CREATIVE WORKSHOP ‘HAVING LIFE TWICE’: THE JOY OF THE JOURNAL

Keeping a journal enables us to enrich our lives with words. We can use its pages to re-experience joys, solve problems, set priorities, celebrate achievements, express feelings, gain insight, record reflections and process what puzzles or distresses us. As writer Jessamyn West puts it, ’People who keep journals have life twice.’ 

In this workshop, we will explore a range of aspects of personal journalling, how a journal is different from a diary, and how we might make the most of its potential – whatever our experience in finding our way with words.

Julia McGuinness is a writer and writing practitioner, based in Flintshire. She runs workshops in various locations, from a journalling group at Hawarden’s Gladstone’s Library to poetry workshops at Chester Cathedral, where she is Poet-in-Residence Emeritus. Julia belongs to the Lapidus International network of well-being writing practitioners. 

Julia’s publications include Writing our Faith and a poetry collection Chester City Walls. This May she launches her latest book: Writing the Journeys We Never Wanted to Make, a practical guide for those wanting to explore how writing can support them through challenging times. It suggests a range of journalling and poetry-prompted writing exercises that can help at different points, alongside journallers’ personal stories.