WRITING FOR HEALTH
Celebrating readers, Women Read Book Club, Memorial Day
"Journaling is a voyage to the interior." ~ Christina Baldwin
The recent class I taught on Journaling was an opportunity to compile and share research and best practices about writing the genre.
Studies have shown that recording your thoughts regularly can improve your writing and your health.
Keeping a journal can boost mindfulness, memory, and communication skills, as well as a host of other benefits, from better sleep, a stronger immune system, more confidence, and a higher I.Q. With promises of such benefits, why wouldn’t we all regularly keep a journal? Though James W. Pennebaker, author of the classic Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotion, says it doesn’t necessarily have to be daily, because writing too much becomes a rumination, something repetitive and passive, focusing on causes and effects of negative emotions and experiences without leading to a solution of positive outcome.
Some use the terms journal and diary interchangeable, others believe diaries focus on day to day activities, while journals should be the means of self-expression and reflection. But they can be many different things, a place for recording particularly interesting events, making lists, even venting frustrations, what some call a “brain drain” - a way to expel “all that angry, petty, whiny stuff.” A related technique is to empty the mind: If your head is feeling cluttered, empty the contents onto paper. Write down everything you are thinking and feeling.
For writers, a journal is also a way to find what you should be writing about, as well as a source to be mined for ideas and inspiration.
Several recent articles reinforced these assertions. A recent article in The Albany Times Union, highlighted Suleika Jaouad who, diagnosed with leukemia at 22, used journaling to deal with serious illness. The result was her best-selling memoir Between Two Kingdoms, which explores themes of isolation, creativity, and survivorship. She produced The New York Times column and video series, “Life, Interrupted,” which wrote from her hospital bed. She also participated in the documentary American Symphony with husband Jon Batiste, which has been described as a portrait of two artists at a crossroads and a meditation on art, love and the creative process. Her latest work is The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life and she has a Substack newsletter-community – The Isolation Journals. Jaouad writes, “Journaling can help people return to a life of wonder, to pause and delight at what’s in front of us.”
Another article appearing in The New York Times in early May was written by Alex Marono Porto who recommends keeping a journal in non-native language, writing in a second or third language: “Journaling about a relationship in my second language helped me understand myself … a new opportunity to rethink myself and my feelings.” When he wrote in his native Spanish, he found ideas tumbling out uncensored. Porto also cites Jhumpa Lahiri, who learned Italian as a way to find herself: “I don’t recognize the person who is writing in this diary, but I know that it’s the most genuine, most vulnerable part of me.” Though she was writing fiction, not a journal or memoir, the Iranian-born Nahid Rachlin, who recently died, wrote in the language of her adopted country: Rachlin said, “Writing in English gave me a freedom I didn’t feel writing in Farsi.”
Don’t know a second language or have time to learn one AND write? You can still slow down your thoughts by switching instruments and techniques: handwrite instead of keyboarding, print instead of script, use BLOCK LETTERS instead of lowercase or mixed. Whatever style of journal or method of recording your thoughts, be certain to write your story.
As a favorite quote from May Sarton reads, “Hold on, trust your talent, and work hard.” But be sure to have fun and keep writing.
Ellen
P.S. Don’t forget these upcoming programs from Ellen’s WritingEssentials:
The next session of Timed Writing Sprints session is this Thursday, 5/22, at 7 EDT. (These sessions are generally held on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month.) Come for creativity and community. (Virtual)
Memoirs, Personal and Family Stories (Tues, 5/27, 6-7:30 PM EDT) Learn techniques and models to craft compelling personal narratives, whether preserving family stories or putting out a memoir about a specific aspect or theme of your life. (In Person, Albany, NY area)
Don’t forget free workshops and performances as part of Senior Day at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts, Fri, June 13 (all day) for seniors (55+) in playwriting, stand-up and improve comedy, physical acting, and Shakespeare; with afternoon performances of music, storytelling, comedy, and plays. (Brunch included, lunch on your own.) My friend and colleague, Sandi Dollinger will be presenting a playwriting workshop, as well as a performance of her play, I Never Forget Your Face. (In Person, Albany, NY area)
Memorial Day: In remembrance of those who have died in service to our country (photo by Amy Shamblen on Unsplash)
CELEBRATING READERS, WOMEN READ BOOK CLUB
June 1, 2025, by Proclamation of the City of Albany, NY, Office of the Mayor, is declared Women Read Day. This celebrates 25 years of the Women Read book club, founded by a Bethlehem resident, Debra Johnson, along with 11 other women.
Originally called Women Read, Eat and Discuss, the club not only read and discuss books by women writers, but share a potluck meal or sometimes take field trips to restaurants and to other sites, such as the Wiawaka Center in Lake George and the FDR Library in Hyde Park. The Club has also had several local authors come to their sessions.
Kudos to the Women Read Club for their accomplishments and the recognition and honor they are receiving.