Keep a Journal - Live Longer

"What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it." ~Walter Scott



I can agree with Mr. Scott on that. I've made good use of several diaries when working on this or that book. But keeping a diary can be good in more ways than that. At Mom's yesterday, the television was on to some kind of doctor quiz show. One of the questions they asked the audience is what could make a person live longer and one of the choices was keeping a journal. As it turned out all the choices were right, but the keeping a journal answer got me thinking of how I should have a few years added onto my years if journal writing helps. 

I've been writing in a journal since I was a teen and now here I am writing in this on-line journal a couple of times a week. For fun I pulled out my old journal. Yes, of course I still have it. I don't throw away handwritten words! So here's a line from one of my first journal entries. "This is my fifteenth summer & so far it hasn't been much." But somehow for years I've found something to write about even if it wasn't much. According to these doctors, whether it was much or not, I was doing something healthy when I took pen in hand and started writing to myself.

Here's another bit I dipped into the old journal and found that made me smile. "When (and if) I get married, I'm going to keep my house where spring cleaning won't be necessary." I actually probably believed that when I was writing it. Some goal, huh? And one that I conveniently forgot for all these years. Of course, I forgot to spring clean too. Spring zooms by so fast I don't have time to get out the brooms and mops. I'm too busy writing in my journal.

That one made me smile but some of those early entries make me cringe now when I read them. I was so very young. The doctors didn't say it made you live longer to read what you wrote. LOL. So maybe it's better to write and then forget about what you've written the way I did about that keeping my house spic and span. 

Over the years, I'm sure I've written thousands of words - to myself. It's a great way to let off steam without burning anybody else. A journal is a good place to whine and complain without casting a pall over anybody else's world. But it's also a good place to rejoice and celebrate and remember. It's good to know it's healthy for me too. So now maybe I'll have extra years for filling up journals whether with important words or not. Here's another entry made after I did get married. Wasn't much "if" to that after all. "No, I have nothing extremely important to tell you, but sometimes it's more fun to just begin writing with no special thought."

I always imagined I was writing to someone when I wrote in my journals. And now here I am writing this to someone too - to you. Thanks for reading. By the way, I'm sending out a newsletter with a new giveaway chance tomorrow. Let me know if you'd like to be on my newsletter list if you aren't already. And keep journaling and blogging and we'll all be healthy forever.

When I was still in prep school - 14, 15 - I started keeping notebooks, journals. I started writing, almost like landscape drawing or life drawing. I never kept a diary, I never wrote about my day and what happened to me, but I described things. ~John Irving

Juggling Books

Do you ever have trouble taking too much out on your plate? You know you'll never be able to eat it all or you know you shouldn't eat it all if you ever want to be happy again reading the numbers on your bathroom scales. I don't have too much trouble with dipping out too much food on my plate any more. My problem is having the munchies. Do you think that's contagious?



No, my problem right now is overloading my plate with work. I think I can do it all. Facebook. Twitter. (Although I have to admit I'm not sure I'm not about to fall out of that tree. It's so noisy with all that tweeting going on that I'm not sure anybody is listening to anybody else.) Then there's blogging. I like blogging. Of course I've been a confirmed journal keeper since I was a kid. Of course I never expected to keep any kind of journal that wasn't hidden away in a drawer.



I've got plenty of those journal notebooks dating back to when I was about twelve. Journals are a great stress reliever for a writer. A great place to vent about your frustrations and worries, doubts and disappointments. A shoulder to cry on that can absorb whatever you want to say. But on the flip side, it's also a great place to record the successes of your writing life. Those first sales. The times you write "the end." The times you write "Chapter 1." The times the words come fast and furious and the story blooms in your mind. It's good to write about those so that when you need encouragement because you think you can't write another good word, you can go back and see that you have written other books all the way through even when the middle was giving you fits. You can see that although some books were rejected leaving you dejected, other books were accepted leaving you ecstatic.



Right now I'm needing some of that encouragement as I try to get going on my new Shaker book. I've set a goal of doing five pages a day. I'm behind already on my page count, but I'm started even though what happens next is going to be as much a surprise to me as it would be to you. I like being surprised sometimes by my stories, but I'm thinking I need to know a smidgen about what's going to happen next. I'm getting the feeling that this bunch of characters is laughing at me and daring me to figure out their stories.



I'm anxious to get some pages written because my plate keeps getting more dipped out on it. I'm blessed with three books in various stages of getting ready for publication. This weekend I'll probably need to start line edits on the Shaker book due out this summer. Right on the heels of that my editor is going to suggest ways to improve my book set in Louisville during the 1850s. And then there's Angel Sister due out in ten days. I'm soooo excited about that and want to do some things to spread the news about this story. There are internet interviews to do, newsletters to get out, a website to update, book launches to plan. And I am going to come up with some kind of giveaway to celebrate just as soon as I decide what to give away. I usually give away books, but I was wondering if I might do something different this time. Maybe gift cards. But I do like giving away books.



So I'm juggling books along with all the other things that have to be done. Taking care of Mom, seeing the grandkids, church, cooking and sweeping the floor now and again. We all have to do some juggling from time to time and we all have trouble keeping everything up in the air.

Even Barbara Walters who has probably spent a lifetime juggling everything she does. Here's what she says. "Most of us have trouble juggling. The woman who says she doesn't is someone whom I admire but have never met."



So I'm not going to worry if I drop a ball while I'm juggling my too full plate. I'll just grab whatever it is and pitch it back into the air and feel blessed to have three books to be juggling. Stressed but very blessed. Hope your plate is full of blessings and spinning right along.

A New Book Calls for a New Giveaway

Hi, everybody. Hope you're having a great week. It's hot here, but the sun is shining. That's good after rain and more rain last week. Darrell finally got up some hay and now with sunshine in the offing, his mower is broken. That's a farmer's life. When I was a kid, my dad mowed hay with a sickle mower and I don't think he ever managed to mow a whole field without breaking the blade at least once. Of course we had a few rocks where we lived. Actually we had a lot of rocks where we lived. Our farm isn't far from that one, but not as rocky. A lot of difference only a mile or so away. Once upon a time, long, long ago our farm was supposed to be part of a shallow sea. At least that's what the geologists think. We do have a lot of fossils and pebbles and sandy soil in places.

Wait, I'm not supposed to be off chasing rabbits. I'm supposed to be telling you about my new book giveaway. I sent out a newsletter a couple of days ago and I thank all of you who have responded. If you haven't heard back from me yet, you will - if my internet doesn't give up the ghost or something equally dire. Of course, I did go to the store and buy all kinds of painting supplies to paint my kitchen. That's pretty dire. :-o! Guess I'm really going to have to get at those July chores after all.

Anyway, the newsletter went out with news of my summer book giveaway. I'm going to be drawing a name out of the hat every Sunday in July and then again on August 1 to give away an autographed copy of my new book, The Believer. I'm really excited about the book and hope you will be too. I think it shows the unique beliefs of the Shakers even better than The Outsider and that the romance between the two main characters is compelling. At least I hope so. Guess I will soon find out when readers start letting me know what they think. If you haven't entered the giveaway and want to, just send me an e-mail from my website. You can also sign up for my newsletter there if you want to get some occasional reports on what's going on in my writing life and here on the farm.

I know you're getting some of that info here in the blog. This is my 151st blog entry. I could have written another book. I guess I did write another book, just not one that would make any sense if it was put together page after page. Some writers obsess about making their blog entries perfect, full of wisdom, and extra meaningful. Sorry, guys. You're just reading my journal. Free association. Chasing rabbits. Just talking to friends.

When I first started writing a journal when I was about fourteen, I always addressed my entries to Dear Nemo - the Latin word for nobody. At least I thought it was the Latin word for nobody. My Latin is definitely very rusty now. Dear Nemo. Dear No one. But you know I always pictured my Nemo out there listening. And now maybe my nobody has actually turned into some real somebodies. So glad to be writing to somebody. Thanks for reading.

Hope you don't have to paint any kitchens and can kick back, put your feet up and enjoy some good books. Till Sunday. I won't be drawing this week, but will on the first Sunday in July. You've still got plenty of time to get your name in the hat.

New Year Journal Entries through the Years

Since it's New Year's Eve, I decided to do something a little different for this blog entry. Ever since I first began journaling years ago as a young teen, I've written a review of the year past around January first. Then when I began seriously trying to market my writing a few years later at the age of twenty, I started using the New Year's journal entries to not only count the blessings of my personal year but also to record the ups and downs of my writing life. And it has truly been a rollercoaster ride at times. Deep lows and exhilirating highs. So even though my journal is usually a private conversation with myself, I'm sharing a few paragraphs of the New Year's entries over the years with you, my friends and readers.

• Jan 4, 1978 – It seems appropriate that I waited till now to write in this year of ’78. And now I don’t know how to say it. I’ve waited so long and now I’m without words. It got an offer. Specifically Warner Books likes Kentucke Dream and wants to publish it. She (my agent) says she’s not entirely satisfied with the terms but wants to know how I feel. What am I going to tell her? Of course I’m satisfied. I don’t know anything about advances. To me, it sounds like a fortune, a miracle, an answer to prayer.
• Dec 31, 1978 - In a few minutes it will be 1979. I’ve written on so many New Year’s Eves since I first began journal writing as a young teen. So much has happened since then that sometimes in ways it seems such a long time ago, but in other ways it seems to be only a soft twirl of days. It seems to be a time to mark accomplishments, to count successes and mourn over failures. This has been an exciting year full of newness. Seeing my book (retitled A Forbidden Yearning) on the stands was a definite high.
• Jan 3, 1983 – I didn’t write on New Year’s Eve. Guess that is indicative of my mood. I hate to keep reiterating my failures, and that’s all 1983 held professionally. Rejections and even worse than that – no rejections. Only silence. So I won’t write much about 1982. I’ll let it roll over me and let loose of it as I try not to be mashed by my failures. I’ll try to realize that I’m still alive. I’m still able to work. I still want to write even if the words seem elusive and difficult. So what if my drawer is full of rejection slips. It’s all part of learning and growing and getting better. Pray God I am getting better and 1983 will hold something good in the wings for me, the writer.
• Jan 14, 1985 – A new year. Seems like it always brings new hope. I keep trying anyway. I’m almost finished with Shane. (A Chance Hero) I got a nice letter from my agent. She said my “lack of sales” was no reflection on my writing ability. She wants to see Chance Hero. I worry the whole idea is too unbelievable with the Big Foot as part of the story, but I still like it. I should finish this week if nothing interferes. It’s snowing like the dickens right now.
• Jan 2, 1986 – The new year’s made my brain go soft, but yes, it is 1986. ’85 is gone, a part of the past. I did sell one book which wasn’t as good as I wanted but it was good. I did rewrite one book and struggle through the writing of another. Even if Gillie’s story isn’t as good as I expected or dreamed, I did learn from her.
• Jan 2, 1987 – A new year. Let’s hope it’s not as sad as the last. This time last year we were just realizing Dad was sick, and now he’s gone and has been gone for many months. I can’t review the year. Too many sad memories. Maybe I’ll just stick with work news. I did sell 3 books, a record for me.
• Jan 3, 1989 – Life brings us both joy and sadness. I personally have been gifted with many good things and I am grateful for the love in my life, my family, my talent and the chance to do what I love to do. So many blessings and gifts. Perhaps I shouldn’t forget my spring of hope that sustains me when I’m discouraged. The next book. The next idea. The next editor. I have only to believe, to continue to try, to step forward. And I thank God for my faith. I don’t understand it, but He understands me.
• Jan 3, 1991 – I love it when I can think positive. I want to have a whole year of positive thinking. “You can do it” stuff.
• Jan 17, 1994 – A new year. Guess I didn’t search for a time for writing about my year because it’s been such a sorry one in regard to writing successes. You might even say it was a low point – a valley that I haven’t climbed out of or even begun climbing. I’ve been working at F.B – full time for a while. I will succeed again, but not as long as I’m at F.B. with no time to work here. So I’ll find a way to do without the money.
• Jan 12, 1995 – It’s a funny thing trying to chase after a story idea. So funny and today so futile I thought I’d write about it. It’s as if I’ve blanked out my mind and I’m stumbling around searching for a way out of the blankness, sort of hoping I’ll bang into something that will suggest some possibilities. But right now it’s a white-out blizzard of nothing. How is another way to describe it? It’s like I’m out in a huge field and I can see nothing but flat ground and grass. I’m lost but not really worried. I know that some direction I take will lead me to some trees or perhaps a house or something interesting – maybe even a hole I can fall into. But which direction? Today I might even think I’m blindfolded and someone has spun me around till I can only stagger a few steps timidly just trying to keep my balance. I guess what I need to do is keep walking some way or other and not just keep circling the blank field finding nothing.
• Jan 21, 1998 – I want to do something fresh, something that will inspire me and make me proud to say I’m a writer again. Maybe I’ll be a writer again. Now I’m just going through the motions and doing a poor job of that. I need a new story. I need a story. Period, exclamation point.
• Jan 14, 2003 – It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? Here we are starting the fourth year of the 21st Century. I haven’t worked the way I’d like. I keep dragging my feet. Letting things interfere. Falling to sleep at the wheel (or keyboard). Afraid of failing. I’m still working on Jocie’s story. (The Scent of Lilacs) I like it, but will anyone else? I don’t know. But I am going to push through to the end. If I fail, I fail. But I have failed already if I don’t try.
• Jan 3, 2005 – Of course, the year’s highlight workwise is selling my book. I’m so excited about that I shouldn’t even think a depressing thought. And I finished Jerry’s story (Angels at the Crossroads) in record time. Still in the holding pattern on what next there. I’m trying not to worry about or even spend too much time thinking about that. It’s in the Lord’s hands and something will happen.
• Dec 27, 2005 – Time spins away from us in great circles. One day it’s the first of the month. The next the end. Christmas has come and gone. A new grandbaby girl has come into the world. A beautiful perfect miracle of a child like all the others. Blessed beyond imagination.
• Jan 3, 2008 – Can you believe it’s 2008? So long ago I started writing in a journal. So many private words. Yet it continues to feed my soul. Words on paper. Thoughts and ideas. Gripes and complaints. Praises and joys. Worries and troubles. Happiness and love. So many things to record over the years. I suppose I started my first journal when I was 13 or 14. I’m not 13 or 14 anymore. But I’m still here. Still writing. Still having joy and worries. But pray God, always more joy.
  

I hope you enjoyed reading my selections through the years. If you did, let me know, and maybe I'll pull out some bits and pieces from my journals again some time. Perhaps the progress reports of a book from initial idea to published book. I did that once for one of my young adult books, Discovery at Coyote Point, for a workshop and the participants seemed to enjoy that.

So until next time, Happy New Year and happy reading. I hope your year ahead overflows with blessings and much joy.