I made this journal for a friend who found meaning through children’s books. At the same time, I was reading Marianne Williamson’s The Age of Miracles and somewhere in the process realized I wanted to get back to basics. The phrase “the ABC’s of me” resonated and using the alphabet for list-making and acrostic poems is a common technique both in journal writing and creative writing (although for most of us I think those lines blur…often journal writing is creative writing and vice versa). Perhaps with the back to school season upon us, as I shop for backpacks and notebooks and colored pencils etc., “the ABC’s of me” seems timely; especially as this will be the first year in a long time that I am not taking any classes (yay, all done).
My plan is to explore in my journal each letter and all that bubbles up in terms of re-discovering self at this new age I find myself in. I’ll post about the “letter of the week” and sprinkle in some creativity prompts along the way. I hope you’ll join me. There’s a linky on the sidebar that will remain during our process. No rules ~ feel free to join in, observe, link on the side, link on your blog…or not…I would love for you to, but I know how many fun blog events I bailed out of because I couldn’t keep up or make the time for all the parameters (ex ~link here, visit the first two blogs and comment, visit the blog that signed in five spaces before and after, comment three times, link in your post and jump twice in a circle while rubbing your head…). The link is live and I will post “A” sometime this week.
A few prompts now to express yourself your way (journal, blog, mixed media, poetry etc.)through the alphabet ~
pull out a dictionary and see what words call to you from the letter you are working on
open a book to a random page and do the same
write the entire alphabet down the side of the page and write an acrostic poem
start your “letter” journal entry with “(letter you are on) is for…”
think of at least five adjectives with that alphabet letter that describe you
tear out different magazine images that represent the letter you are working with and collage
think of one adjective that describes you and create a writing entry or art journal page around it
instead of adjectives, think of what begins with that letter that you value (i.e., A ~ Autonomy, B ~ Balance, C ~ Cupcakes)
use the words that you are finding or are bubbling up for you to string together in a short story or poem
Have fun…and if you are participating quietly, I would love to know how the process is going for you. If you’ve linked to the side I will come visit.
