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Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

To Do For Them (and) To Do For Me: Your Higher Self Agrees, You Are Important, too

October 28, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 4 Comments

Woman is making a heart in the mirror, remembering SHE is important, too. Our higher self wants us to know this!

Early this morning I sat on my bed with my phone and a couple choices to make in my hand. Samuel got off work early. He texted me at 6:30 to ask if I could come pick him up.  Immediately I raced into high gear.

One Surprise Change Can Change Everything, Instantly

I shape my morning routines around his schedule. 

With my car headed North on the Freeway,  I noted my speed at getting out the door when my kid needed me versus when I am “only doing this for me.”

When the choice is on his behalf I’m quick, I’m focused, I’m energized and precise. “Hurry up, he is waiting! It is cold out there.”

When it is only for me, I’m sluggish, distracted sprinkled with a dash of apathetic. “As long as I have an hour for walking, its all ok.”

Haiku to the Rescue

I took a photo of an intersection for my morning haiku, a daily practice of mindfulness and creative practice. It wasn’t the most inspired imagery I have shot in the last three-hundred-plus consecutive days, but it told the story.

An intersection in Bakersfield, California inspired a haiku, one of 377 written by Julie JordanScott in 2019/2020

Haiku 307/377 — October 27, 2020

Sitting at the crossroads

dream mirrors reality

your new day is here

The intersection told me the choice of urgency for another person’s needs and sluggishness for my own isn’t cast in stone. The choice is up to me: my desires, my ambitions, my hopes are as significant as every other person on the planet – even my children and world leaders.

Now it is up to me to take this new awareness and practice it.

Remember to call upon your Higher Self for advice

After I dropped Samuel at home, I hesitated. I could just go inside, too,  and forget about the walk I had planned.  I wondered what my higher self would suggest before I made the best choice.

I took a walk on different than usual streets. I stayed out the same length of time – because walking is for my health and for raising my spirit, which is important for me in all the roles I play.

I’ve been a Mom for a long time so naturally I go on high gear when I think my child needs me no matter what their age is. It is time for ME to remember my value partially because I want to continue to be their Mommy for a long time to come.

Questions for Contemplation & Journaling

How well do you treat yourself in comparison to others?

What can you do to shift back into a more equitable approach?

+ = + = + = + = + =

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to speak with you soon.

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Filed Under: Journaling Tips and More, Poetry, Storytelling, Writing Prompt Tagged With: haiku, Higher Self, Journaling Prompt, parenting, Special Needs Mom

Writing Prompt to Start Your Week with Intention

October 18, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 9 Comments

I ended last week with a thud. Have you ever ended a week like that, almost afraid to turn the page on the calendar?

On Sunday morning I told a group of friends, “I really need support with my mood and my follow through: I have been so cranky and so angry and it is made me fall into a fog of “nothing is going to get better” that I find myself getting blocked. I haven’t been walking as much, I haven’t been reading for fun, I haven’t been feeling as well… I haven’t been drinking as much water…”

Sometimes shifts happen when we see sunrise in a new fresh way. No more malaise!

It was as if the malaise started in a small way and then started spreading out over the majority of my life. I knew I needed to do something differently in order to continue to improve and to reach the goals I have set for myself.

How a simple prompt may shift your entire week

This simple fill-in-the-blanks prompt can take your journaling deeper each time you use it. Here is what I wrote this morning:

I started this week feeling vaguely optimistic and my intention is to end this week feeling satisfied because I followed through on my goals and plan for the most part and I allowed space to be open to even bigger, more cool stuff to take place. 

off the end of my pen came the words:

“The world deserves the best from me.”

I value the people here and I have been praying for things to get better overall. I want to play a part in that “getting better” instead of angrily watching things get worse.

Begin adding energy to your intention by commenting here OR

You may respond to this post with your beginnings… and then continue to write “offline” even sharing throughout the week. As I watched my “thud-ending” week last week I realized it didn’t have to be that way… and maybe this is one way to stay on course and check in daily with myself before I check in with my friends, who offered to be that for me.

If accountability helps, share your daily updates on twitter or on instagram or facebook stories

Writing and journaling prompts do not have to be difficult or long and laborious. Like this one, they may also be playful and inventive with a chance for you to repeat, revise and play over and over again, simply write a different ending.

Bonus Tip? Daily preview using the same prompt, modified:

“I am starting the day feeling ______. I intend to end the day feeling _____ because ______”

Today, I might have written:

I am starting the day feeling rushed. I intend to end the day feeling accomplished because I will successfully lead the discussion group and get my blog updates ready for the week. I feel so blessed to know my work is helping others to gain insights and awareness as they begin their week. When I am productive and focus on what is in front of me rather than mourn what I didn’t do yesterday or worry about what will happen tomorrow, things fall into place better. I know this to be true. Deep breaths: I feel better about it already.

Take some time today to consider your week and/or your day.

Making a subtle shift in your intentionality has the capacity to make an enormous impact. You and the world deserves your fully expressed life.

How would your writing productivity change if you received varied, niche driven writing prompts daily – also fiction, poetry, entrepreneur, copy writing and video prompts are offered, join the Private Word-Love Writing Community on Facebook by clicking here.

We look forward to writing with you!

Julie JordanScott lives in Bakersfield, California in a house too small for quarantine life. She leads discussions on Zoom and is polishing her most recent memoir and some poetry for soon-to-be publication. If you would like her to speak to your group over ZOOM until travel is available again, she would be happy to talk to you about that OR maybe you are looking for a slightly quirky, very open hearted, compassionate and tender Creative Life Coach. She would love to connect with you soon.

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Filed Under: Journaling Tips and More, Writing Prompt, Writing Tips Tagged With: Momentum, Monday Motivation

3 Top Ways to Most Effectively Use Your Journal Writing as a Content Creator

July 27, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

As a blogger with a social media account, there is a constant demand to creator more content, create more content, create more content.  I have a secret for you: some of your best content ideas may be found in your journal or everyday notebook you write in "just to braindump or blow off steam" before you get down to your "real writing."

As a blogger with multiple social media accounts, there is a constant demand to creator more content, create more content, create more content. I have a secret for you: some of your best content ideas may be found in your journal or everyday notebook you write in “just to braindump or blow off steam” before you get down to your “real writing.”

Here are the three most important ways to take your notebooks and make them into sizzling content.

  1. Have a separate to-do list or planner next to you to jot notes about content ideas and strategies as they pop up. Immediately, in one fluid motion , do this. Treat your separate list as if it is a part of the same document. Be fluid as you jot items in there without losing your writing momentum.
  1. Either midday or at the end of the afternoon, review your morning journal writing for the day to highlight and capture any particularly interesting turns of phrase or insights you had during the earlier session. Consider the action you may want to take from the insights you had and/or if what you wrote in your free writing may be a source for future blog posts, video scripts, speeches or social media posts. 
  1.  Set aside a time to review your past journals. Sometimes when we are too close to the writing, we can’t gain from our messages. Once we have lived longer, the voice of our “past self” seems to magically become wiser.  Be sure to use a highlighter and/or a separate to-do list (like in #1) to follow up.

Be prepared to instantly become a more productive content creator from writing you once thought was a throw away. Your journal or free writing notebook is where you are most likely your most authentic self. Use it for your good and the use of others.

Julie JordanScott writing poetry at a downtown Bakersfield flower shop.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz and a Mother of three. One of her greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. 

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Join us now in 2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020. Click the graphic below to join the Private Facebook Group to join the conversation!

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Filed Under: #5for5BrainDump, Journaling Tips and More, Writing Challenges & Play, Writing Tips Tagged With: Content Creator, Julie JordanScott

How Seeing the Everyday, Ordinary Stuff That Surrounds You Differently Suddenly Become Magical

April 21, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 7 Comments

One of the earliest exercises I created for people in my writing programs is to pick up an ordinary object in their space and take a mere sixty seconds to experience it and describe the object. Once the object is noted, we check in regarding the experience.

pink balls of yarn are the basis for this quote from "Let Evening Come" by Jane Kenyon. "Let the cricket take up chafing as a woman takes up her needles and her yarn. Let evening come."  This is Inspiration for National Poetry Month (and beyond) from Creative Life Midwife Julie Jordan Scott

Ordinary objects like waste baskets and water bottles come alive with close inspection. When a person takes time to notice differently, the associations, the appreciations and gratitude rises up oftentimes in surprising ways.

To read the poem “Let Evening Come” by Jane Kenyon, click the link here to read it in its entirety.

To “let evening come” (or morning or midafternoon) in your own life, take a moment now to do follow the prompt and see what words flow as a result.

Pink yarn balls are above the writing in this image, encouraging people to write of this: "Write what you notice around your home, your yard, your street. Allow the ordinariness of objects and events in your ordinary life stir your words. Don't describe these objects and experiences as you always have. Let the overlooked details surprise you." by the Creative Life Midwife Julie JordanScott

To rephrase the prompt “Write what you notice around your home, your yard, your street. Allow the ordinariness of objects and events in your ordinary life stir your words. Don’t describe these objects and experiences as you always have. Let the overlooked details surprise you.

Take 5 minutes at a time and write, just write. Allow your pencil or pen or fingers on the keyboard float across your page.

In the comments, share one or two or three ordinary objects you might enjoy getting to know more clearly. Even this one simple action will enrich and deepen your appreciation for the everyday right now.

Julie JordanScott creates content to inspire creative people to lead more satisfying lives even during this pandemic. Walking and sitting at the Panorama Bluffs helps her feel centered.

Julie JordanScott has been writing since before she was literate by dictating her thoughts to her mother and then copying in thick crayons onto construction paper. She was a pioneer in epublishing and continues to reach readers through her blog, best selling books, greeting cards and her essays and poems in anthologies. Join her for one of her upcoming #5for5BrainDump programs or an upcoming writing circle or writing for social media programs.

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Filed Under: #5for5BrainDump, Creativity While Quarantined, End Writer's Block, Intention/Connection, Journaling Tips and More, Writing Prompt Tagged With: CoronaVirus Support, Covid 19 Support

Today: A Two-Miracle Discovery Day

February 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

It looked like an otherwise ordinary day but deep inside, I knew it wasn’t.

I made two back-to-back miraculous discoveries once I survived the early morning extreme cold.

Yes, the miracles started with a freezing cold breath of air – to people in Central California, temperatures dipping under freezing may as well be the arctic tundra. We aren’t accustomed to such cold and in this case, neither were my lungs.

Since my bout with pneumonia which lead to sepsis I have been keenly aware of sudden pain, especially in my lungs or in my upper chest. I know the most recent CT scan showed there is still an unclear spot on my lungs and this causes concern for me.

My morning haiku went like this:

Surprise! Freezing inhale
Ice pick poking in my lung’s
upper right portion –

I went inside, started making coffee and sat with my notebook, using my writing practice as a container for insights of wellness and a catalog of what my mind was holding onto.

Two pages down, I decided to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast and take my morning vitamins. It was here when the miracle came clearly into form.

First, I realized Aldi’s fake Life Cereal tastes better than the original. It is the perfect level of sweet, yet not too sweet. Normally I am not brave enough to try off-brand cereals, but this makes me willing to try their fake Special K next, which is my favorite cold cereal.

Second, Geritol truly is a miracle elixir. Whenever I take it, especially on a regular basis, everything in life feels better. It is right up there with daily writing practice and creative collaboration of all types.

My lungs feel better, I am ready to take on my day after yesterday’s rather disappointing end, Emma is even cheerful. After all, I suggested she take Geritol as well. It seems to have worked.

It didn’t take a trip to a faraway island or an expensive gift, it simply took a shift in mindset from moving my pencil and lovingly taking care of my health continually.

Writing practice and Geritol, anyone?

Miracles are around us all the time. The simplest question is, are we ready to notice them?

Your prompts for today:

What miracles have you noticed so far today?

What was a recent “big” miracle in your life? What was a recent “humble” miracle? Set your timer for five minutes and write about them, right now – or commit to doing so, later.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has been working with people to clarify their life purpose and inspire artistic rebirth since for more than two decades. Her work on stage and as a theater director have magnified her passion for the poetry of living. She currently has two openings in her life coaching practice. Perhaps you are ready to experience a transformational coaching conversation to see how you would best work together to collaborate on creating your next big thing? Click here to request your complimentary session now.

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Filed Under: #5for5BrainDump, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Journaling Tips and More, Writing Challenges & Play, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Everyday miracles

I Gave it All Up Until…..

January 14, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 1 Comment

Artists often give up at some point due to fear. The image inspires the rebirth to those who may be ready for what is better for them: art again.

I was in a theatre time capsule from the time I was eleven-years-old until I was forty-two-years-old. My children were involved in theatre. I happily played the role of “Theatre Mom” until I took an acting class by accident (I wanted a singing class) when all of a sudden my eleven-year-old self woke up and I found myself auditioning and being cast in my first community theater event ever.

At first I did shows constantly. I was cast in nearly everything I auditioned to be in. When I wasn’t on stage, I was on the tech grew, learning and growing constantly.

Life got busier and I didn’t do as much anymore even though I was still immersed in the local theater world. Over time I slowly – unnoticed- found myself feeling sadder and sadder and didn’t feel compelled to take the risk of auditioning anymore.

I got turned down one too many consecutive times. The time when I agreed to do a show I hit obstacles in my personal life and it wasn’t fun anymore. I gave it up, again.

Even though I am feeling better now than I have in years, insecurity rises when I think of auditioning. The familiar bully named FEAR joins the chorus. Once again I turn away from one of my great loves: the stage.

Birds don't question their abilities, but they sing anyway. This yellow bird shows us that. Why do we assume we aren't any good?

I have been reading Rachel Hollis’ book, “Girl, Stop Apologizing” before I go to sleep at night. In it, she talks about the power of “What if” questions. Now in my notebook there is an ongoing list of “What if” questions to use as prompts. Here are three I am working from as a result of my theatre conundrum:

What if I am not as good as I think I am?

What if I am better than I think I am?

What will I risk losing if I don’t try again?

These are not only for me. Use these writing prompts to guide you in the choices you make. Use them for meditation, for art, for contemplation as you exercise.

Share them with friends in your next conversation.

There are a lot of people out there who forget their gifts. Let’s reach out to them now, starting with yourself.

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Filed Under: Creative Adventures, Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Journaling Tips and More, Rewriting the Narrative, Writing Prompt Tagged With: Mindfulness, Risk taking, Theatre

Self-Care Sunday is Not Always What You Think!

July 7, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife 7 Comments

I am doing something radical today: I am celebrating the entire day as Self-Love Sunday.

Maybe it is because the earthquakes got me rattled and everyone else seems to be running around buying supplies, but I need a day to focus on what makes me feel better.

So what I have been doing?

Well, I started with a chore I don’t like to do necessarily but the end result I love. Then I did some writing: a blog post and I finished writing a sales page I’ve been procrastinating about for far too long. That felt great – and this feeling of satisfaction is marvelous.

Next I washed and put away dishes, did some more writing and organization and then I made lunch.

There is no massage or pedicure or nap that feels as good as seeing the grateful smile on Samuel’s face as I bring him a yummy lunch made with all his favorite components.

Now here is where I got really crazy. I sat down with my lunch – a bowl of special K and a cup of coffee – and watched my favorite classic TV show. It was filmed in 1964 and was already old when I watched it!

I decided to make a bit of it into an Instagram Story and this alone made me laugh harder than I’ve laughed in days. Yes, even social media posts can be a form of self-care!

Next up is journaling and art-journaling and perhaps some attention to my content calendar for the week. You may think, “How is any of this self-care?”

All of it is self-care. Self-care isn’t a “one size fits all.” On some days, I may decide to get a facial and go out to an overblown lunch with a gaggle of girlfriends. Today, the inside-take-care-of-business feels great. Self-care, my dear ones, is about self, not others.

woman journaling to relieve stress and show self care

I can’t think of a better way to spend my Sunday. I can’t think of anything that could be more refreshing!

How about you? What are you doing on this Self-Care Sunday?

If you want a chuckle, head over to my Instagram and check out my Instagram Story. Fill in the blank… I’m sure you are a creative, too, like me!

Thanks for the visit! I’m grateful you were here!

Julie JordanScott is a Life and Creativity Coach who is thrilled to have an almost-empty-nest, a long-time creative practice, and has just launched her most recent program, “Summer Loving Instagram! Demystifying Social Media for Creative Entrepreneurs, Writers and Artists: She is proud to say she has won awards for storytelling, acting and activism. You may follow her on Instagram, YouTube and join her free Facebook Groups, “Word-Love Writing Community” and (along with Paula Puffer) Bridge to the New Year.

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Filed Under: Creative Process, Journaling Tips and More, Self Care, Writing Challenges & Play

This Somewhat Sleepy Morning, I Knew: 3 Ways to Be a Mirror, Not a Deflector.

January 23, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife 2 Comments

This morning I dragged my sorry tired self out of bed for the 5 am writers club thirty minutes late. I had been looking at Instagram and reading about ridiculous TV, mindlessness and unconscious floating, but my keyboard was calling and I answered.

With writing sessions like this one, I don’t expect brilliant sentences strung together effortlessly. I am happy with single word repeated, “Intention, intention, intention” might be a good example.

A gratitude list and slight expansion on gratitude is helpful.

Normally I write with lyric free, instrumental music. This morning, I knew I needed an ode to clarion call, a rallying cry, a moment of truth for the words that wanted me to speak.

This morning, though, I was listening to John Mayer’s “Say What You Need to Say” and my fingers found the words, “Best of luck in your next endeavors. Get therapy. Keep working on yourself. Hold up a mirror instead of a deflector.

3 Paths to “How to Be a Mirror, Not a Deflector”

  1. Accept your weaknesses not as enemies but as part of your most important allies-in-the-making.
  2. Move forward with love through aligned passionate action instead of attacking with fear and hate, evidenced by statements meant to push known “buttons” in others.
  3. Recognize your own value from the perspective of those who see you as a whole person, weaknesses surrounded by strengths. Someone dedicated to growing, betterment and adding to the increase steadily.

Julie JordanScott is the CreativeLifeMidwife. She loves creating life changing content to inspire you into passionate action as she has been doing for two decades. Join her upcoming Passionate Women’s Writing Circle which begins again on Friday, February 1. Click for details and to sign up now.

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Filed Under: #5for5BrainDump, Creative Process, Journaling Tips and More

How to Use Journaling to Magnify Your Intentions & Affirm Your Strengths

September 6, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife 4 Comments

I am a gutsy and glorious writer, I am a gutsy and glorious human. I enjoy the uncovering of reality and authenticity and steer my jeep clear of the bullshit jungle that is all pervasive in the mindless world today, the world that doesn’t ask questions and is so numb it doesn’t even recognize injustice or question glitches in the system.

Yesterday something dramatic happened in the American political sphere. I don’t normally talk politics here, but because this intersects with my life, it is gutsy and glorious for me to share.

Yesterday a writer (anonymous, not entirely gutsy and glorious) wrote an op-ed piece for the New York times that gave voice to what many people gossiped about, talked about over the water cooler and discussed behind closed doors.

The elephant in the room, the stuff we hide in the attic or edit out of photos was out in the open.

I watched numerous commentators talking about this last night and one optimistic man said, “People are finally openly talking about this. It is on the table, finally. “What everyone has been talking about behind closed doors is now out in the open,” this is a good thing!”

Earlier this year I felt ashamed for not being open and public with some things I knew and standing up and saying “This is wrong,” openly has caused me much grief, loss of friends and added to my already lengthy gig of self-imposed exile.

I knew it was gutsy and it didn’t feel at all glorious.

I doubted myself, I loathed the situation, in addition to losing sleep and friends and any sense of comfort or safety even at times in my own home, I continued.

I continued.

I continued.

I have strengthened my boundaries and have returned to practices I used long ago. I have started weaving old faithful practices with new, enlightened practices.

I am a gutsy and glorious writer, I am a gutsy and glorious human.

In revisiting old notebooks and blog posts and poetry, I am reacquainting myself with who I once was and I am enjoying her company immensely. This affirmation, “I am gutsy and glorious” came from a blog post in 2003 where I shared the affirmation and a story about the then two-year-old Samuel waking up in tears at 4 a.m, and our loving moments that day, even amidst the reality of pre-dawn tears and Mommying that would rather happen in usual working hours.

I am a gutsy and glorious writer, I am a gutsy and glorious human.

In my art journal page I started to create this morning, I wrote, “I am a gutsy and glorious human” followed by a check list titled “evidenced by” – a brilliant marriage of past, present, and future me.

Art journal, writing notebook and my altered book all  in the transformational act

What will you affirm about yourself today?

My unique trick is to journal the affirmation in the evening before sleeping and then re-journal upon awakening. The night time journaling allows your brain to bring it into your day even before your day starts.

Your affirmative statement. “I am….” is like the person at the starting line saying, “Gentle people, start your engines!” I am gutsy and glorious – in the smallest’ humblest ways and in the over-the-top, silly, and the strategic, business building and the world transforming encouragement I offer others (including you.)

Please comment below with your statements of affirmation for today and tomorrow.

Let’s do this!

We are proud to announce our New Women’s Circle is open for registrations. The link below will take you there.    

Welcome to Your Writing Home
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Filed Under: Art Journaling, Creative Process, Journaling Tips and More, Mixed Media Art, Storytelling

Why Didn’t Someone Tell Me Sooner? (Or Maybe Why Didn’t I Listen?)

September 4, 2018 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

“I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends.”  Joan Didion

I didn’t keep a notebook or a daily record of life until I was in my late thirties or even later.

I did. keep a notebook, briefly, during my first pregnancy.

I wrote my heart on the page and the last I remember seeing that notebook was after I read a passage at a support group meeting. I threw it across the room of the bedroom Emma is sleeping in right now. I wish I had picked it up and tucked it in a drawer so that I could honor that young woman who was so deeply sad and didn’t know if she would ever feel better.

I hadn’t thought of that in years.

I started writing daily in my notebook when I read “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron as many people did and still do after reading this life changing book. We get a firm directive from Cameron: three pages, daily, stream of consciousness, which serves as a comfort because we know exactly how to do “it” this journaling or free-flow writing “thing.”

I wish I had learned this secret sooner.

Why didn’t my freshman composition teacher require us to read Didion’s essay instead of what we read?

This morning I sat on my porch and wrote into my notebook in cursive, another dying practice, did my best to capture the essence of the day in as concrete yet flowing style as possible.

I don’t know that it worked. At least I tried. (My favorite four words for this chapter).

I re-read a poem I thought was brilliant yesterday and today seemed like little more than a shopping list of laundry supplies.

Who was I yesterday that I thought it was brilliant?

What is up that I am fussier today?

What made me happy on that night in 1981 in a dorm room in Stockton, California, with four other young women and only two whose names I remember?

One of the nameless I remember she was from Indonesia and as I wrote, her sister’s name, Esther, comes into my mind or maybe she is actually Esther. She had very unique eyes. The other girl, forever lost. She was in a special community program.

Mel hadn’t met Tom yet.

My guess is Jill took the photo.

I don’t need to fill in the missing meanings in the photo or surmise anything else. I only wish I had kept more notes.

I look at my notebook from fourteen months ago and in most of it, I have the barest of recollections. “I could easily find fault with myself and I may as well clear it away now.” What was I critiquing myself for in that sentence? I continue to read and I see I forgot to bring along writing materials on a particular outing which I also can’t remember. “tucked away, buried and today the aftertaste of regret lingers and I don’t mention it, figuring no one will understand so I delete junk from my email instead.”

Now we are getting somewhere.

My writing notebooks are as much about being heard by my best, most faithful audience, myself, and preparing for the best rest next thing from a clearer perpective.

My notebooks allow me to note, to question, to process, without having the need to weigh in with other people’s opinions which in the long run, hold a lot less credence than my own.

The photo here was less than ten years before I threw that notebook across the room in a moment of grief-laced fury.

It was ten years or more after that I picked up my pen and a cheap notebook from a big box store I started writing, daily, stream of consciousness, usually three pages, about nothing and everything and had companion notebooks for digging into the nooks and crannies and questions in between those early morning sessions giving the dumpster of my mind free reign.

I have no interest in making up the interim.

I have plentiful interest in refreshing what I have collected.

From that fourteen months ago notebook: “thoughts that flew through? Forgotten. Like the name Manzanar I can never seem to come up with on the first try. Forgotten, Lost. Fallen out my ear and floated overhead and tip-toed to the celing and through the cracks in the crown moulding. Insect thoughts. Beelzebub is what depression looks like.”

At the top of the next page, “I need to find my courage,” and with that I remember what I had forgotten.

Didion is right.

“I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.”

Julie JordanScott is a writer, a mother, a creative life coaching and a notebook keeper who loves watching people smile in satisfaction after a transformative writing session. She currently lives in Bakersfield as she completes her final editing for her most recent book. She is especially thrilled to be re-starting her writing and personal growth workshops. Follow her on social media (links above) and check out the upcoming writing circle before space and time are no longer. (Information and link may be found below.)

Passionate, Purposeful Women’s Writing Circle: a group of women devoted to their writing and each other for accountability, on-line community and movement forward to satisfying completion.

New Session starts September 26: register now to secure your space.

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Filed Under: Creative Process, Journaling Tips and More, Storytelling

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