|
A number of well known writers suggest journaling as a way of priming your creative pump and writing without self-editing. I have kept a journal twice in my adult life. The first time was when I suffered from what the expects called, “situational depression.” The situation that brought about my depression waS the death of my mother and a dear poet friend within a month of each other – both from forms of cancer. My mother, at 89, developed what her doctor called thoracic cancer and later I learned by that he meant cancer in the soft organs of your thoracic. My friend Bob was diagnosed with throat cancer even though he never smoked a day in his life. Both died with five months of their diagnosis. Both made a conscious decision to not poison their bodies with chemotherapy. Both decided in the most noble manner possible how they would die. It was an honor to share death with Mom and Bob but their loss plunged me into depression and my psychologist suggested I write myself out of my depression with a journal and it would be better than drowning in cheap whiskey. It worked. After losing my depression and regaining my balance I put the journal away. After several months I burned it. I didn’t want to share what I wrote with the world. The second time I kept a journal the circumstances were quite different. In my first trip to Ireland mhy wife suggested I journal my experiences. Not only did I record our experiences I wrote down phases I heard, specific language and how the Irish behaved. I’ve kept that journal and still refer to it when I write. Do you keep a journal? Feel free to make a comment and share your experience with journaling.
3 Comments
Blog 9-10-12
Growing Up in the Library My father didn’t believe in buying books. I don’t know why. He was a gifted student himself and graduated from high school at 16 because he was allowed to skip a grade. He didn’t attend college because he graduated from high school in 1928 on the eve of the depression, his father lost the farm in central Indiana and Dad wanted a job. He worked for one company 45 years, hard to imagine today. We did have three or four books, other than the Bible, that were stored in a box on the top shelf of the front room closet. My Mom read to me before I was sent packing to kindergarten. I loved the special time and attention that reading represented. To this day I believe that Mom is my source for the love of reading. Those few books didn’t last long. I discovered both the library at Foreman Elementary School and many of the teachers kept books in their classrooms that we could borrow, I did. Summer was a bleak time until I discovered the Public Library which I found only because it was across the street from the Methodist Church we attended. I had to get my parents’ permission to get a library card. I guess the word was out that we didn’t have any books at home and I would be a risk to not return books to the library. I was steeped in the honor system and there was no risk of that. A kind librarian taught me the Dewey decimal system because they tired quickly of me asking where a book was located. I thought the process to categorize and then shelve books was pure genius. I was a known person at the library by 6th grade. The library out grew its original building and a brand new concrete library was built near the shore of Lake George. It was an ugly building but had twice the space of the old library. Most important it was air conditioned. My father also didn’t believe in air conditioning. In the summer I was allowed to ride my bike to the library to bask in the air conditioning and read in peace. Any library is still one of my favorite places. When visiting Ireland I visited the Library at Trinity College. The library is 300 years old and the Long Room contains 200,000 old books and manuscripts. I also saw the Book of Kells, which because of the lighting to protect it from deterioration, was disappointing. |
rex owensI write to tell the story of our human saga. Categories
All
Archives
May 2021
|
RSS Feed
|
|
|
|