MAD HOT JOURNALING

Susan Borkin

Has Your Journaling Practice Wilted in the Summer Heat?

Remember that journaling project you were going to start this summer?

It’s not too late!

Just ask the 350 enthusiastic journal keepers who attended the Power of Writing - Journal Conference last month in Denver, Colorado, for inspiration. Under the watchful eye and skilled leadership of Kay Adams, founder of The Center for Journal Therapy and producer of the conference, journal writers attended over fifty different workshops, plenary sessions and keynotes.

The most difficult part of the conference was in having to choose which workshop to attend. It was a hard decision when the candidates included journaling luminaries Christina Baldwin, Tristine Rainer and noted writing researcher James Pennebaker.

On a personal note I found the experience of the conference both exhilarating and profoundly moving. Having made a career out of coaching, writing and speaking about journaling since prior to my 1978 thesis publication of “Journal Writing as Self-Therapy” I became aware of the importance of creating community. For those of us who love journaling and everything related to it, we may find that sometimes by its nature, journal writing can isolate us. But don’t worry, I’ll be keeping you posted on all things Journalized!

If you didn’t make it to the conference, don’t want to wait until the next one scheduled for 2010 or even only want to do Journaling Lite this summer, here are some tips to re-vitalize your writing:

** Get outside! Enjoy the weather, get to the beach, park or your favorite walking trail. Take your journal, a small notebook or a little sketchpad. Write down five things you have never seen, heard or smelled before.

** Try “cross training” in your journal. If you’re used to using a keyboard in an on-line journal, get a notebook and a packet of colored pens. Or if you never write poetry, try writing a 17-syllable haiku two times this week.

** Take that trashy beach novel you just finished and write your own ending!

Need more ideas? Write to me @ susan@susanborkin.com and request the article “Ten Tips to Jumpstart Your Journaling.”

I invite you to join me in the development of this blog “Mad Hot Journaling,” as we explore the world and community of journaling---what’s new, what’s hot, ideas and tips and what’s important to you about journaling.

Visit me at or write with your comments and thoughts to susan@susanborkin.com.