My name is Charlotte, and I am addicted to planners. There, I’ve said it. And, honestly, we probably should add in that I’m addicted to notebooks and journals, too. There is nothing more enticing to me than a notebook stuffed with writing, sticky notes, tabs, and other miscellanea, unless it is an empty notebook waiting […]
While I’m in France, teaching writing, sitting by the Mediterranean, eating good cheese and bread, and drinking lots of wine, I’m offering either a collection of writing prompts, story starters, or exercises each week. This week, I have something a little different—a journaling technique you might find useful. Enjoy! So here goes. My current favorite […]
I’m obsessed about lots of things. Knitting, popcorn, wine, France, writing, story, character, Christmas, fire, pugs, my grandchildren, and planners. (I know, weird list.) And while I could wax poetic about every item on this list, the topic today is planners. I love them. I am a planner fiend. (Probably for the same reason that […]
Years ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Madeleine L’Engle, author of one of the best books ever, A Wrinkle in Time, speak. I brought my sister, a designer along. L’Engle was inspiring, gracious, and fascinating and when her talk was over, my sister turned to me and said, “She makes me wish I was […]
Journals. Oh, God, journals. In the recent purge of much of my office crap, I gave away a ton of them. And yet I still have tons of them (note photo. And I’m pretty sure I’ve got at least another box and another bag of them somewhere upstairs). But that’s because I love them so […]
I'm an off-and-on journaler. I've had periods in my life–long stretches, like ten years–when I got up every day and wrote in a journal first thing. (And to prove it, I've got three huge tubs of them.) I've also had journaling droughts, where I don't actively write in a diary. Article after article suggests that […]
Over the last month or so, I've gone back to doing Morning Pages. I started mid-December and have been picking up steam ever since. I've been writing so much in my journal that I began a system of indexing it so I could keep track of everything. Ideas pour from my pen. I figure things […]
I've been writing in my journal regularly again and I love it because I come up with all kinds of brilliance epiphanies. (You can read my most recent journaling epiphany here.) Yesterday, the thought occurred to me that there are two kinds of journalers: –Those who basically dissect the past in their diaries –Those who […]
It's December, I'm in a holiday mood (my Christmas tree is already up and I'm in the process of finishing the decorating) so I've decided to give things away. Not just once, but four times. Here's how its going to work: on Monday, I'll announce the prize and ask a question related to writing. You […]
Yesterday, I wrote about attending a private performance by Shawn Mullins. I wrote about how, at every concert that means anything to me, at some point early on I get a thrill through the very core of me that means I'm connecting to the music in a profound way. That thrill is the same impulse […]
