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Inspiring Journaling Prompt – Write With an Up-Side-Down Point of View

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

I would like to share an inspiring video I’ve stumbled upon on You Tube. The video conveys the story of a kid who insisted on adopting an uplifting point of view despite what “the experts” and his “social environment” said. An excellent and inspiring story:

Are you as inspired as I was after watching it? I am sure you are!

Now, inspired by this wonderful video, grab your journal and portray an up-side-down point of view. The kind of view that sees a smiling face instead of a sad one. The kind of view that sees the little things and tries to ponder about how things miraculously work. The kind of view the boy had that made him so special – and so controversial.

Try to communicate the same point of view from behind the camera – Try new angles, new lighting, new settings, zooming in a bit more – try to view the world differently.

Share your thoughts, journaling and photos by leaving a comment on this post.

Reminder

Only one more week left for the early bird’s admission to “Capture Your Dream“. Don’t miss on the special offer of only $14.95 for 30 downloadable lessons!!! (LESS THAN 50 CENTS PER LESSON)

Workshop - Capture your Dream

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New Workshop: Capture Your Dream || REGISTRATION CLOSED

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Workshop - Capture your Dream

Capture your dream is a self paced workshop designed to help you identify your dream, capture it in a beautiful handmade mini-album and pave your way to make your dream come true.

In this workshop you will complete a mixed-media mini-album, which you will create from scratch with things you have lying around in your house or things you can find in your local craft or office supply store.

Each project is propped up by a pdf file with clear step-by-step instructions, packed with valuable tips and techniques and backed with supporting photos.

As always the inspiration and journaling prompts are going to make you think and ponder. You will get fantastic insights not only to your deepest dream but also to the means of making it happen.

Boosted with inspiration prompts, stimulating journaling and motivated by meaningful creative projects, you will capture your dream and follow it toward realization.

“Capture Your Dream” will show you…

  • How to make your own fabric covered and embroidered mini-album.
  • How to use different mediums for your album’s pages (i.e. felt, transparency, cardstock and more.)
  • Different ways to include your journaling on your scrapbook pages.
  • Different ways to add layers, texture and interest to your layouts.
  • How to inject meaning into your projects with tactile and visual similes.
  • How to get chronological perspective through journaling.
  • How to communicate and work side-by-side with your dream.

    • and many more…

I am offering personal guidance and support to each participant on each step of the way, everything to make you feel like I am sitting right by your side.

Do you want to capture your dream in a significant and expressive way? Join now and get one step closer to making your dream come true!

  • The workshop is self paced. You will receive the first segment (Introduction & Supply List) immediately after registering.
  • The duration of the workshop is 6 weeks (5 lessons per week). That’s 30 lessons delivered right to your inbox!!!
  • Format of the lessons – Downloadable pdf. files – including templates, instructions, supporting photos and supply list with live links to the products.
  • Price – USD 50.00

Hurry up and register now to secure a place in the workshop. Unfortunately, I need to limit the number of participants in order to provide the individual attention each participant deserves.

P.S.: You are going to LOVE this workshop… OR your money back!

I am so confident you are going to love this workshop that I am offering you a full money back guarantee. If for any reason you are not fully satisfied with the workshop, just send me an e-mail and I will refund 100% of your purchase. No questions asked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: The workshop is pretty intensive what if I’m too busy for 5 lessons per week? OR I’m going on vacation soon and would miss some of the lessons.

A: No problem. The format of the lessons allows you to take them at your own pace, whenever it is convenient to you. You can take one lesson every day or take several lessons during the weekend or in an afternoon. I will still be available for you to answer questions and offer support.

Q: Will there be a special forum for the workshop’s members? I’d like to connect with other members.

A: Absolutely. The workshop is going to have a private forum for its members and you are welcome to participate in it, ask questions, communicate with other members, share thoughts and even include links to your workshop related work. I will be active on this forum too 🙂

Q: Will I have to buy special tools and supplies for the workshop?

A: As scrapbookers you probably have most of the tools and supply needed for the workshop. About 10 days before the workshop starts I will send each participant a complete tools and supply list.

Q: What if I don’t like the workshop?

A: I cannot imagine this happening 😉 Now seriously, in case you are not happy with the workshop for any reason, drop me an e-mail by the end of the workshop and I will refund 100% of the purchase price.

Testimonials

  • “Sad not to be getting any more of your e-mails. I am still working on my mini album and will let you know when I post on my blog. Just wanted to let you know that I learned a lot of new techniques from your course. I don’t like to sew, so I adapted those parts and did with paper instead. Also, I feel like I now have an organized plan for my dream which is one of the most difficult parts to do. Sometimes you just don’t know how to actually begin to do something. Putting it down on paper helped me a lot.”
  • “It was wonderful and I recommend it to EVERYONE! You are fantastic … always quick with a kind word … and help! Thanks so much!”
  • “Today I was looking through my childhood memories when my 12 year old daughter joined me. It was so nice to share these memories and my dreams with her. A wonderful side effect of the workshop!”

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Journaling Prompt – The Beauty of the Dialog

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
The Beauty of a Dialog
[Photo by: izarbeltza]

Havi Brooks of the Fluent self talks to monsters and to blocks. Her dialogs, as I see and interpret them, is actually an intricate monologue. Her conversations are so soulful and sensitive, it has been my absolute pleasure to eavesdrop.

Dialogs are taking a huge place in our lives. From the mundane morning conversations over cereals and PB&J toasts to the monsters that creep inside our heads and hold us back from moving forward with our lives. Gems are often found in both types of conversations, as with all the types of dialog in between.

The bigger the conflict in the dialog, the more interesting it’s bound to be. Taking the less traveled road and trying to negate the conflict and find a bridge between the conflicting voices guarantees a fascinating conversation with some interesting insights into the writer’s (our) mind.

It is also a FANTASTIC journaling prompt.

For this week’s journaling prompt narrate the dialog that goes on between the following duos:
(pick any two that looks interesting to you)

  • Aristotle & Robot
  • Hostage & Captor
  • Killer & Victim’s parent
  • New born & an Old man on his deathbed (variation: young self – current self – old self)
  • Soldier & Terrorist
  • Sprout & Sun
  • Farmer & Banker
  • Lion & ant
  • You & a Cockroach
  • Running shoes & TV couch
  • Creative child & Self critic
  • Cicero & (pro)Blogger
  • Egg & Sperm
  • Left brain lobe & Right brain lobe.
  • Mathematician & Magician.
  • Plaintiff’s lawyer & defendant.

Share

  • Which of the duos do you gravitate to?
  • What other interesting conflicting voices can you think about?
  • Have you eavesdropped (or participated) in an interesting/hilarious & heartwarming conversation lately? (between your kids, for instance…)

It would be a pleasure reading your dialogs, so do share and leave a comment on this post.

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Journaling Prompt – Hone Your Writing Skills With Colors

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Colors
[Photo by: Steven Fernandez]

Most people are blessed with all 5 senses: Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. I am constantly using all five senses throughout my creative journey and cannot imagine what would I do if one of my senses was impaired. However I have come across very creative people who were unable to see, hear or taste, so I know that creativity can for a certain extent compensate for the loss of one of the senses.

One of the things I cannot imagine how can one compensate for is the ability to see colors (which is funny as my father is color blind). The broad spectrum of colors, the different tones and shades, the richness, the effect of combining different colors together. I find those very hard to explain verbally. Which is why I think it will make the perfect creative writing exercise.

For this week’s journaling prompt try to describe colors to a blind person. How would you transcribe the visual record? Clearly it is going to be futile to use the color’s name, so how else can you describe it?

Share

Do you think colors can be described to a blind person? I am interested to hear your thoughts on that matter and would be delightful to read your colors description!!! So please leave a comment and share.

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Journaling Prompt – Exercise your Journaling Muscle

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Hone your writing skills Every bit of journaling that comes from the heart is a good journaling. Saying that, many times we have such a precious memory to keep or a thought to treasure that we feel stumped. We don’t seem to find the right words to write. We just feel like our journaling muscle is a bit rusty and ragged.

My initial advice is to just write. You can either write everything down on a scratch piece of paper and edit select the highlights later –or– to go ahead and just write (which is what I usually do).

However, if you insist on honing your writing skills then I have the perfect exercise for you – it will stretch your journaling muscle and will make you sweat words and sentences like there’s no tomorrow.

For this week’s journaling prompt we are going to exercise our journaling muscles by putting our words through a mood swing.

Start by writing down a single paragraph. Write about your day. Write about a recent vacation you’ve had or about the fact you haven’t been out on vacation for a lo-o-o-ong time. Write anything (even a one-paragraph-short-story).

Now write this paragraph down, again-and-again, each time with a different dominant tone:

  • Dramatic.
  • Romantic.
  • Humorous.
  • Journalistic (newsworthy…)
  • Sarcastic.
  • Sad. (Think obituary)
  • Happy.
  • Mad.
  • Hopefull. Zen induced…
  • Childlike. (riming?)

Have fun at the word’s gym 🙂

Share

Do you struggle with your journaling sometimes? Did you find this exercise helpful? Share your thoughts and share your work by leaving a comment on this post.

These prompts might be helpful as well:

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Journaling Prompt – The Key To The Kingdom Of My Dreams

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Dream
[Photo by: Keven Law]

Guided writing is a great way to explore the boundaries of your imagination and the depth of your thoughts. With guided writing you know where are you starting from but have no idea where are you going to end up…

I really love this type of writing exercises and no matter how the end result looks like, I am always happy because of the process.

This week’s journaling prompt is going to be slightly different. This week, I want you to complete the sentence: “The key to the kingdom of my dreams is…”

You can take this sentence anywhere.

Go fiction –

Describe: Where is it? What is it? How does it look like? How can one find it? What does one have to go through while searching for it? Is it easy to find or is it dangerous and weary? go with the flow.

Go non-fiction –

Engage in some healing journaling. Where do you see the key to the kingdom of your dream? Is there a ‘fix-it-all’ solution? Is there one thing in which you trust and to which you aspire? How is it going to help you in fulfilling your dreams?

The key to the kingdom of my dreams is… hidden in a secret crevice inside the wall, just below the window’s pane. You can trace the exact spot by following the first ray of light during the winter’s solstice. After finding the key you must gently lean it against your left ear and listen to it whispering the directions to the lock it opens. Follow your heart and you shall not fail in finding the secluded hiding place from which you can enter the kingdom of my dream.

Share –

(what, where) is the key to the kingdom of your dreams?
How do you feel about guided writing?
Where does your heart and/or mind takes you – fiction or non-fiction?

Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

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Journaling Prompt #12 – Summertime

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

This prompt begins with a magical song by George Gershwin, the first thing which comes to my mind when I think about summertime:

George Gershwin, Summertime

Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

One of these mornings
You’re going to rise up singing
Then you’ll spread your wings
And you’ll take to the sky

But till that morning
There’s a’nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

Gershwin’s summer is laid-back and tranquil. The summertime scene is so comforting, as a matter of fact, that it is used as a calming lullaby. Needless to say this song portrays much more than what is on its surface, but still it uses the summertime as the epitome of peace of mind and relaxation.

The warm weather evokes special emotions. It brings a promise of recreation and of taking time off the daily routine and into togetherness. The children are out of their schools. The parents are taking their yearly vacations and everyone seems to be on hiatus at a certain point during the summer.

Summer can be rainy in some places and smoldering hot in others, but it always brings along with it a shimmer of leisure and pleasure, entwined.

This week’s journaling prompt is all about the summertime. What does it mean to you? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment to this post or link to your blog.

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Journaling Prompt #11 – Picking The Less Obvious Point Of View -or- Being The Devil’s Advocate

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

I grew up in an affectionate and liberal household. My sisters and I were raised upon the virtues of love and respect and in my humble opinion, these are great values to grow up by.

I was taught that these values are measured not in times of peace but in times of war and despair. This life lesson is not easy to put into practice, but I am trying to follow it, the best way I can. I have found lately that writing can help me to follow through and practice love and respect in times of frustration and anger.

When you stumble upon a grave injustice in life, it is natural to get mad and let all the dark hatred loose. It is easy to see the wrongs and the faults in a vicious act – because it is wrong. It is much more difficult to look at the evil act through the eyes of the evil who has done it. Trying to find a purpose or a reason to something which is beyond understandable to us. Caution is essential, as you are going down a slippery slope here. You are not supposed to find justice in a bad deed. You are not supposed to accept it and understand it but you can look at it with a different set of eyes.

I find that writing about a horrible act of viciousness from the eyes of the villain can help me discharge my anger and inherent hatred. Mostly I feel better after that exercise for two main reasons:

  1. First, I am free to write whatever I wish, so I can give the villain a proper background that can somehow explain why he did what he did (abuse, indoctrination… etc.) and I can also take care that the villain receives a due punishment.

  2. Second, I can check out my own moral compass. By finding it extremely difficult to sink down the villain’s abysses I can see that my own moral compass is intact.

This week’s journaling prompt is to write about something extremely wrong which has happened recently from two different perspectives – your own perspective and the villain’s perspective.

Please share your writing through commenting to this post.

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Journaling Prompt #7 – Write a Fairy tale

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

One of the best ways to spruce up your writing and boost your creativity is by coming up with a fairy tale. A fairy tale has no limits because it is created in an imaginative world in which you are making the rules. As the ruler you can do anything in it. The farther you go with your imagination, the better the fairy tale is.

Think about fairies and magicians and little-people and giants. Think about a completely different species, like J.R.R. Tolkien‘s hobbit.

A fairytale can be very short in scope, therefore suitable as a journaling prompt, an exercise for polishing your writing. You don’t need to write a full length novel (like Tolkien), even a one page story is enough for stretching out your imaginative boundaries.

To get inspired and jump start your own fairytale, you can visit these sites:

  1. Read from a collection of the Brother Grimm’s Tales;

  2. Try out this fun fairytale generator;

  3. Browse an assortment of fairy tales by different authors;

  4. Look through a compilation of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories and fairy tales.

Enjoy and share your fairytale by leaving a comment to this post.

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Journaling Prompt #5 – Observing Food

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

This prompt is the third in the series of observation prompts. This series is designed to make us more susceptible to small details that spruce up our writing and help our stories evoke more emotions.

The first prompt was all about observing people. The second prompt called for observing the environment. This week’s prompt is inviting you to observe food.

There is so much more in food than its taste, though it is important to pay attention to the wide spectrum of flavors in each bite we take. Food also smells and has different textures and evokes emotions and memories (Why else would the phrase “comfort food” become so commonly used).

This week I invite you to enhance your eating experience by paying special attention to food and write about it. In your observation, use all five senses:

What does the food smell like?

What noise does the food make when you bite into it?

Which flavors does the food have? (What sensations does the food bring to your taste buds?)

What texture does the food have?

How does the food look like?

Don’t stop there, keep on documenting – Does this food bring up any memories? How does it make you feel after eating it? Does eating this food make you feel like a part of a group? A part of a family? A part of a unique culture? Write everything down (Adding photos can help for future reminiscing).

You are more than welcome to share your food observation with me. Just leave a comment below with your food-story or a link to your blog.

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