so excited it's officially time and can't wait to get started! went to scaredy kat for the first time last week to pick up my copy and fell in love with the store.

Sadly, the badge did not work for me.

So excited for this project! So glad we will be doing this together! Thanks Jen

i'm in!

yay...i'm so excited about this...i can't wait!! :)

Thank you Jen for helping get us started. I love the idea prompt "I remember writing..." as it reminded me how easily the critic's voice gets in the way of "just writing."

I waited until 1/1 to add my name to the journal, just to make it an official start to the new year and the journaling process, recording it here.

Strength to you and your husband during this trying time...

first, i want to say that beginning my day with freshly baked blueberry muffins (which i felt moved to make this morning) and your video jen might be the way i wish i could start every morning.

second, listening to the video, thinking about some thoughts that have been tumbling through my mind lately, and reading the comments pushes me to acknowledge that i want to continue to gently explore how to write from a deeply personal place without sharing deeply personal facts. at times i do achieve this balance but sometimes, i just move on to write something that is less personal or only half of what i wanted to say (this happens for several reasons). my hope is that this "voice" will become a bit easier to access. i look forward to combing through all of this as i carry my journal with me...

Just ordered my copy and excited to get started! :)

I am planning to get started as soon as I get home from work this evening.

As for the html, just fill in the link to your image here and remove the spaces (I put the spaces in so it would show up as code):

Sorry...The spaces didn't work to get the code to show up. Let me try asterisks. Remove the asterisks:

<*a href="http://www.jenlee.net/home/part-one-the-journey-together.html"*><*img src="INSERT LINK TO IMAGE HERE" alt="Take It With You: The Journey Together | JenLee.net"*><*/a*>

I thought it was very nice how not much was asked of us as a first goal...and how there is a stretch goal, too, just in case. I'm always inspired by your messages, Jen. "I can do this!" This writing thing, that is. Since there was no time at the time, I took my cute positive energy and tried to capture my inspired thoughts with a few words so I could come back to it later. I was already so proud of myself.

Sometimes it only takes an ounce of allowing, then Wham! I'm pinned between the door and the wall as it comes rushing out of the basement of my psyche, tearing up the place. Shit. That hurt! and that ...thing... is making a huge mess, too. What have I done?

Yeah, so I um, I wrote today.

i'm in on this for sure!

I'm looking forward to writing in my own hand, which always seems to spark new ideas. I type-write so much, and because I can type as fast as I think (pretty fast), I often find myself running ahead of myself, especially on my blog. Writing by hand forces me to slow down, and I like that.

I'm thinking about why I'm not writing what I think I want to be writing, and I'm wondering if it's really what I think I SHOULD be writing, not what I WANT to be writing. Because I am writing, almost daily on my blog. And this week, I'm doing a retrospective of the '00s to see how I got here, which is a lot of writing. Like, almost 8,000 words so far, and I'm only up to 2004. It's all very outliney, though. Not a lot of brilliance there. And I want to be writing brilliance.

yes! yes! yes!

I am playing along, my journal and are currently in a staring contest, let's see who wins!

I am playing along, my journal and I are currently in a staring contest, let's see who wins!

i am joining in on the journey, and i'm excited. a wee bit fearful, but i am committed to this process. Thanks Jen for the "baby steps", sometimes I get overwhelmed with lots of instructions. Blessings on you!

i'm in - totally need this! xo

Hi Jen,

I purchased this journal a couple of months ago and loved the incentive and non-intimidation sticky notes you placed on sporadic pages. I have journalled quite a bit in this journal and it is so different than instead of typing or journalling on my blog. My favourite place to journal, is in my car at lunch hour or during my coffee break. I seem to have so much to say at those times. My first big entry was when I was crying and upset because of something hurtful I said to my husband. My journal was in my bag in the passenger seat of my car. I picked it up and wrote how I felt because if I didn't do something at the moment I was going to burst. I have stopped for a bit this last while but I know I will pick it up again as I keep it in my camera bag and usually have it in my vehicle.

Blessings to you and I am so glad to have you talking to me on a video. I like that!

I've played along too, on my blog, instead of in the journal. Thank you for the inspiration. Thank you for rekindling my fire within.

I am enjoying your journal so much, Jen. I saw this post up yesterday, so set my alarm clock a half hour early to be able to watch it in the peace of the morning...
I used to fill a journal a year, and since my first boy was born 6 years ago I have only gone through about 3/4 of a book..
Looking forward to journeying together and filling these pages!

Lots to think about today...thanks for this journal and this journey.
(and excited to see there's another Jeanne doing this too! hello, name twin!

i found my journal, wedged in between a pile of journals that are 1/3 filled with words ... i think this is exactly what i need !!

thinking of you, sending you and your family love and a warm hug ... peace honey ...

I have never been successful at keeping a journal but I always look back at times in my life and wish I had. So I ordered mine yesterday and can't wait to get it. Thank you for offering this help. As a journal newbie I can use all the support I can get.

I'm not even sure how I found your blog yesterday, but I am so glad I did.

My thoughts are with you and your family.

Yes! I'm saying YES!

Glad to be on this journey together!

Dear Jen and everyone participating,
Just wanted to say HI and thank you for this wonderful little space! It feels like the beginning of something very special indeed.
While you were talking on your video, I jotted down "I remember writing..." and suddenly it all came flooding back. I was in Grade 5 and I'd written a story about the sorts of things a Grade 5 student is preoccupied with (in my case, my friends, ballet classes and how much I disliked my Phys Ed teacher).
Over time, my story evolved and became something altogether more adult. I was writing about things I knew nothing about. Perhaps I picked them up from books or TV. In any case, they were inappropriate for a ten year old to be thinking about, which is probably why it felt so exciting to be writing about them.
Until my parents found it.
I had totally forgotten about this.
But now I sit back in my chair, a little breathless and sigh, "No wonder!". No wonder. Writing is scary. It leaves you exposed. I remember my Mum saying, "I hope no-one ever reads this." I can't say I blame her, and as a new parent I wonder if I could respond so graciously!!
Thank you Jen. For reminding me. I feel a little vulnerable and a little sad, but now I am going to return to my "Take Me With You" journal and write out this story until I know how it ends. I realise now that the way it ends is really up to me.

hi jen,

i just watched your video and got my journal out ready for some writing time. like kat above, the moment i wrote out your prompt, words just started to come tumbling from my head, and i am excited (and a little anxious) about catching them and seeing what stories they hold.

thanks for posting this and still sharing this space despite the personal sadness with your recent loss.

pen*

hello luminous jen. I haven't ordered my journal yet and your video has me thinking about the reasons why. today I will take one wee step and sign up for the shop reopening notice and one big step and pull out my journal from squam that has sat untouched since september. you really have am exceptional gift for gentle safe invitation and we are so lucky you are in our world.

I hope your gentle soul is wrapped in warmth and peace this week.

xo, lisa

i am so happy, to be a part of this group.
hi everyone!
jen, i am over the moon, to be starting this journal journey.
: )

I'm late, but I'm here!

I'm here too. Not sure how or where or when, but I'm here and I'll always take you with me.

This is such a gift, thank you. I've had the journal for a couple of months and was going to get to marking it up, really I was. Now I have gone through half of it. So funny to see how I began with safe marks, a line that could be for the date, a little circle that could be ignored; then I loosened up and some pages have proper scribbles. I look forward to writing about how I remember writing freely.

Thank you for this. I am thinking about your question about what keeps me from writing. My desperation to start writing has been building up for so long and has become very insistent. One of my biggest barriers is that maybe I only have a few things worth writing about, and if I waste them on this practice time where I'm not good yet, or I make wrong decisions about audience or medium...that maybe I won't have anything left to say well. The question gives me a starting place, and I'm grateful to have prompts to get me going.

i picked up your journal at scaredy cat a couple weeks ago and just started a few pages. then, i let life get in the way, and didn't pick it up for a good week and a half (despite the fact that i was schlepping it around with me the whole time). tonight, as i was attempting to catch up on blogs in my reader, i realized that the videos you've been posting are a part of the journal journey! i am so incredibly excited to have them as a resource, encourager, motivator, even if I am about a month behind :)

tonight, as i went through marking each page (i'd previously marked many pages, but misunderstood that i was to mark each page) I realized how nice it was to really break the pages in. I felt I was forming a connection and the barrier was coming down. I also realized that it may be habit that i repeat with any future journals. My goal is to complete the why section - and I already know some of my answers to the question - It'll just take me a minute to get them down on paper... Anyway - to complete that by this weekend and start the next video.