What's your journaling style?

Journaling is an important element on any scrapbook page, but there's no right or wrong way to tell your story. There is only your way! You can tell your story any way you like. If you need a starting place, take this fun, little quiz from Elsie Flannigan's book, 52 Scrapbooking Challenges.

1. You want to touch base with a friend. You:
A. Call
B. Send a text message
C. E-mail
D. Instant message

2.You're going out tonight. What do you wear?
A. Something trendy
B. Something casual
C. Something pretty
D. Something comfy

3. How many hours do you spend on the computer a day?
A. Less than one
B. 1-2
C. 3-4
D. 5 or more

4. You're sending a friend a birthday card. You:
A. Write 'Happy Birthday' and sign your name.
B. Write a personal note and sign your name.
C. Sign your name.
D. Slip the card into the envelope and send it off.

5. What's your favorite kind of test?
A. Short answer
B. Multiple choice
C. Essay
D. I don't like any tests

Tally up your scores and take a look at your results here.

If your quiz results were:

Mostly A's: Try writing down bits and pieces of conversations with friends, journal with favorite quotations, or do a back-and-forth journaling exercise with a friend, where you write one thing and she writes the next thing. Be on the lookout for journaling inspiration everywhere you go (think billboards, signs and magazine advertisements).

Mostly B's: Try journaling in lists or making up your own fun journaling code. Use stickers and scrapbooking embellishments. Write fill-in-the-blank journaling. Journal with just an assortment of randomly-selected words that describe a favorite photography or something you love.

Mostly C's: Try journaling like you're telling a story to a friend. Or think about journaling as a creative writing exercise. Your journaling is probably already pretty interesting to read—keep challenging yourself to make it real and keep it as fun as possible!

Mostly D's: Try creating your own journaling shorthand. Use your favorite abbreviations as often as you'd like. Think about making a little guide to these sayings that you can put in the front of your album (your grandkids, for example, might not know the LOL means laughing out loud!).

Get more fun quizzes and challenges in 52 Scrapbooking Challenges by Elsie Flannigan. ◦

What's your journaling style?

Shamaness encounter and another green drink

More journal notes written during my stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas: Yesterday I met a tall, thin biker-type woman, Janet, at a party on Beaver Lake who is a "missionary alternative healer," (using her words) with a "whole body ministry." She works out of Fayetteville and uses Christian prayer, massage, herbs and muscle testing in her practice. Evidently, she has helped heal a large number of people and even medical doctors recommend her to their patients with little to no hope. Janet walks with a cane as she is recovering from a accident and I helped her get up and down the boat ramp. She smokes and drinks, which doesn't seem too beatific, but nonetheless comes off as a true shamaness. She is so down home and real, I don't think she knows how much she exudes the aura of blessedness. she is one of the most unusual, loving and committed people I've met down here, and I mean unusual in the best sense.

As an afficiando of deep purple, seedy, crunchy berry smoothies, I've nonetheless been exploring a lot of green drinks on this trip. I made a great kiwi, pear, green grape and liquid lecithin smoothie before going to church at the Thorncrown Chapel this morning -- turned out really excellent. However, lunch was mediocre -- a blender soup of tomato, avocado, yogurt, lemon juice, rice vinegar and a little cayenne. It called for balsamic vinegar, which I didn't have but was probably the right choice for this recipe. Was a little too acidic this way. The gazpacho I made earlier this week was 10 times better. Ate a little cornbread and two Ak-Maks on the side. ◦

Shamaness encounter and another green drink

Spices, herbs, culinary suite at Dairy Hollow

Some journal notes from my stay last month in the culinary suite at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow: Took the spice/herb inventory. It’s almost 8 a.m. Drawers and racks of spices – and among the standards, some stand-outs: banana extract, brandied pepper, whiskey rub, Quebec steak seasoning, black sesame seeds, Hawaiian sea salt (red), Celtic gray salt, lavender, African bird pepper, chipotle chili pepper, and pink, green, black and rainbow peppercorns. They have all the spices for the recipes I’ve planned. I’m shocked, not. But only about a teaspoon of cinnamon left. Multiple bottles of cinnamon extract, however.

The culinary suite is exquisite. Everything was newly remodeled by Renovation Style magazine and looks very HGTV. The large living room has a cozy sitting area next to a real woodburning stone-faced fireplace. A pull-up table is also available for meals. The office includes a large desk and bookshelf along the south wall with multi-lighting options. In fact, lighting and dimming options throughout the suite are stunning, in addition to the natural skylights in the living room and bathroom.

Sage green, off-white, painted wood walls and natural stone and wood make up the décor. A large, luscious acrylic painting of two red and two white onions graces one wall, visible as you enter the front door.

I am working in the most smashing, up-to-date, impeccable full kitchen anyone can imagine; fully equipped, almost all KitchenAid appliances -- a six-burner stainless stove with hood, double oven, outdoor gas grill and sink on the adjacent deck, dishwasher and restaurant grade monster refrigerator and freezer, also blender, juicer, food processor, coffee grinder and mixer. Lots of storage space, Cuisinart cookware, glasses, dishes, gadgets, food staples from the previous colony residents. Hardly anything a cook could fall short of. Plan to take as much advantage of the kitchen as my writing schedule allows. ◦

Spices, herbs, culinary suite at Dairy Hollow

Smoothies, juices and soups from Dairy Hollow

Some journal notes/letter from my culinary suite stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, last month: Spent a lot of time researching ginseng today and will try to work on a poem before I go to bed. Rosaleen brought Irish whiskey to dinner and I couldn't help but try a few nips. My typing's still o.k. so all is well, thus far.

Did some non-cooking cooking today, too. I made, get a load of this, an avocado, Bartlett pear and yogurt smoothie, with some vanilla extract and raw sugar. It turned out to be one of the best smoothies I've ever tasted. A green tea boost would make it perfect, because it was the color of green tea ice cream to begin with. My lunchtime cucumber, celery and lemon smoothie/cold soup didn't fare as well as it turned out an overly cold, sour slop.

While I was at it, I pulled out the food processor (I've never used one in my life except for my mini-Cuisinart chopper back home) and whipped up some gazpacho I plan to serve as a prelude to the colony dinner tomorrow. Cucumbers, white onions, green onions, celery, red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, tabasco, lemon juice, some V8 low sodium, Hawaiian red salt, rainbow ground pepper. Will garnish later with limes. Tastes good so far -- letting it meld overnight.

Another concoction on the agenda: Theobrand: Food of the Gods, Montezuma II -- a blend of cocoa, cayenne pepper, vanilla, cornstarch and hot water. Thought of making it tonight so I can stay up a little later to get some work done. Is this what Montezuma drank 30 cups of a day? ◦

Smoothies, juices and soups from Dairy Hollow

Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

I was among the fortunate 50 this year to have experienced and utterly enjoyed a writer's residency at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, located in a pleasingly woodsy section on the historic loop of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. There, I spent two weeks during autumn-kissed October writing poetry, reveling in the quaint and Victorian town and the ecologically diverse terrain surrounding it, and completing valuable research for my writing with friendly, local experts and the resources at the town's authenic Carnegie Library.

Many writers' haven't yet heard about the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow because, unlike other colonies with decades of history and a thick coat of New England ivy, WCDH was only launched four years ago in the off-the-beaten-path Ozarks. However, once there, you might feel as I did that you are in the center of something special and the rest of what's floating around in other U.S. locales might be overly-worn and too world weary.

WCDH is the only writers' colony that specifically supports culinary writers, as well as poets, novelists and short stories writers. I stayed in the exquisite culinary suite, a former bed-and-breakfast living room, office, bedroom, bath and kitchen transformed HGTV-fashion by Renovation Style magazine and KitchenAid. The fully-stocked, state-of-the-art kitchen was my workshop to experiment with many of the items that appear in my poems. When I filled out my application several months ago, I put down that I could reasonably finish eight poems during a two-week stay. In actuality, I completed 16, and still had time to take hikes, try out new recipes, make friends and have fun in this artistically-diverse town.

Besides the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, my recommendations for those visiting Eureka Springs: Opal Fly and the Swatters jazz/blues combo which regularly appears at Eureka Springs venues; Rogues Manor tavern, a tiny quaint bar that has a windowed view of the side of a mountain and spring, museum-style; Carnegie Library, a limestone-fronted, wood-paneled interior tiny masterpiece of a library initially funded by Andrew Carnegie; the garden next to the Crescent Hotel, where you will experience one of the best views of the breathtaking Ozark Mountains right in town; Thorncrown Chapel, a wonder of glass and wooden beams in the middle of the forest, which the American Institute of Architecture recently placed fourth on its list of top buildings of the 20th century; Fire Om Earth Studio, a fabulous place on 15 acres just outside of town where you can drop into a bellydancing or Tai Chi class for $10, or admire and purchase the owners' handmade Celtic and native-style drums, flutes and ocarinas. ◦

Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

What If God Was One of Us?

As Alanis Morissette sings, "What if God was one of us?" I recently attended an interfaith church service in which the leader asked the same question. I don't think he asked it in a way that begged a definitive answer, or any answer for that matter, and I think most people in the church felt comfortable with that. But I didn't feel comfortable with it, because I know the song and I feel that each line of that song strongly suggests the person of Jesus Christ. Take a look:

Song: What if God was one of us?
Bible: Psalm 8:5 For you made him a little lower than the angels, crowning him with glory and honor.

Song: Just a slob like one of us.
Bible: Isaiah 53:3 He was despised, and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease.

Song: Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home.
Bible: Matthew 8:20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Song: If God had a face, what would it look like?
Bible: Isaiah 53:2 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire him.

Song: What if God was one of us?
Bible: Phillipians 2:7 But made himself no reputation, and took upon the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

A small, but silly note: The copy editor in me just has to say..."What if God were one of us?"
[journal writing]
[Alanis Morissette]
[song lyrics] ◦

What If God Was One of Us?

Classical Music for Journaling

For journaling, or any other creative pursuit, the busy mind needs to be cleared and calmed. This will help allow your own special associations and brainstorming notions to flow through. Listening to classical music (or jazz, how about a little John Coltrane?) can set the stage, or your worktable, for creativity, whether it be for an hour, an evening or a weekend.

According to music experts, as mentioned in the book "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" the top ten greatest works from the classical canon are:
1. Bach: Mass in B Minor
2. Beethoven: Symphony #9
3. Mozart: Requiem
4. Chopin: Nocturnes
5. Brahms: German Requiem
6. Mahler: Symphony #6
7. Richard Strauss: Last Four Songs
8. Debussy: Preludes
9. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
10.(tie) Verdi: Aida and Puccini: La Boheme

Creative listening! ◦

Classical Music for Journaling

Journal Writing at Lake Austin Spa

My husband Carlos Cumpian and I just got back from a family trip to Texas which included the two of us making presentations and staying at the Lake Austin Spa Resort. I presented a journal writing lecture and workshop and Carlos presented Native American coyote stories, along with his drum and sweetgrass smudge accompaniment.

Besides being one of the best spas in America, Lake Austin Spa Resort is also big on hospitality and a myriad selection of activities and services. From dock activities on Lake Austin to indoor exercise classes, and from a delicious spa menu in its dining room to the spa and beauty services in a new, vast, posh complex, the resort also offers feng shui lectures, culinary demos and poker tips. We stayed in one of the spa's standard rooms, which by any other definition would be considered luxurious. Its bath area also includes two closet and dressing areas, a separate vanity, double sink and twice-curtained shower/tub area.

Some recommendations: Tom, who hosts the walks and docks on Mondays and Tuesdays offered a great orientation to kayaking before leading our small group on a 40-minute trek up and down Lake Austin (which is actually an area of the Colorado River dammed on two sides). Moving indoors, the Foam Roller techniques were easy and utterly effective, which I used to stretch and soothe my muscles. This 45-minute class expertly led by Kathy.

Kayla gave me the perfect pressure massage under the mantel of Lemongrass Ginger Pick-me-up and Carlos' achey shoulders were eased by the talents of Michael, who had his own share of shoulder issues from playing baseball. Trisha Shirey, veteran Lake Austin Spa Resort landscape artist of 22 years, has probably personally planted every green and flowery thing on the property that wasn't there when she arrived. She has a deep knowledge and appreciation of herbs and only uses organic methods throughout the properties.

Still considered part of the city of Austin, I'd truly consider Lake Austin Spa Resort part of hill country, as it is so surrounded by nature and water. ◦

Journal Writing at Lake Austin Spa

Send Yourself a Postcard

When you travel, you might traditionally send a handful of postcards to family and friends. How about sending a postcard to yourself? Use the best picture postcard you can find and write to yourself about the most interesting person you met on your trip (or on each stop in your itinerary). Most postcards cover where you went and what you saw. A postcard to yourself about an engaging, unusual or compelling person you met can capture what makes travel so interesting -- the people!

Over the years, the "postcards to yourself" can serve as a collected journal of the special people you crossed paths with in your travels, plus photos and cancelled stamps to also remind you of your journeys. ◦

Send Yourself a Postcard

Weekend at The Heartland Spa

I had the good fortune to appear as a speaker/lecturer at The Heartland Spa this past weekend. This desination spa is located about an hour and half south of Chicago in Gilman, Ill. After the spa's heart healthy dinner of asparagus and leek soup, salmon with avocado salsa, brown rice, and three-berry whole grain crepe on Saturday night, I spoke to a roomful of guests about the various forms of journal writing, including Japanese haibun and naikan.

If you want to get away from it all, The Heartland Spa is an excellent choice. Tucked deeply into the back roads of Illinois cornfields, the spa is a hidden gem of Midwestern hospitality. Its myriad massage therapists and program leaders possess solid work-ethic honed skills bolstered by great openness and humor.

There are no televisions, telephones, Internet or alcohol at The Heartland Spa. I could receive messages on my cellphone, and was able to retrieve an important one from my son, who simultaneously was getting away from it all by camping in Wisconsin at an alternative energy fair, to let me know he made it to the camp O.K. in spite of car troubles. But I could not get an outbound signal to call him, or anyone, back. Of course, in an emergency, the office phones are available.

I was able to spend two nights at the spa and woke every morning at 6:30 a.m. to bolster myself awake, freshen up and dress for the 7:15 a.m. two-mile wake-up walk. Saw a lot of corn, soybeans, ponds, oak trees and local birds, not only cardinals, swallows and meadowlarks, but also turkey vultures and hawks soaring overhead. One empty crossroads reminded me of the country path Dorothy walked with Toto to reach her Kansas farm. But we weren't in Kansas, but part of an Illinois melding of the rural with The Heartland Spa's Oz-like beauty treatments in its posh multi-story barn at end of the gray gravel road.

Gayle, former local farmer and county assessor turned massage therapist and reflexologist (with a securities license waiting in the wings) gave me an alternately deep tissue and relaxing massage, concentrating on my shoulders and back, just like I'd asked. She later presented a hands-on lecture on reflexology (demonstrating on the feet of a guest volunteer) in the cozy, booklined, wood-paneled lecture room where I staged my journal writing talk a few hours later.

Over the course of my stay, I never felt hungry. The spa serves three healthy square meals a day with lots of variety, in addition to fruit smoothies, berry cups, strawberries dipped in chocolate sauce, and air-popped popcorn snacks at strategic times of the day, with ubiquitous fresh fruit, bottled water and gatorade on hand around the clock.

By the end of the weekend I had logged four miles of hiking, several trips to the separate women's steam bath and co-ed jacuzzi and participated in physical activity classes: Qi-Gong, Pilates, a Mini-Boot Camp of aerobics, fitball and punching bag, Dynabands and Xeribands, and Yoga.

I enjoyed sitting at different tables at breakfast, lunch and dinner and actually became acquainted with nearly all of the 25 weekend guests. I heard some great stories. For example, two sisters at the spa hoped to lose some weight because a certain brand of sleeping pill had turned both not only into sleepwalkers, but also "sleep-eaters" who had slapped on pounds without remembering eating anything come morning, yet finding their beds full of empty pretzel bags and cookie crumbs. We discussed natural alternatives to sleeping pills like Valerian herb, but not before each person at the table related his or her own sleepwalker (son, daughter, husband, cousin) story. One woman's husband, who served in the Vietnam War, needed to be tied to a bush by his fellow soldiers during the night so he wouldn't sleep-wander from camp and get shot. Little did he know he could have been given a 4-F deferment if the army knew he was a sleepwalker when he was drafted, she said.
[journal writing]
[spas][Heartland Spa]
[sleepwalk][haibun] ◦

Weekend at The Heartland Spa

Predictions for 2026

There's another type of journal entry, which instead of looking back at the past or reveling in the present, contains predictions for the future. It's not a entry that uses clairvoyance or any other type of hocus-pocus, but serves as a written platform to air your own personal perspective about what might happen 20 years from today.

Why make predictions? First of all, it's for yourself. You will learn more about the values and beliefs you hold today by the predictions you make concerning tomorrow.

Another excellent reason for logging your predictions is to leave something for those who come after you. Your children and grandchildren. Your nieces and nephews. They will learn more about you and your entire family through your views and predictions. And it will just be darn interesting to see if your predictions came close, were offbase or hit the nail on the head.

But here's the key. The most important part of writing down your predictions are not really in the predictions themselves, but in the reasons WHY you believe they might take place. Answering the "why" part of any issue is the most revealing and delves the deepest into who you are and what's important to you. If you think the world will be a more ecologically balanced society in 2026, WHY? How will everyone in the world make it so? If you think there will be areas of nuclear devastation by 2026, WHY? What will make nations and their relationships with one another be different in the future than they are today...and so on.

I'd like to close my post on journaling predictions with a predition, or at least a special hope. That you will not only write down your predictions, but live to see how they work out. ◦

Predictions for 2026

You Are What You Prefer

Who are you? The complete answer, if there is one, is complex. But you can get a better insight into the stuff you're made of by journaling the activities you prefer and don't prefer. Make a record of music you listen to, movies you watch, books you read, and what you think of them. What better critic or celebrator of what transpires before you than yourself?

As the years pass, you can return to your journals and rediscover what may have been vitally important to you at one time and how that has expanded or changed. ◦

You Are What You Prefer

Reread Your Own Journal

Many times, writers don't take the time to go back through their journals. According to Brandi Reissenweber in her article "Making the Most of Your Journal," a writer might find a creative spark today in something written in his or her journal in the past. Take a second look before dismissing old entries because they didn't come to anything immediately. You may find that you connect with something after you've written it in a way that you didn't at the time you actually write it. ◦

Reread Your Own Journal

Build Bridges with a Thank You

Do I sound like Emily Post if I ask poets to extend a special thank you to their reading hosts? And by that I mean to handwrite and mail a thank-you note.

You have given a featured reading or writing workshop at a poetry venue, bar, community center, school, library or bookstore. The host invited you, made all the arrangements, and drummed up an audience. The audience took time out from their schedules to give you their attention, and maybe approach you after for some chit-chat and shop talk. Some audience members even bought your book or chapboook, if you have one. And you likely did say a warm thank you to the host and the venue, perhaps as you opened your set and again personally before you left for the evening.

That's cool, and more than enough, right? Look at it this way. In the small world of poetry, there are few rewards. Organizing a poetry reading doesn't draw big bucks for any organization. The event definitely won't make its month, and it might even break it. Any effort to promote poetry, at least in today's environment, is a labor of love and based on a love of literature. Your host isn't making any (or much) money on you. And although you took center stage, your host stood behind the scenes. He or she needs strokes, recognition, gratitude and feedback. "What really happened that night, or was it just another reading among many?," the host may ask him or herself.

During the event, you may not have much time or chance to really pay attention to the person who invited you to read. And after a day goes by, you might give more thought as to what actually happened over the course of the evening, the kind of responses you got on your work, and what you may have discovered about your performance.

In these instant messaging days, sending your host a handwritten note about how the evening went for you makes a pronounced impression. Having been a sometime organizer and editor myself, I know that poetry promoters of all stripes often get little to no feedback after the door closes or an issue is mailed out. Is anybody out there, we ask. Your thanks and opinions will stand out and reassure, even if you point out some things that might need to be improved at a venue.

Mail your note within a few days and no longer than a week after the performance and include your personal literary business card, so the organizer knows how to contact you again. I'll write another post on creating literary business cards and websites sometime soon.

Even if you have some constructive comments to make after an event, don't burn your bridges, build them. When you add your personal touch in treating your reading hosts well with a handwritten note of sincere comments, it will likely result in being invited again next time, or even being referred to other venues looking for good talent.
[poetry reading][gratitude][thank you note] ◦

Build Bridges with a Thank You

What to Wear for Your Poetry Performance

Although this blog is mainly to showcase various journaling tips and suggestions, I devote a sizeable portion of my posts to the topic of writing poetry and how to survive as a poet.

When someone reads one of your poems on the printed page, all they see of you are black words on white paper. Don't, however, adapt this same color scheme for a live stage performance. Nothing plays more neutral on stage than white (according to my stage set teacher back when) and wearing a white shirt/blouse/t-shirt on stage is about as exciting as a glass of skim milk.

Ditto black or very dark pants. What is this, a noh drama? Are you a non-entity from the waist down? I don't care if you're fat, skinny, big-breasted or flat chested. You are putting yourself, your poems, your heart and your soul out there on stage, whether at a one-poem open reading slot or a 20-minute feature. So show your colors!

I don't mean Ringling Brothers colors, Halloween costumes or Vegas glitz. But show a little style. Your style. And if your ordinary style is a white t-shirt and torn jeans, then try out your fantasy style for one night. You're having fun. Wear a hat, a scarf, some wild earrings. Make your voice, presence and poetry memorable.

One of my books, "Swimmer's Prayer" carries the aqua mosaic pattern of a swimming pool on the cover. I'll sometimes match up my outfit with the same mermaid-aqua colors to carry out the theme.

If you're a mama falling out of her bra, you might want to bypass a low-cut top, and even wear a strategically tied scarf to fall in-between your breasts. Take a tip from the female flamenco dancers. Visualize how they tie shawls in front of themselves while dancing. They want their audiences to focus on their feet, dancing and costume, not on the jiggle show. And you want the poetry crowd to look at you while you perform, not at your breasts.

Flat-chested and self-conscious? A ruffled blouse and a structured jewel-colored velvet jacket conceals and feminizes at the same time. Adding casual pants and pointy shoes can make a hip contrast.

Guys with a big gut? The jacket thing works for you, too. But don't wear a v-neck white t-shirt underneath, especially if you're hairy. Think crew-neck and color.

Dressing up doesn't mean dressing conservatively or predictably, and dressing down doesn't mean you should reserve your imagination for your poems only.[what to wear][performance poetry] ◦

What to Wear for Your Poetry Performance

Southwest Spas That Offer Journal Writing Sessions

The American Medical Association has released a study showing that keeping a journal can literally improve your physical health.

And a growing number of medical, destination and resort spas are incorporating journal writing seminars into their special event agendas.

This post explores spas in Arizona, Texas and Mexico that offer journal writing as a special feature on their calendar of events.

"It would be interesting to know how the science of journaling is connected to the body," says Nancy Linnon, who lectures on writing and health at Canyon Ranch Resort and Spa in Tucson, Arizona. "I haven’t found one person who said journaling didn’t help them."

Miraval: Life in Balance, Destination for Mind, Body & Spirit in Catalina, Arizona offers cooking demonstrations and nutrition counseling. They also provide courses on photography, journal writing and how to live a more serene life. Miraval was declared one of the top 40 spas in the United States by Conde Nast Traveler and #1 spa in the world by Travel & Leisure magazine.

Lake Austin Spa Resort and its Lake House Spa in Austin, Texas sponsors speakers who present journal writing techniques as does Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.

[journal writing][spas][Arizona][Texas][Mexico] ◦

Southwest Spas That Offer Journal Writing Sessions

Journal Writing at a Spa

You can write in your journal anywhere just as you can live anywhere. But both are better at a spa. My husband and I spent the most fabulous weekend at the Sundara Spa in Wisconsin Dells for our 20th wedding anniversary. It was all very feng shui and more posh in a minimalist, native American way than any place I've ever stayed. It cost a few dollars, but for the special occasion that we were celebrating, it was well worth it. My husband was a little apprehensive about spending more than a few hours at a "spa," but ended up loving it and now keeps telling our friends about it. And I so inspired my sister-in-law that she is planning to spend her honeymoon there next month.

In between the stone cherry body wraps, aromatherapy massages, catching up with each other, enjoying the spa's delicious berry smoothies and natural food entrees that were arranged like artwork, the two of us were also able to volley some ideas for a creative piece I was working on. In such a relaxing atmosphere I couldn't help but direct some solid attention to having fun with a writing project -- actually a commissioned short play for children. And my fellow poet husband, whose opinion and feedback are more than valuable to me, was right next to me and very available.

If you're part of a long-time couple, you know that some weekends (and weeknights) can find the two of you often running in different directions (just to get things done) which often makes sitting down and talking "creativity" a precious commodity. A spa visit can be an opportunity to stop your crazy world and open it up (at least for awhile) to do exactly what you want to do.

Another inspiring spa is The Heartland Spa in Gilman, Illinois. It's actually a farm-like arrangement set in the middle of a cornfield, but has all the wondrous accoutrements, menus and services of a spa as well as endless yoga, aerobics and weight-training classes in spacious, well-appointed studios.

Every Saturday night, spa guests gather in the old world-style library around the fireplace hearth in leather chairs for the weekend's Heartland Institute. I have had the good fortune to present an hour-long journal writing seminar there last year and am returning in June to make an encore presentation. I'm not sure who has more fun, the guests at The Heartland Spa or being a presenter who's also treated like a welcome guest there. Midwest hospitality and friendliness at its best.

[journal writing]
[spas]
Blogarama ◦

Journal Writing at a Spa

Poor Poet's Guide to Being a Performance Poet

Technorati Profile

The Uptown Poetry Slam started in Chicago at the Green Mill Jazz Club, circa 1986, and soon became an international phenomenon. So anyone from this town who has anything to do with poetry does, or has done, performance poetry on stage. We need to set an example around here!

Otherwise, you might as well be some suburbanite sitting in a basement by yourself with a stack of envelopes and postage stamps, nursing a plastic tumbler of boxed wine.

Performing poetry doesn't mean just giving a poetry reading. It means breaking the fourth wall and leaping into the crowd with your poetry, if only figuratively.

How do you "perform" poetry or get into the "perfpo" scene? I started in church. Praying helps. But I also volunteered as a commentator and got lots of practice in front of my audience, i.e. the congregation, by presenting field-tested material, i.e. biblical passages.

Simultaneously, I also volunteered to read at least one of my own poems at every open mic reading I attended, which at one time, were legion.

I also took voice and breathing lessons at St. Nicholas Theater Company, in between serving as a volunteer there as well, though you may find this unnecessary.

Memorize at least one of your poems. A performance has to mean you lose the page. Once you get past dwelling on the words, you can move on to your oral and dramatic interpretation. The poem is then released from the mind to the body. The words go on automatic pilot and the actor or actress takes over to transform and deliver the words to the audience emotionally.

I eventually memorized 10 or more of my own poems and actually created a charm bracelet of these poems. My bracelet comprised silver charms I bought on ebay, each one symbolizing an important feature in a given poem, whether it be a sardine can, mermaid, owl, etc., which I attached to a slim bracelet, also purchased on ebay. I wore the bracelet to performances to remind myself on stage which poems I might care to perform, without the need to riffle through pages of a book or peek at an odd index card in case I went completely blank.

But the biggest breakthrough I experienced as a performance poet was to study different accents (there are tapes at the local library) and apply them to a couple of my poems. I read one poem set in Ireland with a Dublin accent. Hearing Frank McCourt read the entirety of "Angela's Ashes" on audio also helped me master some of the subtleties. For another poem, set in the south, I ply a Carolina accent. When I perform these poems, in particular, I really get outside of myself and feel as if I enter the world of the poem, in the purest and most complete sense. From the reactions I've received, I think the audience does, too. ◦

Poor Poet's Guide to Being a Performance Poet

Poor Poet's Healthy Beans, Rice, Salsa Diet

Most of the world, in contrast to the U.S., consumes a very simple diet that usually includes some form of carbohydrate such as rice or noodles and some form of bean, be it pintos or lentils. Even the bible recommends simple foods in contrast to the lush feasts of the wealthy.

Fast food, processed flours and sugars, and artifically colored or flavored foods, since their arrival in our culture, has resulted in elevated cholesterol, heart disease and cancers, and pun intended, widespread obesity.

As a poor poet, one of the best investments you can make is in a 25-pound sack of organic short-grain rice and another equal size sack of organic, dried pinto beans. Add some chunky, fresh salsa and you can make complete meals for weeks.

Easy cooking tips:
RICE -- Match two-and-a-quarter cups water with one cup of brown rice, bring to a boil, immediately reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
BEANS -- Soak beans overnight in water to cover. When ready to cook, drain water to get rid of a lot of the gas and replace with fresh water in cooking pot, just enough to cover beans. Add chopped garlic and onions if you wish as well as a little salt. Bring to boil then immediately reduce heat to low, cover and cook for an hour. Keep checking to see if beans are soft enough. When they are, remove cover, mash beans, raise heat a little and continue to cook and mash until water is absorbed and beans look like "refried beans." No oil was used in the process -- mucho low-cal!
SALSA -- Chop tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, avocados, cilantro, maybe a little garlic and add lime juice, salt and whatever seasonings you prefer. A healthy pico de gallo with kick!

Like a poor poet's wealth in words, here's food that's good, healthy and cheap! ◦

Poor Poet's Healthy Beans, Rice, Salsa Diet

Be a Poet, Not a Hoarse

While this is a journal writing blog, it is poetry, poetry writing and reading poetry aloud that are my original, closest and dearest disciplines.

Have you ever tried reading at an open mic or a featured 20-minute reading with a whopping case of laryngitis?

Jitters can occasionally tighten my vocal cords, too, and make it harder to deliver without sounding hoarse or more faint. There are a few natural measures you can take to alleviate hoarseness before a reading. One of the best throat coaters and soothers is room-temperature pineapple juice. Drink it throughout the afternoon and bring a couple of cans to your reading.

Another tried-and-true voice reliever is slippery elm. There are several teas available. The smell (and taste) remind me of country straw, but it is an acquired taste that grows more pleasant the more often you drink the stuff. Unfortunately, the slippery elm lozenges available are fairly awful tasting, but work well.

Of course, drinking pure room temperature water keeps your throat hydrated. You might think a glass of wine, or maybe two, might lubricate your throat while also loosening your delivery. But, actually, liquor just might dry you out even more and you might end up slurring the words of your poems. Believe me, I know from experience. ◦

Be a Poet, Not a Hoarse