Journal Images Become Poems

One purpose your journal might serve is as depository for collections of different metaphorical images that can eventually be used in your poems. As an "investigative poet" I often write on themes that need some research. When planning a poem on garlic, for example, I combed books, magazine articles and the web for information on the background and uses of garlic, both in cooking as as one of the oldest medicines in folklore. If I found a certain informational or historical tidbit interesting, I "turned it on its head" and made a metaphorical image out of it. For example, I compared the off-white waxy nature of garlic cloves to eagle's talons.

My plan was to look at garlic every which way and create a lyrical ode in honor of one of my favorite seasonings. Before starting my venture, I was deeply inspired by Pablo Neruda's odes, and "Ode to Tomatoes" in particular, which I feature in my workshops on lyrical poetry writing.

After overwriting and gathering more images than I would ever use in one poem, I let the images speak to me and come to my assistance as I wrote my text. In the course of writing, I used only about one third of the journal images but rewrote them as I went along so they would flow naturally into the piece. And these images gave rise to new images on the fly. Sometimes only one image might stand out from your journal laundry list, but it might act as rudder for the complete poetic direction of your piece. ◦

Journal Images Become Poems

Writer's Block? Say Yes to Herbs.

Some of the greats who couldn't write without artificial stimulation, who chummed up to the bottle but ended up at the bottom of the barrel or, worse, at the bottom of the sea, are memorable: Edgar Allen Poe, William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac, Hart Crane. Others smoked opium for inspiration, or mainlined heroin to their detriment.

One way to enhance the creative experience without destroying yourself is through the use of herbs. Ancient Chinese Taoists, Ayurvedic Hindus and American Indians have taken cues from nature, experimented with various local herbs and plants, with efforts that have uncovered cures, immune builders and tonics for their peoples.

During a typical American workday, we devote eight hours of attention to an employer, then push home to attack meal planning, work out personal relationships, and address scores of household details, often leaving a spare hour or two to devote to higher pursuits such as writing. But often those precious minutes or hours are fizzled away by fatigue.

Writer's block can be more than just a mental crossroads. It can include the lack of mental and physical stamina to address the empty page. Some tried and true "tonics" to help keep you alert and energetic without side effects include Korean or Siberian ginseng, cayenne pepper, yellow dock root, licorice root and garlic. Bee pollen, a superfood rather than an herb, provides energy, amino acids, and most known vitamins and minerals, which alfalfa does nicely in these respects as well.

Of those of the above short list, the one that makes the most dramatic difference to me personally is white Korean ginseng. Ginseng doesn't "energize" you in a caffeine kind of way, but instead is an adaptogen that helps you "adapt" to stress and a busy day wihile still maintaining the energy you started out with. Everyone, however, responds to herbs differently.

Think of herbs as food, which they actually are, and realize that their effects are usually attained over a period of time, at least three to 10 days. However, I will only take ginseng for 21 days at a time during a particularly stressful and intense time, and then let it alone for six months or more.

Jeff Kronick, herbalist, said, "One dose of the right herbal formula can add as much as 300 times the nutritional energy of a perfectly balanced meal designed for a similar effect."

Herbs that are regarded to have an influence on mental capabilities include most seaweeds (dulse, kelp, spirulina), blessed thistle and gotu kola, an herb from India. In a book called "Helping Yourself with Natural Remedies," author Terry Williard describes gotu kola as "probably the best herb for memory." Fo-ti, a Chinese herb used for mental depression and memory processes, is also considered by the Chinese as a wonder herb to lengthen life. And the herb damiana, a nerve tonic and antidepressive, is also a traditional aphrodisiac.

Some people like St. John's Wort for depression, stress or mental upset. My husband, an inner-city high school teacher and fellow writer, and I both prefer the amino acid L-Tyrosine (not to be confused with L-Tryptophane).

But the best detour around writer's block is attitude. And according to some writing experts, a sense of play over duty is the way to go. Have you ever known a child who might approach a pint-size easel only to say "I can't fingerpaint today, I'm blocked." Neither have I. Using your own innate sense of curiosity and the spirit of fun and adventure as your secret creativity weapons. ◦

Writer's Block? Say Yes to Herbs.

Poor Poet's Stock Picker

"Without guidance, people fall, but with many counselors, there is deliverance." Proverbs 11:14.

My husband told me that he was surprised I wasn't a Republican, because I worked so hard for every penny I earned, between my day job, writing workshops, tutoring, and various and sundry other side creative professions I might take on.

And, in a way, I thought it might not hurt to think like a Republican after all, i.e. start investing in the stock market. But it was still important to act as a good Democrat would, i.e. invest in socially and environmentally responsible companies.

First of all, I thought of Mr. Money Bags of Monopoly fame. He invested in real estate, railroads, electric companies and waterworks. So I invested in railroads (hauls more and uses less fuel doing it than airlines and trucking companies), the electric industry (not using coal power, but solar power) and waterworks (water utilities that do good things like filter and distribute potable water). Real estate? I bought my own home instead of rented. But stock-wise I chose a cement company that received an environmental consciousness award and a builder that received a governmental contract to help rebuild New Orleans.

Along the way I listened to audiobooks about Warren Buffett's philosophies, watched Jim Cramer's Mad Money tv program, created dummy portfolios which I tracked on Yahoo Finance and Zacks.com, and read e-mails and articles from The Motley Fool.

Some of Warren Buffett's guidelines include:
-- Choose a company that is the leader in its field, or better yet, has a corner on the market (i.e. Apple Computer's iPods) Jim Cramer would concur.
-- Don't invest in companies that sell on price or discounts. Avoid airlines and auto manufacturers. Today's headlines will also reveal this.
-- Choose a company with a hefty Return on Equity. Something like 17 percent or better sounds good.
-- Choose a company that doesn't have a lot of debt and has a sizeable cash flow (I can't say any of the railroads are here, though).
-- Here's the easiest one. Use your eyes. Look at the company's chart over the last year, three years, five years. If it's on a steady upward slope, you're onto something (check out Hansen Naturals or Franklin Electric) on Yahoo Finance.

And my tip of the day: listen to the advice of many counselors, including yourself once you get the hang of it. It beats picking a stock based on the advice of just your Uncle Harry. ◦

Poor Poet's Stock Picker

Poor Poet's Budget

There are times when your watch stops and your world stops, too, because the need to buy a new battery could throw off your whole budget. This cruel world can nickel and dime you to near death. While you may have staved off the need to pinch actual pennies, there are times, however, when you might be lucky to rub two quarters together. Not to fear. It is time to transform your finances, however meagre, into a financial future crafted by your own poetry-writing hands.

No truer words were spoken when someone said you need to have money to make money. Nothing plus nothing leaves nothing. So start with a little something. If you can manage to scrounge $1,000 together (and it may not be easy), don't put it in a savings account or let it drift as a line item in your checkbook. Invest it in the stock market. Avoiding risk is for the wealthy. They need to protect the millions they spent so much time accumulating. The late poet, artist and friend Carlos Cortez once said, "No one fell out of a basement window." Meaning, if you don't have anything, you don't have anything to lose. But you do need a little something to win. More about this in a later blog about stock picking.

Meanwhile, as you build some investment-worthy cash flow, find ways to live richly without spending much money. Hover in art museums, libraries, parks, zoos, lakefronts, conservatories and churches in which others have spent millions to build and maintain. They are there for you to enjoy. Take walks, fish, swim, collect leaves, watch birds, enjoy your kids and pray for wisdom.

Keep your eye peeled for the special used car gem from the little old lady from Pasedena. I drive a 15-year-old European turbo beauty which I purchased three years ago from its original owner. She had put only around 50K miles on it and maintained it regularly. It was spotless when I bought it and it remains one of the best cars I've ever owned. But then again, I've never owned a new car.

After my husband and I lived for years paying landlords, we finally scraped together the 3 percent needed as a down payment on a house in a working class neighborhood. Family members on both sides were incredulous as to why we moved where we did. Not much later, we were both laid off from our respective jobs and the housing values in our new neighborhood began to dip downward. We, too, began to question why we had taken the plunge and stopped renting. But we didn't question for long. We both found new jobs and persevered. Fifteen years later, in addition to a few repairs and updates and a lot of love, our house is nearly paid for. A few doors down from us, a house just completed by an area builder is selling for six-and-a-half times what we paid for ours. This would have never happened had we still been renting. When it comes to real estate, buy whatever you can afford.

My husband is a poet as well. We are often seated at our own computer laptops, writing, of course. But a nice cheap date is to cook dinner at home, then cuddle side-by-side in front of one computer, surfing the web and sipping a glass of wine. We challenge each other by taking turns finding goofy websites, such as mullet.com. ◦

Poor Poet's Budget

Poor Poet's Luxe Wardrobe

Living the life of a poor poet allows neither the time, money nor ambition to stroke the draperies of the high fashion catwalks. While poem rewrites might be in abundance, it's dress once in the morning for work and it darn well better work well into the evening whether you end up at a poetry reading in a darkened basement corner or find yourself perched on the second floor of a brightly lit bookstore sipping an expresso at the picture window.

As a child, I toured the Universal Pictures lot in Los Angeles with my parents. Our group eventually moved from the sound stages to the worktables of Edith Head, the great film costume designer. We learned that Ms. Head, an Academy Award winner known for her elaborate period costume designs rich in colors and textures, would personally wear simple clothes in three colors -- black, white and camel. At the time, I thought, "What a killjoy. The woman's left nothing for herself after all her brainstorming for others."

Today, I've changed my mind about both her and her attitude. I think she was the wisest dresser and an example to us all. I look at old photographs of her and she never looks out of style, never looks dated. Her elegant simplicity is perennial.

That's because taste, fit and line are what count. Your body is the strong foundation. The black, white and camel pieces are the elegant plaster walls, hardwood floors and cushy leather sofa of any look that can be dressed up or down. Last of all, accessories are the pieces that make the look your own as do lamps, bookshelves and paintings in your home.

The key is to replace your main clothing pieces every few years or so to keep your look current. Are you wearing high waisted, pleated pants with tapered legs? You've waited too long. A lowrider, boot cut is back, but not like the hip-hugger bellbottoms of the late 60s. That's really waiting too long. Though skinny pants of another breed seems to be coming back in. Nothing actually comes back into style completely, although vintage can be fun if you know what you're doing.

Here's the short list: A few pairs of pants, in black, brown, camel and a pair of jeans is sufficient. Always wear a belt if your pants have belt-loops. A feminine skirt in black or brown. A crisp white blouse, a perfect black t-shirt, a camel sweater are staples. Want to really save money? Never buy prints, only solids. Prints get dated as fast as lightning and are harder to mix-and-match. Solids never go out of style, although colors do. The hot pink and teal of yesterday may look awkward today, but as Edith Head emphasized, black, white and camel are classics. Ditto your shoes, although I frown on white shoes. Trying to attract flying saucers?

Before you get bored with your staple wardrobe, hit the costume jewelry display and sock counter and get wild and au courant with whatever strikes your fancy. You have the neutral pallete of black, white (perhaps brown) and camel as a backdrop for your madness. You don't have to spend much money, but update your accessories annually to give your classic look the cutting edge. Sometimes scarves are in and I love when they are, because they can be tied to dramatically alter an daytime outfit or create a posh evening look. And oh yes, scarves can and should be in the latest prints.

Anyone can start with these simple, clean-lined, inexpensive pieces, but it takes a poet to use one's imagination. A poor poet knows how to wear the most basic L.L. Bean button-down oxford shirt and make it look sexy. ◦

Poor Poet's Luxe Wardrobe

Dream and Steam

We all have those special times of day or favorite locales that help inspire our writings. I am a highly visual person and get distracted by what I see. I am always craning my neck to look at different pieces of architecture, I live in a city full of architectural history. I even got so distracted that I crashed my car once, with my front end landing on someone's lawn in Oak Park.

When I'm conceptualizing, as well, it's good if I don't fender-bender my ideas or writings with distractions.

What I need more than a walk or ride down a city street to clear my head is a steam room.

Whether I visit the local Korean steam and hot tub, or visit the neighborhod gym, there a steambath invites me to lie its misty clean slate before my eyes, ready for my musings.

Today, for example, I was struggling to revise the "arc" of one of the main character's in a children's musical I'm working on. My collaborator phoned me the other night to point out that what my character actually got at the end of the play isn't necessarily what she had asked for when the curtain rose.

I wasn't sure when I would be in the mood to settle down and mull that one over. I hit the gym. And after every workout,I usually end up for a 15-minute visit to the steambath.

In a steambath, there isn't very much to do, or look at or even listen to besides the hiss of the vapors that turn on and off every few minutes. The steam's heat kept my blood moving which only seemed to fuel my thughts and open the path I was struggling to venture down. I wrote in white chalk on the white slate before me. It was invisible to either one of my brown eyes, but surely visible to my mind's eye. I made mental notes and not only came up with a series of events to revise the character's arc, but her changes brought a new motion and clarification to a couple of other characters' arcs.

That mysterious monastery shrouded in fog, that Chinese hut in the mountain clouds, that steambath where enlightment or an enlightened notion or two might swirl and and bring answers to your questions or insight to your dilemmas. The steambath. What better place to dream with your eyes open. ◦

Dream and Steam

Poor Poet's Luxe Lifestyle

Choosing the life of a poet and writer didn't generate tons of money, particularly in my early, studio apartment, years. What I didn't possess in cash resources I tried to make up for with a little creativity and a touch of style. If things were going to be simple, they might as well be simply elegant.

Strictly enforced eating rules: No matter what I drank, be it water, then-affordable cotes du rhone or gatorade, I drank from a wine glass. And no matter what I ate, I used chopsticks, be it healthy Chinese stir-fry, over-salted ramen noodles or a broiled steak. I also cooked with chopsticks since I had no cooking utensils, mixing spoons, serving forks or ladles.

As soon as I arrived home from work every day, I slipped into a Japanese kimono-style robe for the remainder of the evening, if I were staying home. If it were cold, the robe went over my sweater and skirt. I sewed my own "sofa" using a Butterick pattern, heavy canvas and bags of foam rubber purchased from the corner wholesaler.

My cheap little FM clock radio spewed soothing waves of classical music, my shelves were hefty with classics and poetry books from the library, and the walls held either inexpensive posters or original art created by friends willing to give me a sizable discount. I bathed by candlelight.

I needed no car. Work was accessible by elevated train, friends were within walking distance and family was a bus ride away. The beach was two blocks over. I attended and/or performed in poetry readings two or three times a week. I wrote sheaves of poems and consumed underground comic books as trash reading. Another trashy habit was smoking, but which has since been crushed out of my life, for good!

Thus was life in one room plus. Rents were smaller then, and my paycheck was even tinier. But those years were among the richest I can remember. ◦

Poor Poet's Luxe Lifestyle

Among the top five healthy ways

Technorati Profile

According to Julie Deardorff at the Chicago Tribune (Sunday, January 8, 2006), keeping a journal if number five among her "10 Ways to Improve Your Health in 2006." This excellent habit even beat out stopping smoking and practicing yoga.

Her comments on journaling includes, "Do the write thing. Save thousands of dollars in therapy by keeping a journal."She also cites medical doctor and proponent of alternative medicine, Deepak Chopra, who calls journaling, "one of the most important tools we have to transform our lives."

"Don't know where to start?" asks Deardorff. "Write what you eat every day (It could help you lose weight.) Write what you do. Write what you feel. Eventually, journaling will become a natural habit, a conversation with yourself." ◦

Among the top five healthy ways

Response to Letter Writing

One of my coworkers, Carlee, read my January 7 blog on "Birthday Letters to Your Children." Carlee wrote, "I really can relate to your most recent post on writing letters to your children. One of the things I most treasure is a letter my father wrote me when I went off to my freshman year at college. It was the only one he ever wrote me in which he told me how much he loved and missed me." Since that time, Carlee's father has passed away, but his letter still remains among her prized personal possessions.

In addition, Carlee said, "I like the blog a lot and will add it to the list of ones I check out regularly." ◦

Response to Letter Writing

Birthday Letters to Your Children

On today's new "Real Simple" television show on PBS, a woman spoke about the letters she received from her father at each one of her birthdays. He wrote her the first letter the day his wife delivered his daughter at the hospital. Arriving home alone, he sat down at his desk to write the type of letter that would become an annual tradition. Every year, his letters held more detail as he told his daughter what he believed in, what he valued, how he felt about what she did that year and how much he loved her.

She loved her dad and his letters. She thought things would stay the same forever, but after she reached her 14th birthday, her dad died. The woman couldn't look at the letters for years, it was too painful. But on her 21st birthday, she pulled out the box filled with them and read them one by one. She even tried writing a letter back to her father to tell him how she was doing and what his letters, all she had left of him along with her fond memories of times together, meant to her. However, she left his last letter unopened and plans to reread when her first child is born. Perhaps she will begin the tradition again with her new son or daughter.

We never know how long we may be around. Tell your children how much you love them in letters and they will always treasure them. ◦

Birthday Letters to Your Children

More Fill in the Blanks

Today picks up where yesterday left off with more fill-in-the-blanks journal entries for your personal year in review. See my January 1st post. Many thanks to Mary Schmich of The Chicago Tribine for her enlightening column...

I regret buying...
I will never regret buying...
even though with that money I could have bought...
I...way too much
I didn't...enough
...drove me crazy
Was...crazier than last year? Or was it me?
The most relaxing place I went to was...
I feel so...when I write it down.
Why did I go to...
The best thing I did for someone else was...
The best thing I did for me was...
The one thing I'd like to do again, but do it better, is... ◦

More Fill in the Blanks

Personal Year in Review

Mary Schmich at The Chicago Tribune ran a recent column (Wed. Dec. 28, 2005) about looking forward to the new year ahead by looking back and filling in the blanks concerning the last 12 months. This way, according to Schmich, "you'll realize some things about your 2005 [or any given year] you had only half registered before."

She said you'd be astonished by how much happened or changed. And how much didn't or hasn't. New year's resolutions from last year? You may laugh or sigh to notice how you life may remain its usual jumble of contradictions.

Writing might be organized. Who said life has to be?

Personal Year in Review (Fill in the blanks)
Last year, I gained...
I lost...
I stopped...
I started...
I was hugely satisfied by...
And frustrated by...
I am so embarassed that i...
Once again, I...
Once again, I did not...
The biggest physical difference between me last December and me this January is...
The biggest psychological difference...
I loved spending time...
Why did I spend even two minutes...
I should have spent more time...

And that's about the half of it. The rest of the list appears in tomorrow's blog.

Happy New Year y'all. Eat something healthy and different this week like steamed kale, which can then be sauted in a little grapeseed oil with chopped garlic and onions, and finally sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and a little sea salt. ◦

Personal Year in Review

Thanksgiving Journal

When we think of Thanksgivings of the past, our memories can often blur into visual "bytes" of rising before sun-up, basting turkeys, cooking down cranberries into a sauce, hanging harvest decorations, watching a wave of people rush into and then out of the house, washing and drying dishes in a bright, steamy kitchen, and laughing with others, like yourself, festively dressed in fashionable high heels, but also in slightly worn-torn aprons.

But what does Thanksgiving really mean to those partaking in the meal with you? There's a special window of time during Thanksgiving when you can find out. You know that time in between the Thanksgiving meal itself and dessert, when you need to digest the first part of your meal before you can even think about cutting into the pumpkin pie? Instead of rushing off to watch the football game or get a jump on loading the dishwasher, grab your journal and instruct everyone at the table to "set a spell" to talk about the things that they are most thankful for this year. Write them down in your journal.

Or, ask everyone if they can recall their most memorable Thanksgiving (outside of this year's!) and why. You may find out some interesting anecdotes about your relatives that can help you appreciate them even more. You might even hear stories from the old-timers about those who have passed on whom you may have never met. The practical joke Great-Uncle Joe pulled 50 years ago could sound remarkably like something you, your son or your niece might pull today. More than looks often run in the family.

Sometimes Thanksgiving is the only time the whole family really gets together, and it's a day that often goes by far too swiftly. If you record some of what people say and do during Thanksgiving, you can savor the day longer and your relationships more deeply.

Forget videocams. They put people on the defensive and no one feels comfortable enough to say anything substantial in front of them. Plus, hardly anyone ever looks at them again once the camera is put away. On the other hand, people open up when you sit down at a relaxed table and chew the fat (and the Turkey bones), as you just happen to jot down a few notes in your journal all the while! ◦

Thanksgiving Journal

100 Memories Travel Journal

Hilary Liftin from Los Angeles described an interesting travel journaling tradition between her and her husband in the April 2005 issue of Real Simple magazine in an article called "Write It Down -- It's not a list. It's a lifeline." Whenever jetting back from a vacation together, Lifton and her husband pass a paper back and forth between themselves to log 100 memories from the holiday they just experienced.

In order to complete their list before touchdown back home, they have to dig up some obscure images, such as Entry number 12 from a Mojave Desert escapade: "By the pool at 29 Palms Inn, Chris briefly looked like a skinny Elvis." or Entry number 48 from another vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine: "We flew a kite until it fell in the water and a wave snapped it in two." Liftin finds that making these entries is "a way for us to preserve the random, funny, sweet little moments of our trips that would otherwise be forgotten."

Newlywed Liftin also said, "We love the tradition of our memory lists so much that if and when we have kids, we'll undoubtedly force them to participate. I can hear it now, 'Aw, Mom! Do we have to do the memory list?' In this age of digital cameras, it's nice to put more effort into remembering than the click of a button."

Note from me: However, these snippet memories can make the perfect companions scribbled next to photographs from the trip when a scrapbook or photo album is later assembled. ◦

100 Memories Travel Journal

Day of the Dead Postscript

Rituals are part of being human. And observing holidays and special occasions are rituals important to many of us. To follow your own personal, family or religious traditions can keep commercialism at bay. Taking note of what holidays mean to you in your journal or blog can be a special way of celebrating.

After you read my post "Day of the Dead Journal," this postscript serves as a journal writing follow-up. Which special people close to you have passed on this year? Or which people in the public eye, such as the pope, also went on to the next world? Every Nov. 2, reflect on these people in your journal. This way, you are actually building a Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos altar or ofrenda using words.

What did these people mean to you? Can you remember something they said you will never forget? Do you remember something they did that made you laugh? If a loved one could visit you for a few minutes, what would you say to them which you didn't get a chance to say while they were alive?

Look through photos of someone special who died and feel the memories the pictures evoke. Write these memories down in your journal. You may want to include those things you'd care to share with others on your blog, and leave the personal, or more intimate, feelings expressed in your private paper journal. ◦

Day of the Dead Postscript

Day of the Dead Journal

The trick-or-treaters have come and gone, and outside of seeing the little kids dress up and present their smiling faces and pumpkin buckets at my door, I have grown weary of the commercialization of Halloween. Instead of scary skeletons and ghosts, I push-pinned three Scandanavian cloths on our doors printed with images of a large gourd, a giant uncarved pumpkin and autumn leaves, respectively.

My husband and I also covered a small bookcase with a Guatamalan cloth and placed an eclectic collection of items on top to serve as a Day of the Dead altar. It is not an altar of worship, but of remembrance, prayer and meditation. According to Mexican tradition, children are honored on Nov. 1 and adults are honored on Nov. 2. The practice is reflected in the Catholic holidays of All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day.

We are honoring three special people who passed on this year. My husband's father, Ramiro, a special friend and fellow poet Carlos Cortez, and my beloved sister Darcy. A small sugar skull with blond frosting hair represents my sister. A pin with the face of Carlos Cortez sits atop a small box, and a photo of my husband's father bring his memory to mind.

We leave rock salt, a clove of garlic and a shotglass of water on the altar as symbols of food in the afterlife. We scatter petals from fall flowers across the altar which are so colorful in their reds, yellows and oranges that spirits who have passed away might see them through this small window of time. We light two votive candles each night to help us stop, remember and pray each time we pass by. ◦

Day of the Dead Journal

Writers Can't Help But Dance

I have to admit it. My life is surrounded by books and writing and plays and ever more words. Fortunately, I am married to someone who has the same caliber of bookish values as I do. Our usual night out might include dinner, followed by a poetry reading, an inexpensive, local play, a bookstore browsing session or a coffeehouse to read or write while sipping java. So it was a little unusual when we both signed up for a dance class together at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Or was it?

Before I was a writer, I was a dancer. I used to tear it up on the disco floor. Before that, I took ballet, tap and acrobatics for seven years. My husband, too, had studied Aztec ceremonial dancing and knows a lot of other tribal steps.

So last weekend, we revisited and explored our dancer selves once again, and set a new foot forward into the dance mode, tripping the light fantastic, starting with Mexican Folkloric dancing. We moved our feet quickly to follow the pattern of the teacher's staccato dance steps, which seemed to be landing in a combination of dance locales -- reminiscent of Irish stepdancing, tap and flamenco.

While I danced, I remembered how years ago, a poet friend Effie created a literary magazine called "Salome," entirely devoted to dance. I had contributed a number of dance poems and also helped her edit others' submissions. Effie took all sorts of dance classes as both afficianado and researcher, and reviewed the performances of any dance troupe that came through town. She invited me to a few of the modern dance classes, to participate, and to a vast number of performances, to perform as spectator. At one venue we frequented, MoMing Dance Theater, my then future husband worked in its artist-in-residence program. We met for real years later.

But back to the Mexican Zapateado class. We danced solo. We danced as a pair. We danced in a circle with all the others. We danced in a line dance. There was guitar, clapping, our feet stamping, a singer shreiking calls and songs, a loud din of energy and mindless release and memory. Afterward, we were exhausted but invigorated. The possibilities of where these out-of-mind and into-body experiences could take us seemed endless. But one look at the syllabus and we learned that in weeks to come our feet would venture to the middle of Amazon country in a traditional Indian dance, to Northeast Brazil, home of the farro, and finish off doing the samba like it's carnivale.

But come on, shouldn't you be sitting alone in your room writing in your journal? For the most part, that sounds pretty good to me. But there arrives a time to come hear the music play. Because writers can't help but dance. And dancers can't help but write. ◦

Writers Can't Help But Dance

Vacation Journal Keepsakes

Creating Keepsakes Magazine sent me an e-mail filled with free journaling tips. The tips cover journaling and scrapbooking ideas, and as far as I'm concerned, embrace the photographer's or artist's journal or blogsite, which intersect the visual with the written.

According to Creating Keepsakes: Gone are the days of journaling with nondescript accounts like: "It was fun." We now journal about our life experiences in the same voice we'd use to tell stories to a close friend over a cup of java. Thanks to an increase in e-mail, message boards and blog communications, we are now driven to write about everyday experiences—and that's what tells the story of our lives.

Although a great photograph can tell a story, the written word completes the tale. That's why journaling is so important! Not only is journaling a powerful part of the page's meaning, but a vital feature of its design as well. How it's written, presented, attached and included can help polish your page and take your words from meaningful to truly memorable.

Before leaving on vacation, create a short list for yourself of questions to answer at the end of each day, such as: "What was my favorite thing about today?" or "What was something new I tried today?" This way, when you scrapbook those vacation pages, you'll be able to remember exactly how you felt. ◦

Vacation Journal Keepsakes

Journal Writing Blogosphere

Technorati Profile

Journal Writing Tips with a Twist became a member of technorati.com and BlogPulse.com today. By doing so, I was able to "claim" the blog. I learned through a special webcast that the above were suggested blog directories worth a visit. After visiting, I determined that these sites are much more, as well as design-conscious and user friendly.

BlogPulse.com is a search engine that also analyzes and reports on daily activity in the blogosphere. It features links to the top blog posts, top blogs, and top news stories. I was able to submit my blog to this site.

technorati.com seems a little more radical, hip and casual, and features top searches of the hour, most popular books, most popular movies and the 100 top blogs. I "claimed" my blog through them, "pinging" a link to their search engine, and hope to find out in the coming weeks what that may mean in increased hits and more outreach to journal writers, teachers, librarians, and program directors.

I also visited a blog directory site called instapundit.com, which seemed clunky looking, heavy on politics, exuding an insider's clubby atmosphere, and didn't have a place to submit your blog.

[journal writing][blogosphere] ◦

Journal Writing Blogosphere

Theater in the Court

Julia Cameron, in her "The Artist's Way" recommends making a two-hour artist's date with yourself every once in a while. The purpose? To open your horizons to experiences and people who might inspire new writings. And these inspirations can lead to creative writing projects or serve as juicy fodder for your journal. Not ready to spend cash on a "date"? You don't have to. One special outing might be a visit to your local state or county court. Slip into a courtroom and listen to the proceedings of a criminal or civil case. A strange and exciting new world and all its characters may be laid before you to take note of in your journal.

And if you happen to be on jury duty and are going through the selection process before a judge and panel of lawyers, take journal notes on your fellow jurors as they answer the judge's questions. Those mild-mannered, newspaper-reading suburbanites you first glimpsed in the waiting room may reveal personal details about their lives that will make your head spin and journal pages ignite.

Librettist and playwright James Lapine makes weekly visits to his local family court in between projects and finds it "The best theater in town," according to an article in The Wall Street 1ournal. ◦

Theater in the Court