✨Switch it up with Journaling Power! ✨

I’m pleased to be a part of talented Mari L. McCarthy’s WOW! Women on Writing Blog Tour today. I love getting to share info about books that make a difference in writers’ lives. 😊📚 Ta-da, and read on!

“Switch it up with Journaling Power!”

 

“Life can only be understood backwards,

but it must be lived forwards.”

--Soren Kierkegaard

One of the coolest aspects of teaching creative writing and as a nonfiction writer myself is connecting with talented authors whose work inspires my own writing journey.

I’ve lost track of how many writers I’ve recommended Journaling Power: How To Create the Happy, Healthy, Life You Want to Live, because it’s the kind of book that I recommend so frequently to writers.

No matter what genres my students write—from poetry to nonfiction and novels to flash fiction and screenwriting—the wise tips and advice offered in Journaling Power sustain a hearty writing process with insights for all writers. It encourages writers to switch up their current thoughts to make and meet goals right now, right where writers are in their lives.

From mindful eating to reversing years of repressed emotions and from overcoming the Inner Critic to positive self-talk and encouraging your Inner Coach, Journaling Power is both warmly inviting and unafraid to tackle the big opportunities for development and healing that are present through an ongoing journaling practice.   

Spend time with Journaling Power and two things become immediately clear: 1. Mari has an authenticity and a zest for living and she’s candid about how journaling boosted her own life journey that has had significant bumps and shifts in plans, such as MS and her long-ago music teacher’s careless comments (you’ll learn more about both in her book), and 2. Mari’s enthusiasm for helping others live their best lives is inspiring and ever-present in her writing, in her courses, and on her website.

Lucky readers!

Journaling Power is packed not only with personal anecdotes and motivating quotes (including the one that opens this blog) that will interest readers, but also with journaling exercises that leap off the page and spark writers’ pens.  

No wonder it has won numerous writing awards, including a 2018 COVR Visionary Health and Healing Award, a 2019 NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite, and a 2019 Nonfiction Authors Association Silver Award.

Grab a journal, a pen, and a copy of Journaling Power today. It’ll inspire one of the best gifts you can offer yourself and your writing: the promise of your growth from this day forward.

As Mari says, and it’s brilliant advice: #JustWRITEON!

 ***

Journaling Power is available in print and e-book on Amazon, Create Write Now, and Barnes and Noble. 

You can also add it to your GoodReads reading list.

 ***

About the Author, Mari L. McCarthy

Mari L. McCarthy, Founder and Inner Work Tour Guide of CreateWriteNow.com shows curious health-conscious people how to use Journaling For The Health Of It®️ to heal the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual issues in their tissues and to know and grow their True Self. She’s the multi-award-winning author of Journaling Power: How To Create The Happy, Healthy Life You Want To Live and Heal Your Self With Journaling Power. She’s also created 20+ Journaling For The Health Of It® Inner Journey Workbooks that include Who Am I?, Declutter Your Life In 28 Days, and Take Control Of Your Health In 24 Days. 

Find her online at: 

Website: http://createwritenow.com/ 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/CreateWriteNow 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwtlBKKHXAfl_fZjLtOGMHA

My Poem, "Wobbly," Featured ☕📚

So pleased to announce that my latest poem, “Wobbly,” was featured tonight as part of Lee Ann Berardi Smith’s wonderful series on Facebook of poetry videos during the pandemic, with the hashtag: #poemdemic.

Check out Lee Ann’s amazing video reading (clickety links above), my poem text (below), as well as other excellent videos of Lee Ann sharing verse from many inspired poets.

“Wobbly”

 

the stack of books

beside the nightstand

beside the bed

got wobbly again

I wouldn’t know why—

 

I only added three new

hardcovers last week

to the tippy-top

 

so I sat on the floor

this morning

on the carpet

with the tea stain

 

my knees tucked in a way

that would let me know

when I stood up

that they loathed to be tucked

that way, and I sorted

and pulled two or three mid-stack

 

volumes of softcover poetry

to send to an out-of-state poet friend

and a thick historical novel

that had been so-so

but a swap with another friend

 

and the memoir

about the 1980s painter

to toss into the free

book box by the gift shop

the next time I go past

 

and the rest,

like elementary-school

friends, I set out

for indeterminate recess

 

I let them group together

still holding hands

beside the printer

 

I know, despite my efforts

at any minute,

they might sing that song,

 

might play that game,

that goes

we all fall down

Photo Courtesy of Alfred Kenneally on unsplash.com

🌟 Online Reading: Thursday, March 4th at 6 pm EST

Q: What are you doing this Thursday, March 4th at 6 pm EST (aka: 5 pm CST or 3 pm PST)? ☕

A: Attending this amazing reading of 8 Vine Leaves Press authors. Our theme, Commercial Meets Experimental, includes select readings from our published books.

Would love to see you there. Zoom link below. 😎

✨ "3 Suggestions on a Saturday Night" ✨

I have the pleasure of guest blogging today at Nicole Pyles’ wonderful blog, World of my Imagination.

Check out my “3 Suggestions on a Saturday Night” for some literary, movie, and audio amusements.

"Journaling as a Discovery Tool for Current Projects" 🖊📕

Splendid news: I’m guest blogger today at CreateWriteNow!

My article, “Journaling as a Discovery Tool for Current Projects,” was published this morning.

Also check out journaling prompts, Mari’s marvelous book, Journaling Power, and other inspiring journaling resources at CreateWriteNow!

Photo courtesy of Nick Morrison at unsplash.com

My Poem Featured :)

Cool news this week: I was honored that a poem from my This Passing Fever collection was chosen and read online by Lee Ann Berardi Smith as a part of an awesome poetry project. Catch it here.

Care to get your own signed copy of This Passing Fever? I’ve got you. Here.

Want to learn more about writing poetry? I’ve got that, too: here.

I’m in the midst of exciting music collaborations with the poems. More details later this year. Stay tuned!

Poetry in a Time of Pandemic

It’s my honor to have a poem published in the St. Charles Arts Council’s project, Poetry in a Time of Pandemic. My poem, “Quarantine III,” was just published. May these poems bring comfort, insight, and hope to us all as we wait out this terrible virus.

“Quarantine III”

I cracked open a window, to be touched

by chilled arms: shrill April winds better

than nothing. Sister says she’s started

having nightmares about social distancing.

She wandered through a hall, body shaking,

shaking a fist at duos in sweaters carelessly

entwined in chaste hugs. Last night, I dreamt

of an anniversary party in a giant ballroom.

I asked at every festooned food table for

pretzel rods. I was that specific; they weren’t

just pretzels. The punch was Hawaiian red but

all I could scoop into my cup was pale pink,

square ice pellets that tasted of run-off and

blankness. Not even water could quench

as it vanished.  I took more anyway.

I Guest Blogged: "3 Steps to Fixing an Annoying Protagonist"

Check out my guest blog at the fabulous Write it Sideways that went live today: “3 Steps to Fixing an Annoying Protagonist.”

"Big Shot"

Pleased to share the latest poem from my Particle collection, with illustrations from the talented @annabelle_fern .

"Takeaways"

Happy September!😁 New month, new piece to reveal from my Particle manuscript -in-progress.

With another fantastic illustration by @annabelle_fern .😊