Jennie: Why do suggest writing eight minutes a day for 30 days? What about that constraint is effective for sparking a writing practice?
Lisa: I have about 30 things that I know would make me a better person if I did them every day but I don’t — and can’t — implement them all, every day. I do journal or write close to daily and it’s had a profound impact on my life and my work as a writer, author, and blogger. Since I upped my journaling practice to a more regular habit, I have become a much more productive writer.
Why 8 minutes? We don’t have a lot of time but we can all find 8 minutes. The beauty of 8 minutes of journaling is that if we only have 8 minutes, we can still experience an impact. Yet, sitting down and journaling for 8 minutes can often lead to more, or lead us right into working on an ongoing or new writing project. It doesn’t take much to get big results. It takes consistency.
Jennie: Who is your ideal reader for the journal?
Lisa: When I began writing The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day, I had writers in mind — and probably one of my avatars was me in college. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg sparked my own creativity as I worked through the prompts with my friend Anita Killian at the now defunct but once iconic Café Pamploma in Cambridge.
But the beauty of this book is that it can help you wherever you are in your writing and journaling journey. If you used to journal but don’t so much anymore, The Joy of Writing Journal can reignite that fire for you. If you never or rarely journaled this journal offers an easily accessible entry point. And if you love to journal but want to try something different—ta-da!
I wrote it to help writers who are looking to solidify their commitment and writing habit, but also for writers who feel stuck or want a tool to generate new ideas or want to explore how journaling can fuel their other writing.
Jennie: The book is SO interactive. There are tons of QR codes that take you to downloads, videos, meditations, and tips. It's almost like an app, really. How did you decide on the format?
Lisa: My colleague, Tamara Monosoff, who is now also my publisher, has been helping authors make their books interactive with QR codes for many years now. In fact, with her own books, she was a pioneer in using QR codes in books and convinced her publisher at the time, McGraw Hill, to incorporate video in her books.
So I’ve recommended to several clients that they work with Tamara to incorporate multi-media when it seemed a fitting feature. At my suggestion, Dr. Lisa Langer used QR codes to incorporate meditations and videos into her book Deeper Into Mindfulness, which has won two book awards, and singer-songwriter Carrie Rowan incorporated her songs into her book, Tell a New Story, using QR codes.
After a particular conversation with Tamara, during a client’s book launch, I began to wonder about incorporating QR codes into the book I was working on at the time. The next morning, I woke up with the seeds of a new book, The Joy of Writing Journal, and wrote down the bones of it — thirty prompts — in two inspiration-packed hours. I spent the next few weeks identifying how each prompt might lend itself to interaction: a writing tip from me, an audio meditation to access the inner muse, a video of a favorite author reading an excerpt from her work (relating to the prompt), or a video of various writers — from New York Times bestselling authors to fresh-out-of-college aspiring authors — responding to the prompt.
I dreamt up this book (that’s how it felt when I woke up with the idea) in the context of COVID, when many of us, and maybe especially writers who already work in a solitary manner, felt increasingly isolated. While it wasn’t a conscious thing, I believe my muse was at work finding a way to inspire people, give them an easy-peasy tool for creativity and help them feel connected to other writers during a challenging time.
And for those writers feeling especially stuck, the videos and meditations offer a way to tap into other people’s enthusiasm or passion or insight to nourish their own.
Jennie: How did you bring it to life? How did you produce it?
Lisa: My publisher and designer is Tamara Monosoff. She’s amazing. When she sent over the first few mock-up cover designs to choose from, she truly captured the essence of the book. And she didn’t mind tweaking the details for perfection. Tamara is a very collaborative person to work with.
Tamara gave me templates to keep track of the videos and QR codes and helped me organize, which is crucial for an ADD writer like me. She took care of all the background work, like putting the videos on my website, on individual pages, matching the links to a QR code, and putting the codes in the book in a beautiful, organic way so that they are an integral part of the design and feel of the book.
The video creation added a new dimension of work and needed skill sets. So it truly took a village…Dan Thibeault of Fast Twitch Media edited the videos and created animation. Portland Helmich provided media coaching, produced, and directed the videos where I provide insights, teaching, or tips. My 14-year-old son Luke Patterson did some of the initial editing, connecting raw footage and adding “lower third” text to put things in a format more easily used by Dan.
I mentioned that I struggle with organization. Producing close to thirty videos wasn’t easy because I had to schedule calls with thirty or more colleagues and friends to shoot video interviews with them on Zoom.
Jennie: What was behind your decision to self-publish? You and I share this — we help writers land agents and Big 5 publishing deals, and yet we sometimes choose to self-publish our own work. Can you talk about your decision-making process?
Lisa: Yes. I was working on another book which I’ll be returning to after launching this one! I had been wondering whether to go the traditional route or to self publish. When I had that conversation with Tamara, I asked her whether she’d ever go back to traditional publishing after self publishing and she was adamant, “No way. Definitely not.”
She told me she loved having full artistic control over a project. And, for this project, with the QR codes being a central aspect, that control was crucial to me as well. As it turned out, I so loved working with Tamara and I could not imagine a more beautiful cover and inner design. I could easily see doing more books together.
It’s possible I’d work with a traditional publisher on another book if I felt they brought enough to the table, particularly in terms of reaching readers. I’d need to know that they share my vision and to sense that it’s a great match.
It would be project specific. With clients, I’m not automatically an advocate one way or the other. I look at the author, their vision, their goals, their platform, what they’d need to do in order to attract a publisher, and help them make a decision based on all of that.
Jennie: You have a real sense of positivity around the act of writing — you talk about noticing the surprising things that might happen during your writing time, and the gifts that you might bring to writing. It's so very positive. Where does that positivity come from?
Lisa: My mom. Whenever anything bad happened, she always looked for the good, the gift. I’m not a Pollyanna. And I can be pretty negative around certain hot button issues (so don’t get me started on certain corporations that will remain nameless, or environmental issues, or the media, or the polarizing state of our society). Maybe, like most people, I’m negative when I feel disempowered and more positive when I feel empowered. Creativity is the ultimate power. That and love. So talking about creativity—that’s just euphoric.
Jennie: There is a lot of memoir in this journal — stories about your grandma and your friends and places you love. Was that a new experience for you to share those kinds of stories?
Lisa: I sometimes refer to my “blog voice” in a derogatory way. It’s that advice-giving voice that forgets to tell stories. But stories make things real. So, I make some effort now to include more personal stories in my blog from time to time.
Originally, I used the blog voice. But a friend and colleague, Joshua Home Edwards, suggested I share more of myself. I think my friend, writing coach Tracy Hart, suggested that too. The stories added so much. Beta readers are so important. And it points to the truism that we often enhance our creative projects by inviting creative input from others.
The book I was working on when The Joy of Writing Journal nudged its way into my consciousness is more story-oriented. I’d been immersed in sharing personal stories as a way to share the wisdom for creativity that comes out of life experiences.
So, yes, I don’t know that I’ll ever write a memoir, per se, but I believe that my personal experiences enrich my how-to books.
Thanks for sharing your journal and more on your writing process with us, Lisa!
Lisa Tener is an award-winning book coach, creativity catalyst, and author of the book The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day. Lisa has helped thousands of aspiring writers and authors access their creativity, find their voice and write and publish groundbreaking books through her coaching services and courses. Dozens of her clients have won prestigious book awards and/or signed five- and six- figure deals with major publishing houses. For over a decade, Lisa has served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course. Discover more about her private book coaching services and award-winning writing courses at LisaTener.com.
.png?upscale=true&width=1200&upscale=true&name=Email%20Headers%20(1).png)
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=Writer%20Testimonials%20(1).png)
.png?upscale=true&width=1200&upscale=true&name=Email%20Headers%20(2).png)
