Lisa Tener

Book Writing Coach

october journaling adventure

Day 30: October Journaling Adventure with The Joy of Writing Journal

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Today, I invite you to list at least 5 possible ways to support your journaling habit and then imagine your day as journaling impacts how it flows.

My Journaling List

My list includes:

Photo credit: Paula Schonewald
  • Journal most mornings—first in my dream journal, recording dreams and sometimes interacting with them, then in my journal-journal. If I feel so inspired I will also work on other writing after journaling.
  • Spend time with my muse. Asking my coach to facilitate me in my “Meet Your Muse” exercise twice a month or more.
  • Spend time in nature every day.
  • Schedule journaling time with a friend at least twice a month.
  • Use the October Journaling Adventure to work through The Joy of Writing Journal for a second round!

Today’s Writing

I imagined my day starting with journaling in bed upon waking—which is often the case. I see myself allowing for the journal to inspire additional writing, perhaps a few final chapters for my next book (almost done)!

I also envisioned time spent meditating from within the field of infinite possibilities.

In my imagining, “work is breezy and opportunities to share my passion for journaling and creativity easily come to me.”

I envision my books supporting my calling: “I show up alive and awake—inspiring others to write / create / connect / express / flow / innovate / believe / trust / enjoy.

“I write, teach and connect authentically from my true self, and inspired by those writers who have sparked my creativity: SARK, Anne Lammot, Natalie Goldberg, Julia Cameron, my coach Tama Kieves.”

Your Turn

joy of writing journal

What do you imagine journaling does for you in your writing, your other creative projects, your home life, your relationships/family and more?

Please also share:

  • What this group adventure in journaling has meant to you
  • Anything that changed for you
  • What happened during this month of writing/journaling in community?
  • What’s next? How will you keep up the momentum? What do you commit to?

I’ve also been thinking specifically about what I can offer you to help you keep your journaling and writing momentum going. As a result, I’ve opened the doors to my Get Your Writing Done Program, which is a phenomenal way to support your creative habits.

In this out-of-the-box virtual workshop we employ the TENER Method for Creative Flow to enter into a state conducive to inspired writing; then we write! No staring at a screen in “zoom room” state. Instead we move, write, connect, then move and write some more—just like you’d do in person. FUN! Plus, the accountability and community are a great boost to writing consistently. It could be just what you need to complete your writing project(s). Find out more here.

Thank you for joining me on this journaling adventure.

Day 28: October Journaling Adventure with The Joy of Writing Journal

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Today I ask you—and me—to think of a most exotic, thrilling or memorable vacation spot. Then we write about an experience there, incorporating all our senses.

On Day 28, I write about a trip between my first and second year of business school at MIT. I traveled to Japan with two male classmates, one Japanese and the other Korean American. In some ways, our trip was the precursor to a class trip scheduled for later in the fall that we had helped to organize.

Having two parents who bought, sold and sometimes repaired Japanese art and particularly antiques, I had always dreamed of traveling to Japan to see the artwork, Shinto shrines, landscapes that inspired the art, and, of course, modern Tokyo.

Japan Alps Travel writing
Photo by Yoko Saito on Unsplash

Much of our trip was extraordinarily beautiful—the monasteries, the train ride through the Japanese Alps, the “fire flowers” (fireworks), the art. And then there was also this strange experience I recall in my current journal (I “released” my original Japan Trip journal during a big purge!).

The three of us sleep in an attic loft, giant cicadas flying about. My two companions have gone out “to find E____ a Japanese wife.”

I experienced some awkwardness in traveling with two men—one from an entirely different culture and the other, somewhat so.

Yet something else feels strange. At times—walking across a footbridge in a park, sitting on a park bench eating scallion pancakes, and now, here, alone in the attic room with all these cicadas, I feel my sense of who I am slipping away. I experience a visceral feeling of not really knowing who I am.

I shed all that I thought and believed about myself.

I feel strangely vulnerable and uncomfortable—like a mollusk whose shell has been removed.

The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day

Your Turn

Looking for the full prompt? You’ll find it in The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day.

Then Go Write!

What do you recall about your travel experience?

Is it a humorous anecdote or something deeper?

Does the place feel familiar? foreign? A little of both?

What happens to you inside?

Share an excerpt, insight or a little of both as a comment below.

Note: Spend time on the Week 4 summary page: Note things that happened this past week that you can write about; make note of things that inspired you; schedule your writing times.

Day 6: October Journaling Adventure with The Joy of Writing Journal

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I would think that a rejuvenating activity would inspire rich exploration. But not on Day 6. I write my list and don’t feel like doing anything on the list. Instead, I skip to Day 7 and come back to my list the next day. I add “write dreams” to the list and write a short dream snippet from the night’s dreams.

As I write more comes back to me. I fill only one page but don’t feel like doing anything with the dream images. I just let them sink in and feel the healing energy of the dream that begins with a woman internally rejecting her nephew and later calling him. When she returns to me after the call, all she feels for him is love.

Your Turn

The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day

Maybe you’ll write more than I did today. But I’m here to tell you it’s okay if you have days that you skip around to something that feels more inspiring.

If you skip, do come back to the prompt later or another day. Sometimes your subconscious mind needs time to stew on it.

What was your experience?

Let’s do something different today. Take one word or phrase from your list or your journal exploration and write it as a comment below. Together, we’ll turn our comments into a poem, with a line or word from everyone!

Looking for the full prompt? You’ll find it in The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day.

Go write, if you haven’t yet!

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