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Photo by Julie Jordan Scott Journaling is one of the most intensely personal activities you can indulge in and one of the most powerful self-care ones, plus it's a gold mine of material for memoirists. Because it is so personal, there is no right way to do it, but many beginners still have questions. Below are a few of the most common. Do I have to write by hand? No. There is some evidence that writing by hand slows your thinking to an orderly pace, giving meditative-like benefits, but the edge is slight. If you are able to catch the gush of your thoughts better on a keyboard, go for it. How should I choose a journal? It doesn’t matter if you use a hand-bound volume covered in Italian leather, a composition book from the Dollar Store, a folder full of loose paper, software like LifeJournal . or a basic text editor. What does matter is that you choose something you feel comfortable with, and then use it. When is the best time to write? Many people prefer to write first thing in the ...

 My muse, Sarabelle Most of us have good friends. Some people have best friends. A fortunate few of us have super friends. I’m one of the fortunate ones. A couple of days ago I wrote a blog entry on A Los Alamos Girlhood about a discussion with a super friend. She has the amazing ability to pick up on things, and lay her observations on the table. She doesn’t back off either, until she’s satisfied her curiosity. Or unless I tell her I’d rather not discuss something, which has been known to happen. In the case I wrote about, she picked up on frustration I hadn’t even realized I was feeling about my memoir. She drilled right down to the bottom with me, and I found what Karen Walker referred to as the Golden Thread of my story. If you don’t happen to have such a super friend, or your super friend is busy when you need her, don’t lose heart. I’ll let you in on a secret that may set your story on fire: Make-believe friends are as good or better as flesh and bones ones. I say make-believe,...

Neuroscience is now validating what journal writers have known for ages: writing makes you feel better. Brain researcher Matthew Lieberman does cutting-edge research in the UCLA Social-Cognitive Neurosciences lab, and although his primary focus is on language in thinking, much of it has fascinating implications about the possibility of using various forms of writing to reframe the way we view the world. Here’s a thumbnail summary of his overall findings : When our brain is running on auto-pilot, the amygdala and basal ganglia (X system, for refleXive) sort input with lightning speed to produce reflexive responses to known stimuli. When something new pops up, the amygdala stalls out and a cluster of the anterior cintulate cortex, prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe (C system for refleCtive) kick in to reflect on the situation and select a contextually appropriate response. The X and C systems are hard-wired with an “either-or” switch. They can’t both run at the same time. So whe...

"Writing without shadow has no depth." I wish I had written down the source of that quote. It reminds me of the importance of including dark notes in my memoir along with the bright ones. It's so tempting to leave out those times when we didn't get the prize, when we were the last one chosen, didn't have a date for Homecoming, or felt despair of every finding love. Those are not fun stories to remember, much less to write, and not ones we generally care to share. The graphic above says it all. Simple facts make a bland story. Adding some detail may brighten it up and vastly improve it. To make it pop off the page and become memorable and true, you need shadow. The interplay of light and dark is what gives it depth, mystery and magic. Darkness is the purview of fear and tension, keys to compelling stories. As you can see from the graphic above, it doesn't take much darkness to give perspective and define the light. Below are a few simple tips like these to add ...