction to go and which path to take. Write until the fog seems to settle and the sunshine peaks through the bleakness. Write to cheer up or to figure things out.

Sketchbook
5. Can’t think of anything important to write about in your journal? Then doodle. Draw something or paint on a page. Use colored pencils or felt-tip pens and make yourself laugh. Draw hearts, flowers or the tangible tears you’re feeling. Maybe draw the summer memories at the shore. There’s a reason you want to make an entry in your journal and perhaps words aren’t enough right now. Use what you can to make a statement. Draw around your fingers and date the page. Copy a recipe onto the facing page or jot down what you’d like to watch on television. Have a conversation with yourself or God. Create a poem or a prayer. Ask and you shall receive. 

The Fiona and Pinky Debates

Pinky

Fiona

(PPN) Last night’s primary debate intensified and ended with both sides howling, baring teeth and yet still mugging politely for the cameras. “I like Pinky,” Fiona shot back towards the end. “In fact, she’s very entertaining. But she’s also a liar.” The two sides leveled personal attacks on issues ranging from foreign policy, sleeping arrangements at the White House and immigration.  

Though each side scored some points, it seemed Pinky turned in a noticeably better performance. Her mild mannered comments and quick wagging tail gave viewers and voters hope for the upcoming election. “You will do or say anything,” she shot back with a smug smile and an assertive tone. After the moderators rang the bell, she added, “You don’t belong in the White House, unless it’s some small whitewashed doghouse out near the Rose Garden.“

Fiona’s camp thought she made some points talking about the harsh conditions for Chihuahua’s coming across the border. “My immigrant parents had to work hard to make sure I made it to the United States. I was born in Arizona and immediately separated from my siblings. My adoptive mother couldn’t keep me and a nice older couple in California raised me. You aren’t even a full-blooded American-Chihuahua. Your mixed heritage and time spent in the shelter make you a questionable candidate. When elected, I plan on making sure the wall has small places for digging opportunities so that other Chihuahuas can find a home.”

“Digging?” Pinky knew she had the upper hand when it came to digging. “Look at your tiny paws and compare them to mine.” She held up a paw and smiled for the cameras. “My adoptive parents rescued me from that shelter and couldn’t keep me due to illness. I dug my way out of the barricades they put up and held daily demonstrations about the harsh living conditions I endured while they were ill. That’s when Eve and Steve took me in and made sure things would be better. Steve served five years in the Army and taught me discipline. Something Fiona knows nothing about. As a young pup, I held sit-ins, marches for various causes and rallied for our troops. If you want a true American in the White House then cast your vote for me.” The bell rang and Fiona’s ears stood straight up before she ran around in circles and began barking her head off.

"Sorry, about that," Fiona told the audience."It's a doorbell thing."

The moderators decided to forgo the bell in order to settle things down before any further questions could ensue. Though pundits on cable television are calling the debate a tie, it seems only time will tell which candidate had their wet nose on the pulse of American voters, in this unusual race for the Presidency.

Love Unites Us All!

February 14^th 2016 is a confluence of love!

World Marriage Day!!

Valentine’s Day

First Sunday of Lent!!

Does your heart feel it?

Nothing randomly evolved in my world. How about yours?

And just for contrarian kicks, here’s one of my favorite

 funny-(ear-crawler) songs by Eric Idle, with photos from NASA.

 There's also a Clint Black version, which is wonderful too. The last line is the best!

Hope you are surrounded by love--if not now--then soon!

Stormy Haiku!

Giant ocean swells

 Off the coast of Hawaii.

I wanna surf, Not!

There’s a place called Haiku on the Island of Maui, where surfers have named the area Jaws. This week, some of them were falling over 40 feet from the top of a wave! Here’s a 46 sec. YouTube video if you’d like to see some of the incredible footage or maybe you’d like to plan one last surfing getaway. May I suggest packing light and leaving your affairs in order? 

 I’ve never visited Maui but the name Haiku sounds inviting, as well as inspiring. Take a walk through our U.S. El Nino winter with some of my stormy Haiku.

The end of a drought

scene; quenching a thirsty state,

With giant mud-flows.

 ************  

The cliffs dissolved--

Multi-million dollar homes

Crashed into the sea.

**************

How high is the snow?

It’s a blizzard in the east

Everywhere you go.

*************** 

Our car is buried.

Someone will have to shovel.

Stop looking at me!

*************

 I’m so glad winter

Wants to finish its business--

So we can move on.

Blogophobia-The Fear that No-one Will Read My Post Unless I Add a Picture of a Cat

Fears—writers love them. They fuel the fire, creating high drama in our stories.

We may not admit it but most of us have some version of anxiety or dread, even if it’s only a nominal, society induced, family-related habit called worry. For many unfortunate people, fear keeps them from leaving home. You’ve probably heard of agoraphobia or the common fear of heights called acrophobia. Screenwriters use some of these fears and create an entire plot based on a particular fear. Remember Die Hard or the super funny High Anxiety? I never saw it but imagine Friday the 13^th plays on triskaidekaphobia or the fear of the number thirteen. When you come right down to it, even Gone with the Wind is about our fear of loss and I can’t imagine anything scarier than Snakes on a Plane-(Haven’t seen it). A fear of ants is myrmecophobia, and I’ve woven some not so frightening horror scenes based on it into my work in progress.

 Many of us giggle at some of the strange sounding phobias such as the fear of chickens (alektorophobia) or the common fear the school principal might have known about, called didaskaleinophobia, which is another way of saying you’re afraid of going to school. (I may have suffered from that during finals week.) The funniest one I can relate to (only because I never learned to use them) is the fear of chopsticks. Consecotaleophobia. But seriously, can you imagine there are people actually terrorized by the thought of chopsticks? Don’t you want to hug them and offer them a fork? Could you work a fear like that into your manuscript?

 Once we rule out the fear of chopsticks, the fear of chickens might manifest itself in different ways depending on the person. Is it a fear of chickens walking across the road or the one diced and tossed with peanuts and fired up peppers in the Kung Pao sauce? Or maybe, in the end, it’s those wicked peppers after all, and the chickens get the blame?

While I’m no expert, I think certain fears are “normal.” There’s the fear of tornadoes and hurricanes (lilapsophobia) or the fear of Hell, (hadephobia) and my personal fear of cats, called gatophobia. Sorry, my cat loving friends but those little critters freak me out. (Wait, come back—I think they’re cute—it’s the way they lock eyes with me. All right, maybe it’s not normal but I don’t plan to get over it by absorbing myself in online cat therapy.)

Scary cat?

As a writer, I probably suffer from dysgrammatophobia or the fear of bad grammar and ortographobia which is the fear of making spelling errors. Can you imagine spelling these phobias for a spelling bee? Even the lottery people are trying to convince us we had better lose our fear of wealth (plutophobia) (this sounds curable) and start playing the Powerball numbers before it’s too late.

Last night, we discussed our real fears and mine is losing my eyesight, (scotomaphobia) but my husband had one that wasn’t even on the list. He presumes it’s a deep-rooted fear that comes through from his cave-man roots. (I knew it!) Though we laughed about it and I Googled it, it seemed strange there isn’t a fancy sounding phobia listed for his secret anxiety. He said the scariest thing he can think of is: being eaten alive by a bear or any large animal and we haven’t even seen The Revenant. I wonder if seeing the movie will help overcome this fear or make it worse. Aren’t we supposed to face our fears? Is seeing a movie a form of therapy? Did you swim in the ocean more or less, after seeing Jaws?

Are you afraid of something and have you tried overcoming your fears? If you're a writer, have you worked a phobia into your plot?

(This post is supposed to be humorous and not intended for anything other than rapport among my followers, most of whom are writers and artists. I realize the serious nature of phobias and my compassionate heart recommends counseling or medical intervention for anyone who cannot cope with these psychological issues.) 

Setting Writing Goals

Happy January

Words don’t stop at the end of the year--

they tumble out--

stumbling forward,

one syllable at a time.

They can stop like a train hitting snow--

when it’s cold--

In flurries of excuses,

dropping snow-like blizzards onto our hearts.

A blanket over the nose--

we shiver from something called writer’s block.

But hey,

it’s January and the tracks can be cleared.

Rum in our tea,

a cozy sweater?

It’s time to thaw the ink in our veins.

Eastern Standard? Pacific Mountain?

Daylight Savings? Greenwich Mean Time?

Who cares?

It’s YOUR time!  

A month of endless possibilities.

Grab your slippers,

pull back the covers!

Release those swirling plot-lines,

Unleash the hounds circling inside your head.

There’s a story,

probably a book,

to fill with poetic words,

waiting to happen.

Dare I say, waiting for submission?

Lure readers into your

creative web,

keep them entertained,

make them run for tissues,

have them laughing and begging for more!

January is a great month for planning

and you have thirty-one days

to prepare,

and warm up

to a brand new year of potential.

Well? Cozy yet?

Happy New Year Troglodytes!

Rock collectors know about the other side. They pick up a smooth looking rock only to find a rough and dirty side underneath. Sometimes they get lucky and both sides are smooth, perhaps gleaming from eons spent rolling around in a river somewhere. The rock collector is always searching for the perfect rock and yet loves coming across unusual imperfections. Those natural flaws make the collection unique. 

Likewise with humans searching for the perfect soul mate, candidate or best friends, are facing  a gravel-strewn driveway along the path of life. Rarely is someone the same on all sides. Divorce lawyers know this. Congress knows this and we know it too but in our quest for smooth perfection, we forget about how imperfections create the most amazing and memorable collections. How many days are we going to waste looking for something that isn’t valuable, interesting or exciting anyway? Do we really want cookie-cutter friends, Stepford wives and Teflon-coated candidates? Are we looking for humans or blowup dolls made in a factory? Sadly, some folks would rather opt out completely rather than experience any discomfort or heartbreak.

My personal feeling is that once we see our own faults, it’s easier to accept the complimentary blemishes of others. Think prehistoric and yet highly civilized--like a mortar and pestle—two rocks—forged out of stone to work together. Cavemen merged with other tribes and ensured our survival by showing them new skills. Here in 2016 when war, anger and frustration still continue to rock the world with violence, it might be a good time to remember the things that brought us this far. The progress that creates workmanship, teamwork and amazing technological wonders began and begins one simple step at a time.

My New Year’s wish for everyone— is hoping that before selecting our friends and leaders, we can remember to accept differences and vagaries with the understanding that reality has many multiple and fascinating dimensions-like a rock!