Deeper Journal Keeping
Dreamwalkers, welcome to a new Creative Conversation with author, artist, and arts workshop leader, Margaret Kellermann! We’ll explore the many facets of Journaling today as we discuss Margaret’s new book, Journal Keeper’s Alphabet: A Handbook for Adventurous Writers
This fall she’s teaching a number of Journaling workshops. More on the workshops later. For now, let’s get started.
Janet: Hi Margaret. I’m so happy to meet here again and talk about your latest book, which just came out in July. I’ve been journaling for years, yet I found many adventurous writing ideas in Journal Keeper’s Alphabet that expanded and deepened my journaling. Thanks so much for that.
Margaret: Hi Janet! Thanks for letting me join another Creative Conversation. You’re generous with your time, giving artists, writers, and others a platform for their work. I’m so glad to know that you’re experimenting with various adventurous ideas for deeper journal keeping.
J: It’s been eye-opening. Early in the book you say, “At some point I realized that the job of keeping body and soul together would need to include regularly feeding my half-starved soul. So I fell back into a good rhythm of journal keeping daily, or as daily as possible.” Can you talk a little about that?
M: Yes, I was starving my soul by cruising along the surface of my daily schedule, trying to figure out as a freelancer how to make some money every day. A friend listened to me talking about my day-to-day life, and then she said, kindly but pointedly, “God spoils you so much.” I realized that God was already providing for my needs, and I could rest in that and sink into my favorite chair every morning very early and get back into that meditative journaling space.
J: Beautiful. Surprises sneak onto the pages when I journal. I tell myself things my conscious mind doesn’t know. Words open the way. The pen provides a path.
M: Definitely. A hidden path through dark woods, sometimes, or a clear path through a field.
J: One of my favorite sections in Journal Keeper’s Alphabet is the Experimenting chapter, where you offer the reader a chance to simply listen. Can you tell us a bit about that?
M: In that chapter, I mention the experimentalist John Cage, a postmodern composer. He wrote a composition called 4’33”, where a pianist on stage sits and plays nothing for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Cage wasn’t bemoaning the death of music. He was inviting the audience to actually listen during that time to all the sounds around them: squeaky theater seats, thunderstorms, and all. I love that idea for journaling. We tend to forget that we are part of a great concert, even when we think we’re completely still and writing in our journals. Listen to the pen scratching the page, for example.
J: I love that prompt where you invite us to listen for five minutes (or 4 minutes and 33 seconds, ha!)–
M: –Ha! I should have written 4’33”, instead of 5 minutes. Good one.–
J: I listened and wrote down what I was hearing. It’s a relaxing meditation. A very gentle way to enter into the present moment. I’ve done it outside and inside. Both have sounds to offer. I know you also use your journal to bring past moments together in profound ways. Recently you read me something from your journal that I hope you’ll share here.
M: I’d love to. The other morning, I wrote a 6-stanza poem as my journal entry for the day and titled it “Naphtal: My Wrestling.” In the Book of Genesis, Jacob’s family calls one son Naphtali, meaning “My wrestling,” and Jacob likens him to a deer. It’s also interesting that the name Jacob means “Wrestler,” and God changed his name to Israel, “Wrestles with God.” Wrestling is clearly an important verb for that family! Here’s the first half of that poem.
1.
The first buck I was ever close to
spun and slammed antlers first
into the windshield.
I protected my face,
palms open to him
as if to say:
Nothing here, you and I.
We’ve done nothing wrong.
2.
Others afterward have stood
solid stock-still on county roads
as if in reverie
but in sharp-focus reality
each one a crossing guard
at a border crossing
I can’t cross.
Not without permission.
3.
One buck would linger
across the creek
by Cullaby Lake trees.
My sons and I had a fine
permanent dining window view
as he bent to graze and pray.
One month he didn’t come.
One son: “Maybe he’s up in the trees.”
–from “Naphtali: My Wrestling” poem, c 2026 Margaret Kellermann
M: This “Naphtali” poem came somewhat directly from the chapter in my journal book called Weaving. I offer a writing prompt at the end of each chapter. So at the end of Weaving, I suggest in a prompt that readers could think of a number of their memories about one kind of object from their lifetime, such as lamps.
Reading that prompt the other day, I thought: I don’t have a lot of lamp stories, but I do have buck stories. And the poem spilled out, each stanza a sharp memory of a different buck I had met. Other readers doing the prompt could write separate poems about one subject, or they could write a long poem with numbered stanzas, as I did, or just journal it out in prose. Whatever you like to write, as I often tell journal keepers: it’s all good.
J: Thanks so much for sharing the first half of the poem, Margaret, and for letting us know how it came about. The word-weaving is so beautiful, painful/hopeful. “Naphtali: My Wrestling” opens the way for me to explore my own wild encounters. Thanks also for reminding us the journal is for “whatever you like to write.” Observations, thoughts, rants, plans, prayers, dreams, poetry, a place for private reflection. A path.
M: Yes, Janet, you’ve been a longtime journal keeper. I wonder if it feels good for you to throw everything into a journal almost care-lessly, when I see how carefully crafted your novels are?
J: My journal is a place to play on paper. I sometimes find myself writing bits of scenes that seemingly come out of nowhere. I also let myself rant on the page when the novel isn’t working, writing things like: “This is impossible. There’s no way to solve this plot problem!” Then the journal playfully suggests, “How about this?” And new ideas flow. It’s very freeing.
You approach journal keeping with remarkable flexibility, Margaret. And you have a keen interest in teaching others how to explore. Can you tell us about your upcoming Journal Keeping workshops?
M: In the next few weeks, I’ll be leading two journal workshops:
The first is September 20: “Unfenced Writing: A Journal Keeping Studio for Adventurous Writers,” an online 90-minute workshop, with Katherine Bond as host of this Labyrinth program:
The second is a three-day retreat October 5-7, “Keeping a Journal With God,” at one of my favorite spots: Mount Angel Abbey, south of Portland. This workshop is almost full, so if you’re intrigued, check it out soon.
Also, today I was asked to lead an impromptu journal workshop tomorrow with some interns who will be working with kids. That will be great, since I won’t have any time to worry about what to say!
J: I have a feeling these invitations will keep coming in. Your inviting book will inspire many people to try journaling again or journaling for the first time.
Dreamwalkers, I know some of you have already signed up for the online workshop on September 20th. I’ll see you and perhaps a few more Dreamwalkers there!
The three-day retreat at Mount Angel will be a terrific gift to give yourself this fall.
M: Thanks so much for your supportive attitude and great heart, Janet. I agree, either the Labyrinth workshop or the Mount Angel one would be a gift that Dreamwalkers can give themselves right now. I love Labyrinth’s online workshops because the presenters offer quick, practical advice that helps me advance my business and writing.
And when I go on retreats at Mount Angel Abbey, I always feel peacefully recharged. There’s enough community and enough solitude, because the schedule is very open between the sessions. And the food there is *chef’s kiss*.
