Journaling - The Write Stuff For You?

It has been a while since seeing new posts here! I guess everyone is writing, am I correct? My habit waxes and wanes, as I face new and different challenges in everyday life. I find sitting down to write out longhand relieves me of the strain, and is so portable!

What have you written lately? Are you trying poetry, or haiku? How have you seen your life be modified as you look back on writing? Do you focus strictly on symptoms/medical issues, or have you been bravely stepping in to examine your thoughts and how how they affect your everyday life? I'd love to hear from you!
Ginger

@gingerw Thanks for the question. I write because it makes me focus. I'm so happy to find this community because I don't write much about my problems, physical or mental. And MC connect helps me think things through with care. In daily life, I don't take time to just sit down and think about how I feel, what's going on with me that's making me feel anxious? I don't check in with myself very often, but writing here, and focusing first on the feelings and thoughts of others is rewarding and helps me know myself better.

Another tip I have is writing and reading fiction. I have a (4 person) Zoom writers' group and we've been meeting for three + years. The best thing about writing fiction is the attention you have to pay to your characters. You can't get in their way, characters have their own thoughts and feelings. Of course, we all write from our experience but only tangentially. For instance, I'm writing a young adult novel about a fifteen-year-old girl from a divorced family, mom is an alcoholic, the girl sells marijuana, and has a best friend who gets the pot to sell. Is this anything new here? Not this day and age.

When I first started writing the story, I was too close to the young girl. I made her too much like me, the mother a meany, and her grandfather character too much like my father. You can't do that. It's self-serving. Why put your readers through what you went through? (except in MC connect where it's valuable to share.). Why punish them with your story when you can write a character that betters you and doesn't condemn one of your family members?

So I softened the mom and clarified her backstory. I totally overhauled the grandfather who is now multi-dimensional with an important backstory also. And now, my main character has to change because her family has changed. That allowed me to see my protagonist (main character) as a character. Not as an extension of me. And that was a huge relief.

Being able to take yourself out of the center of a story is a huge gift I never expected. And it makes the story so much better for the reader. I've been working on this novel for several years. Will it ever get published? I'll try, but I'm not going to hold my breath. The process of writing and reading fiction isn't just an escape. It's an opportunity to focus, see yourself in different contexts, and join others in the same pursuit. P.S. on reading. I feel reading fiction by authors who speak to me, get my attention, is the best way to get writing advice. It's nice to have a group, but it takes a while to find one (at least it did me). Don't worry about going back and reading all those classics you once thought were essential. Read what speaks to you and takes you away. No matter what it is. Community college courses are a good place to start and have class times that cater to working folks as well as day students.

Memoir and biography were the types of books that interested me when I was young. The stark realities of a violent and dysfunctional home life oftentimes draw us to reality-based reading because it's a document of something that actually happened. So, to venture into fiction may feel a bit unnerving to some. The phrase I want to mention here is, "the willing suspension of disbelief". In fiction you allow yourself to believe in magic, or miracles (they do happen, though), or talking animals. It's a bit like going on a cruise to someplace you've never been and you're going to make the most of it. It's the best staycation I know, and very affordable.

I didn't mean to go on for so long, but this is what I do. I hope my thoughts have inspired . . . Thanks, Suzanne

@suzbyrne I love the way you have taken the question posed and showed how you worked with what you find enlightening. Being able to craft a story that feels right to you, not just a rehash of your experiences, lends itself to letting you fashion your attitude and future! You have gotten to explore your own life and see it in different light. There is no right nor wrong way to write, just do it, as the commercial says!

Is anyone else inspired by reading Suzanne's words?
Ginger

And I just want to add, that writing this fictional story has allowed me to use my experience in a creative way. That gave me distance and freed me up a lot. I still have bouts of depression, but I no longer have to rehash old memories. My bouts are now more tied to current anxiety or stress, my brain does that and I'm getting better at recognizing depression's sneaky ways of seeping into my mood. Ok, I'll stop. Best to you all. xoxsuz

For all of you interested in journaling and/or any other method of conveying your feelings through words. I would like to invite you to read a blog written by Virginia Laken. Virginia was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Dementia (MCI) a number of years ago. The diagnosis has now been changed to Alzheimer's. Over the years she has written in her blog about the changes in her life. She recently wrote this blog and she titled it, Gifts Granted. I think you will find it inspirational. I certainly did. After you read it, I would enjoy hearing your comments.

Thank you for posting this, Teresa! It is indeed inspirational to read Ms. Laken's words, and see how her gratitude for life in general comes through. I hope she is able to leave her writings to her family, and they will have the opportunity to ease her slide into Alzheimers Disease.It seems that there are so many ways that disease can manifest itself. Her blog is a gentle reminder for us to take the time to remember, be grateful, and write things down!
Ginger

Coming to a computer near you, a webinar from Mayo clinic about personal narrative, and how it may be "just the ticket" for you as we journal our way along our path!

https://www.facebook.com/events/914831409424693?active_tab=about Check it out, and maybe I will see you there?
Ginger

Thank you for sharing the link to Virginia's blog! My mom had Alzheimer's, so this disease is very much on my mind. I sometimes wonder if I will develop it, or whether my other health problems will end my life first. Reading Virginia's blog is very enlightening for those of us who are at risk, since I want to understand what it's like for the person who experiences it: what is that person thinking, how aware are they of the mental decline, how well are they able to take care of themselves compared to the year before. We often read what the care givers are experiencing, but I think it's very valuable to hear from people who are actually experiencing the effects of the disease themselves.

@alive,

I do agree with you! I love to read Virginia's posts. It is enlightening as well as inspirational. None of us know whether we may take a journey into that world of dementia and if we do take that journey, it is good to have a guide.

It's been a while. How many of us can relate to that!? Have you set aside your journal and told yourself:
"I have nothing to say right now?"
"I'm too busy."
"I'm almost afraid of what might come out onto paper/screen."

Yep, that's where I am at. But I know for me, it will be a positive to look at that blank page and write a few things down. And if the floodgates open, that's okay. And if those few sentences are all I can manage today, that's okay, also. There is tomorrow or the next time I have the courage and desire to get it on paper.

Will you join me?
Ginger