On April 27, 2019, the Wrede little one-room country schoolhouse, just outside of Fredericksburg, Texas, hosted ten students for inspiration and tutoring in the art of travel journal writing. The organizers promoted the workshop as Vacation Journal Writing, which attracted people from their early teens to their mid-seventies. Continue reading “Vacation Travel Journal Writing Workshop”
Another way to revise our travel stories (or any story or scene) is to use the senses to describe the setting, the characters, and the action. Using the words “I smell…, we heard…, or you may taste…” is NOT the point. We can imply the senses by using rhythm with our words or utilizing descriptors that convey the sense itself. Continue reading “Revise a draft using the five senses.”
In a recent Travel Touchstones: Transformative Travel through Creative Jou
rnal Writing workshop with lively participants, I explained that I developed the writing exercises as a result of not having the right kind of material from my journals when drafting my coming-of-age travel memoir, At Home in the World: Travel Stories of Growing Up and Growing Away.
I offered a flow writing activity. Continue reading “Flow Writing followed by 3-step Revision”
Ira Progoff’s “Stepping Stones” Journal Writing Exercise
Stepping Stones is a journal writing exercise developed by Ira Progoff. He conducted research about how individuals develop more fulfilling lives. In his role as psychotherapist, he found that clients who wrote about their life experiences were able to work through issues more rapidly. Through this research, he then developed and refined the Intensive Journal Method to provide a way to encourage the processes by which people learn, grow, and develop as individuals. Continue reading “Insight from Travel through Journal Writing Exercise”
Myth Bluster: If I write, I’m a writer.!
We often tell ourselves, “I can’t write worth a hoot!” And sometimes others imply it by their lack of interest in our work or comments that sound and feel negative. We must believe in ourselves and our ability to improve over time. Here is what we need to be thinking instead to bust previous belief.
Myth Busters: If I write, I am a writer. If I don’t write well, I can learn to write better. Work makes wishes come true.
It’s all a matter of perspective. We can tell ourselves a different story about our ability to write, and then start to make progress by practicing. So put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Start writing what is on your mind and in your heart.
I’ll be offering some writing prompts in the near future. I hope they will be useful to you.
Here is another myth buster to previous thinking:
Practice does not make perfect; practice makes possible.
Comments from anyone?
