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All Our Journal Writing Articles
Journal Techniques to Deepen and Expand Your Writing by Ruth Folit
As a kid, when I was bored, I remember standing up, bending at the waist and looking back through my own legs to see the world in a new way. Up was down and down was up. People travel for that same reason–to see the world –and themselves–with fresh eyes. For many of us, the … Read More >>
Ten Benefits of a (High Quality) Online Journal Class by Ruth Folit
Journal Writing for Your Health: Three Rules by Ruth Folit
Did you know that scientists over the last several decades have demonstrated that writing helps your physical health? Different studies have shown that writing can have the following effects on your health: Decrease the heart rate Strengthen the immune system Lower blood pressure Manage stress Enhance breathing Here are three important principles for how to … Read More >>
Fast Fiction in Action: My Experience of Writing the First Draft of a Novel with Denise Jaden
When I first read Denise Jaden’s book Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First-Draft Novel in Thirty Days (her ideas can be used for writing memoir and creative non-fiction too!) and then interviewed her for an IAJW telechat (you can find this recording in the Audio Library, Member Only Area), I was fascinated … Read More >>
The First Journal and the Last by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
It started with a journal, a small 6″ x 9″ notebook that I held in my terrified hands as I sat on the cement steps of what was called “a garden apartment” in central New Jersey. It was summer and eternally too hot, my parents were in the middle of a horrendous divorce, my best … Read More >>
Writing Your Family Memoir: How to Begin by Barbara Graham
Writing your family memoir is like dusting for fingerprints. You leave behind almost invisible fingerprints when you touch anything–refrigerator door handles, light switches, drinking glasses. Detectives know how to carefully coat these unseen marks with a fine powder and then use a camel hair brush to gently remove the excess powder so the fingerprints appear. … Read More >>
Start with Journal Fragments: How to Write Creative Non-fiction by Ruth Folit
Creative non-fiction, which includes personal essays and memoir, is a relatively new writing genre that is sweeping the writing world. In creative non-fiction, readers learn via a story narrative, rather than through the expository writing style that you might find in a textbook. Personal essays and memoir are tethered to the facts of your life. … Read More >>