Reflective Writing: A Journal Workshop for Writers
Summary
This workshop will explore the many different ways writers can utilize journaling to document process, clear mental clutter, examine story, and cull ideas from the pages. We’ll look at the journal practices of writers like Sue Grafton, John Steinbeck, and others to see how their journals contributed to their output. Participants will receive three journal prompts per week to practice and have ample opportunities to discuss the outcomes and uses of keeping a journal when it comes to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc. We’ll look at what’s out there as far as journaling tools and how keeping a journal provides insight, focus, and positive change. With a bit of research and journal keeping history thrown in, this workshop will expand your ideas on how, why, and when journaling can assist your professional writing and personal growth. Journaling is more than sitting down with a pen/paper or at the keyboard and recounting your day. Reflective writing is a metacognitive process that will free your creative spirit
Speaker
Joy E. Held is a college educator and award winning published author who knew at age ten she was going to be a writer. She has published a non-fiction book for writers, Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc. 2020,) a historical romance novel (The Wild Rose Press, 2010) and almost 1000 articles in magazines, newspapers, and poetry journals in 25+ years as a professional writer. Her latest release is another historical romance novel from Boroughs Publishing Group. She is particularly charmed by the new world of "art journaling" and the old-but-new-again world of steampunk fiction. Her book reviews can be found online at www.kidsreads.com and www.teenreads.com. She has published multiple articles as a contributing editor for Dancer Magazine and Dance Teacher Now Magazine. Her work can be found in Yoga Journal, Woman Engineer, and Romance Writers Report as well as local and regional publications in West Virginia. She has presented writing workshops for over ten years for Central Ohio Fiction Writers, West Virginia Writers, Inc., Kentucky, Ohio, & WV Romance Writers, Ohio Valley Literary Group, WV Developmental Education Association, Wood County Reading Association, and the West Virginia Writing Project among others. Before writing, however, her world revolves around two daughters, a fab husband, and their pets. She is also a devoted student of hatha yoga.
Getting an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA was one of the best decisions she ever made.