I am participation in the NaNoWrimo Challenge that starts today. NaNoWriMo is a writing challenge that happens every November. The challenge is to writing a draft of a book that consists of 50,000 words in the month of November. There are writers all over the world that are participating in this event. I am writing a Memoir for my challenge, My Restless Heart. I have plans to post my progress of my word count everyday withing this post.
Writing and Journaling Line Up: Personal Journaling, Common Place Journal, Writers Notebook, Morning Pages, and Evening Pages. I will post each one separate with details. Journals and notebooks were purchased at Amazon and Walmart.
Morning Pages:
The bedrock tool of a creative recovery is a daily practice called Morning Pages. Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*– they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow. (Description from https://juliacameronlive.com)
Evening Pages:
Doing pages in the evening is journaling, allows us to reflect on our day. (This is not a recommendation as a replacement of Morning Pages. This is for your personal journaling and reflection. I just want to make it a practice to do both. Julia Cameron recommends morning pages. I’ve read in other sources that there is benefits from journaling and reflection, it is beneficial for personal growth too.)
Notebooks were purchases at Walmart for the pages are the right size to write 3 pages a day for me.
Amazon Links two book choices for The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron:
Historically a commonplace book would be a collection of thoughts/ideas/excerpts collected by somebody for their use later. It could include journaling as well. Essentially hand-written scrapbooks, they could be filled with items of every kind: quotations, poetry, letters, summaries of sermons heard or books read, prayers and proverbs, tables of weights and measures, legal formulas, mathematical calculations, anything, in fact, that the writer wished to have recorded for future reference. (Description from Google)
You Tube has a variety of videos about the uses of a commonplace book. I love saving quotes, positive statements and content that promote change and growth. Anything that inspires me or moves is worth wring down.
I’m going to call mine a Commonplace Journal. This notebook is a B5, purchased at Amazon.
Keeping a writer’s notebook is a great way to stay organized and make sure you never lose a drop of inspiration again. Your Writer’s Notebook is about writing and working on your writing ideas.
It’s a place to mind dump for all the things that make you a writer – character biographies, settings notes, sketches, doodles, snippets of dialogue and narration, poems, thoughts and feelings about your story, and so on.
Ask yourself questions about the story you are trying to create and write all your ideas.
The size will be a personal preference depending on portability.
My notebooks is A4 or letter size, purchased at Walmart. I will most likely carry mine in a tote bag with all my journals and planners.
I will be journaling for personal growth which means I will be journaling in a way that both helps me reflect on my past thoughts and actions with an eye toward the future. I will do this through free-writing and/or with prompts in my journal.
My journal that I am using is a B5 that I purchased from Amazon.
If your new to journaling, here are some tips to get started and to make journaling into a manageable habit:
📖 Select any journal or notebook that is comfortable and affordable to you and use your favorite pens.
📖 Commit to 5-10 minutes of journaling a day
📖 Journal at the same time every day, and at a time you know you’ll actually do it.
📖 Don’t put pressure on yourself to write about anything specific. If you don’t have a specific topic you want to address, try free-writing for five or ten minutes, or journal on a specific prompt.
📖 If you can’t journal every day, be realistic about that, and commit to three days a week
I like to collect prompts on a variety of topics that I hope to share over time. Use these 10 journaling prompts to help you get started:
🖊️ What’s something that pushes you outside your comfort zone?
🖊️ What does your perfect day look like? Write it down from start to finish.
🖊️ What three words describe your dream life?
🖊️ Name five things you’re looking forward to this week or this month.
🖊️ At what point during the day are you at your most productive or energetic? How can you make better use of that time?
🖊️ What apps do you use most often on your phone? Are they adding or taking value from your life?
🖊️ Write a letter to someone you love letting you know how much you appreciate them.
🖊️ Think back to a difficult period in your life. What advice would you give to your younger self?
🖊️ What self-care activities bring you the most joy or sense of calm? How can you incorporate them into your life this week?
🖊️ Write down a joyful memory from the past week.
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The Erin Condren Planners are available in 12 month or 18 month monthly and weekly planner pages. The coil 7” X 9” weekly planners come in 3 formats to choose from vertical, horizonal and hourly. The inserts of most of the planners come in 3 interior designs.
Every year the external cover and interior color design change.
Coil Planner include:
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Inspire:
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Canvas:
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Wildflowers:
Canvas:
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Daily:
The daily planners are in 6 month coil, sold as a duo to make up 1 year or A5 ring size inserts. Coil daily comes in 7” X 9” and A5. A5 ring inserts are also sold in horizontal or compact vertical weeks in 3 color designs. A5 comes in two interior color design: Inspire and Wildflowers.
Inspire:
Wildflowers:
Canvas:
Daily A5 Rings:
Inspire:
Wildflower:
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Weekly A5 Rings:
Compact Vertical:
Inspire:
Wildflowers:
Canvas:
Horizontal:
Inspire:
Wildflowers:
Canvas:
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Erin Condren Design You Tube Channel
Belinda Selene You Tube Video is one of my favorite bloggers who teaches you how to make cute accesssories for your planner. She uses a personal planner and the Erin Condren Planner. The following video is a real cute step by step on how to decorate the weekly planner with a Kate Spade Layout:
by Belinda Selene
I’ve been setting new goals for myself regarding my fitness and weight loss. I hate the phrase that has gone around during the pandemic and I feel is still going around, “The New Normal”. Honestly my world was turned upside down. I went from dancing every day at a dance studio, classes, practice and socials. I was so obsessed about dancing, I would go to a country dancehall after the studio and dance some more. All this dancing required a partner. Any solo dancing had many people on the side talking. I did loss a lot of weight from all this dancing, 75 lb. Then COVID! Everything shut down. WHAT?! Dancing in my living room was not the same. I slowly started gaining the weight back. I still tried to go dancing when things were available but it wasn’t the same. It’s still not the same. Motivation wasn’t the same. Unfortunately, some people were the same so not as much dancing as desired. I needed to find something else that wasn’t dependent on others. I started working out with weights. I use to work out that way years ago. I feel it’s not as much fun. I played music sometimes loud because without it I didn’t feel I could get through some of the exercises. It all started by watching some people on instagram that had made great gains in what they were doing. I thought to myself where do I start this again. Then one day I told myself just start doing something. Do what you know. I started. I now am able to set goals, evaluate what I’m doing, add to it, adjust my weights and reps. I ask questions to help me get in the mindset, to record what I’m doing and remind myself why I am doing this, “exercise is to build muscle, strength and confidence instead of a means to be thin” and “nutrition is more about health, longevity, and being nourished rather than being skinny”. My Intention: I am healthy, strong, fit and confident. I love my body because of what it has overcome.
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What were you thinking when the news of Covid 19 became real to you?
There’s no doubt that this has been a hard time for many. It’s been 5 months for me and I have to say, I didn’t believe it at the beginning. I didn’t believe that it would change so much in a short amount of time. It felt like the world and time just stopped. Biggest change at the beginning for me is when my dance studio closed for classes and socials on March 13, 2020. I went from dancing everyday to not.
It was about the same time schools were having spring break. Most schools had extended spring breaks and the extended spring breaks resulted to teachers and students not returning to campus and doing all education online. Many non-essential businesses and bars were closed down. Restaurants were either drive thru or delivery. No dine in. Businesses reopening was projected for April 15, then extended to April 30, then extended again. The reopening of business were slow and was based according to necessity and were 25% or 50% capacity. Bars in Texas were able to open near the end of May to be closed again a month later. Now mask are required in all businesses. Along the way we have experience one or all of the following (feel free to share others things I didn’t list):
– Shelter in Place
– Quarintine
– Schools Closed
– Social Distancing
– Wear mask/gloves
– People working from home
– Only essential businesses were open
– Empty shelves: No Toilet paper, paper towels & cleaning supplies
– Take out only
– Tempature taken at medical facilities and businesses
– and much more.
All these changes have been an adjustment. Many have experience emotional and physical stress. Everywhere I turned the words that comes to mine that was used a lot was “this is the new norm.” I feel nothing feels normal.
I posted a thought of mine on my facebook page that I truly feel: “I will never take for granted the freedom I had to go where I pleased, hug or see who I wanted, and dancing everyday where and with who that would join me. I am truly grateful that I got to share these things with others so far!”
The changes have been difficult for me. I’ve been taking it one day at a time. I’ve been spending my time training my foal, reading many books to help me be a better person, exercising, memory keeping and journaling. I can’t seem to exercise as much as I was dancing and somedays it’s hard to write.
If you are feeling uneasy about what is going on or if you just want to remember the events, I encourage you to take pen to paper and write down how you feel about all of this and what you have experienced. If you don’t prefer pen to paper, type it out on you computer. I feel writing will help you to solve any problems you may have regarding all that has happened. It helps reduces stress and provides relief, if there are problems it can clarify the problems in your own mind and allows you to concentrate on finding a solution.
My personal opinion: “I have been very fortunate to not of been sick but I can’t stop living life. I believe that life should go on, family should reunite, people should go back to work, business should reopen and we should deal with the outfall because most of this isn’t working and it’s the worst!”
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