Journaling Roadblocks and Telling Stories Deeply

As I mentioned earlier, Big Picture Scrapbooking is giving a spot in my class today. If you haven’t gone over to add your name, here’s where you can do that. I’ve been reading through the comments and wanted to address some of the journaling roadblocks that people have put in the comments.



I went through the list and made some major categories that most of the people’s comments fall into. I wanted to address them in two ways. One, to tell you whether we tackle this in the class directly or not and two to give you a few words of my thoughts on this so you can see what direction I would lead you in, in the class, so you can assess whether taking the class would be helpful to you. So here we go, in no particular order and paraphrased in my own words:

1. I am embarrased to journal. Worried it will come off mushy, sappy, false, fake, pretentious.

   I talk about this a little at the beginning of the class and address it throughout the lessons here and there. My point of view on this is that if you’re writing authetically (being true to who you are) then none of the above concerns matter. If you’re authentic, you won’t be false, fake, or pretentious. Those are all inauthetic states of being, where we’re trying to be something else than we are and this workshop is just the opposite. As for mushy and sappy. those often depend on the person reading your words and everyone’s ideas of mushy are vastly different from each other. We talk a lot about whose opinion matters and what you should have in mind when you write your words in the pre-class work and in week one. My hope is that by then this will be less of a concern for you.

2. I don’t have enough space on my page for my journaling. I have too many photos and not always enough room for journaling.
   
   
   Oh yes! This is a pet peeve of mine and we address this one right away. This workshop is as much about changing the way you look at journaling and changing your process of scrapping as it is about the words itself, so I promise you won’t say this after the workshop.
3. I want more depth and creativity in my journaling.

   This is the very core of my workshop. Each week I tackle another main area of what it means to journal deeply. How to make your writing more relatable, more authentic, more personal, more *you*. I also bring in writing principles that help liven your writing and breathe more air into it.

4. i write too much or I write too little. I get caught up in the details.

   Honestly, this isn’t something I handle directly. I address the space issue mentioned above and by using the new process, this might end up being less of a concern. But I do talk about the main elements of what makes an authentic story (in my opinion of course) and theoretically by the end of class you’ll have a good sense of what needs to stay in and what can be left out to make your story complete and authentic so you should more easily be able to judge what’s too much or too little and what you can leave out or what’s still missing.

5. My journaling is too personal.

   We talk about this in the pre-class work, too. We also address some of the deeper/harder journaling stories during our last week. I talk about why it’s important to still put the words on paper, even if we have to find creative ways to not make it visible. I respect that your journaling might be too personal but it’s still worth your writing it down.

6. I can’t find the right words. I don’t know where to start.

   We talk about this in the pre-class handouts, too. But I’ll tell you a secret: there’s no magic here. I will not be able to move my wand and make it easier for you to start. You start like everyone does: you put pen to paper and just do it. We talk more about techniques and creative styles that might help you get started but in the end you just sit down and do it. I didn’t want you to sign up and think I have some magic trick under my belt, that I don’t.

7. I am a perfectionist. What if i am not good enough?

   I don’t talk about this in the lessons but we will address it in the message boards cause I a lot of people have mentioned this in the class as well. Here’s one thing you should know: the purpose of this workshop is to make your journaling more authentic, deeper, and more true to who you are. None of us are perfect. Life would be so boring if we were. So I think being perfect or aiming to be perfect is the wrong goal. We should aim to have our pages be a true reflection of who we are. Not write so people on a message board can give us kudos, but write so we feel we expressed ourselves authentically on the pages we create. This is just my opinion and you are, of course, welcome to disagree, but it’s something I feel strongly about so I wanted to make sure you knew.

8. I am not a writer. I have no stories to tell.

   We do talk about this in the preclass handout and a lot on the message boards as well. I’ll be very upfront: we are all writers and we all have stories to tell. I promise. I swear you are. By the end of the workshop, you should have no doubts about that.

One thing I’ve told the students in the workshop and would like all of you to know is that I am fully commmitted to everyone getting exactly what they want out of this class. Journaling is my passion and I want to make sure that if I don’t happen to address something that’s in your mind, something that’s holding it up for you, something that’s stresssing you, that you can always post on the message boards and ask me or email me directly. I’m committed to everyone walking away with exactly what they wanted and more.



I hope these answer some questions you might have. I posted more about specifically what you get each week and general logistics: here. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.



I hope I see you in my workshop.