Thursday, June 28, 2018
Journal With Impact: Travel Influence
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“Doing these four things, you will discover why you were compelled to
relive being with a particular person or at being at a particular place or
event.” Sheila Bender
Travel
makes a definite influence on our lives whether we do it daily on a local
basis, or for vacation, or for special occasions. In addition to the personal
reflections and family memoir material, travel journals can become
stepping-stones to articles or settings for fiction, or blog material, or both.
By focusing our perspective on travel details we also hone our observation and
descriptive skills. Sensory detail is crucial.
When
writing description in essays, Sheila Bender gives this advice. “1) Stay with the senses. 2) Make comparisons in order to share the
experience as it was in the very moment you had it. 3) Stay in those moments that interest you.
4) Present experience itself. Your images
have authority. They say, ‘This is how it was for me’.”
Description is one of the key ingredients for travel
writing of any kind whether personal or public. With modern apps we can
automatically keep a visual record, but a journal will go deeper by adding the
atmosphere in ways that others can relate to our adventures.
Action
Steps: Try
out this journal prompt as a test run for potential material.
1. Make two side-by-side lists of One) ten
places you’ve traveled to, and Two) ten places you’d like to go. (Can include
repeats)
2. Are there any similarities or patterns in
your choices?
3. Also note if there are any places you tend
to look for no matter where you are?
My children surprised me on one road trip with an exasperated comment
that I always spot the bookstores. As far as I knew I simply watched out the
windows at everything as we drove by. However, they told me that whenever I saw
a bookstore I would say so out loud.
Share: Do you have an interest you instinctively watch for when driving through
small towns? Or set up on a map app to locate when you arrive?
Read deep, marcy
Labels:
Free blog workshop,
Influence,
Journal with Impact,
Six Conversations,
Travel,
Writing Creative Journals
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Journal With Impact: Family Journal Vacation Worksheet
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“Creating
memories is a priceless gift. Memories will last a lifetime; things only a
short-period of time.”
Alyice Edrich
Family Journal
Vacation Worksheet
- Make a
list of all the Events you
remember that happened. (ex. flat tire)
- People
a. Make a
list of all the people there: family, friends, and strangers that you noticed
for a reason.
b. Next to each name put what was the
distinguishing characteristic of that person at that time. (ex. lady in snack
shack—wild hair) (brother—told new joke every day).
- Describe
the Setting: place, weather,
smells. Be sure to choose specific words rather than generalize. For example, just how cold did it
get at night: chilly or freezing?
- Was
there then, or afterwards, an image or repeated phrase that became a code
for that vacation? One friend shared that this turned into several
favorite reminders for their various adventures.
- What is
your specific emotional connection to this vacation that makes it your
funniest or most embarrassing or….. ?
6.
Write out a rough vignette draft of that vacation.
Action
Steps:
1.
After you’ve put all your thoughts together, make a copy for each person with
you on that trip and give them each your version.
Share: Did any
memory surprise you when you did the worksheet? What made it stand out?
Read deep, marcy
Note:
I found the quotes for this family section at www.wiseoldsayings.com. They had a lot more that you might find
more personal, especially if you are beginning to prepare a memoir, which we
will be examining later in the series.
Labels:
Free blog workshop,
Journal with Impact,
Six Conversations,
Vacation Worksheet,
Writing Creative Journals
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Journal With Impact: Family Vacations
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“Your
memories are your jewels!” Julie Butler
Family Vacations
Family
vacations have the capacity to turn into books, especially if they extend to
family reunions, or special locations visited each year, or combining group
holidays that also include friends. Next week I will post a generic worksheet
that can be a base line to build on, but for this section reflect on your own
personal memories.
First make a
specific list of the: best, worst, easiest, hardest, happiest, saddest,
longest, shortest, funniest, and unexpected details.
Then
choose one specific memory and do a worksheet by writing out it out as a visual
photo frame, as if you were standing before a movie screen watching it happen.
Then
choose a yearly event and, “Retell this
generic memory as if it happened just once. In telling it as a single, one time
memory, try to evoke the experience as a single vivid moment in time.” Make a note of all the highlight
features and write it as one incident.
You can choose to write it as a letter, or a short story, or as a
vignette, or as if writing a travel article.
For
example, for many years I spent the summers with my aunt, a schoolteacher who
had summer months off work. My first poetry memoir, Summer Sketches, reflected the memories of those summers by combining
several summers into one: some by personalities and some by adventure. The “only”
captured my first surprise when five-years-old and found its way into this
vignette when I wrote the normal everyday activity as an adult.
Breakfast
“Every
morning a fresh
pot
of porridge bubbled on the stove.
It
could be stirred
only
with a
long wooden spoon and
only
by my
uncle.”
Action
Steps:
1. First choose one very familiar detail to
write about and then pick an unusual, or one-time only occurrence.
2. Write them up as a combined memory? What
feelings do you notice came to the surface?
3. Now rewrite the first familiar version.
Share: What style
did you write your memory up as? What specific feature surprised you?
Read deep, marcy
Labels:
Family Vacations,
Free blog workshop,
Journal with Impact,
Six Conversations,
Writing Creative Journals
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Journal With Impact: Family Communications
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“Memories
shared serve each one differently.” Robert
Evans
What
kind of communication works best with your individual family members that will
enable you to go beyond the surface details: weekly, monthly, or yearly?
Our
technical era makes it possible to do instant connections but look at some ways
to go a little deeper.
Some
possibilities might include an old-fashioned round-robin letter so readers can
participate without rushing. Or consider a regular e-mail circular to family
only. Try out a designated Facebook group for family only.
Perhaps
set up color-coded calendar as to when to touch base with each other with a
regular conversation before the activity timeframe becomes too overloaded to
share all the details and the communication becomes superficial.
Even
a few minutes with a weekly Facetime to share a smile can keep a caring
relationship healthy.
For
special family events such as birthdays, graduations, anniversaries and other
highlight occasions take a few minutes to extend the involvement and pass each
person’s reactions around to everyone.
Some
communications might include having each family member write up their favorite
memory of that specific event. Or each person writes down a blessing, or share a
Bible verse, or a promise, or a prayer, or a gift of time. Do a photo scrapbook
that is shared with everyone. Or do a memento scrapbook (like an old fashioned
quilt).
Action
Steps:
1. Choose a system that you haven’t tried
before to see if that becomes more efficient than your current mode of
communication?
2. Then look for ways to make the system fun
so that it is not another required to-do item but something you all look
forward to.
3. Think of ways that will include all ages
regardless of technical abilities.
Share: What method
of communication has worked for your family so far? What method are you going
to experiment with?
Read deep, marcy
Labels:
Family Communications,
Free blog workshop,
Journal with Impact,
Six Conversations,
Writing Creative Journals
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