If this is a question you have grappled with or are currently wrestling with, I want you to tape this affirmation to your bathroom mirror: “You are not too old, and it is not too late.”
Social media can make us feel like life ends at 35 or sometimes even 25, which is mind-boggling considering your brain isn’t even fully developed until then, but there is no expiration date on your dreams. Emily Dickinson’s writing career didn’t really start until after her death! But let’s not wait that long to share your work with the world.
June is here, and for many writers, that means longer days and new ideas or fresh energy for old ones.
Here at See Jane Write HQ, we’re also participating in the #1000WordsOfSummer challenge created by author Jami Attenberg. This challenge, which kicked off May 30, invites you to write 1000 words a day every day for 14 days.
But even if you aren’t doing the challenge, June is still a great time to lock in with your writing practice, and you can do that with journaling. Whether you’re drafting a novel, writing personal essays, building a freelance career, or simply trying to establish a consistent writing habit, journaling can help you stay connected to your creativity and your goals.
These June journal prompts for writers are designed to help you reflect, dream, plan, and write with intention throughout the month. Some prompts are inspired by Jami Attenberg’s book 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round. Other prompts help you set your goals for the month and encourage you to think about wellness, reading, creativity, and personal growth. Some prompts are about the writing life and figuring out how you want to show up in the writing world. Others are designed to get your muse moving and help you with your work in progress.
Is there a place for me in the Christian writing world? That’s the question I carried with me as I walked into last year’s Southern Christian Writers Conference (SCWC).
Editor’s Note: See Jane Write publishes guest articles by writers who identify as women, non-binary folks, and our allies. Learn more here.
By Mary Chiney
The first thing they teach you in a newsroom is how to disappear.
As a journalist, your training is a masterclass in the art of the invisible. You are taught to stand in the back of the room, notebook pressed against a damp palm, recording the vibrations of someone else’s brilliance while your own voice stays tucked safely behind a press pass. For years, I have made a living in the third person. I have dissected the discographies of global icons for The Quietus, mapped the rising trajectories of African trailblazers for The Recording Academy (Grammy.com) and Afrocritik, and translated the raw, sonic vulnerability of artists like Kid Cudi and Amaarae into the polished, intellectual prose required by “reputable publications.”
In the high-stakes world of culture journalism, the “I” is a liability. To say “I felt” is to invite the ghost of “unprofessionalism” into the room. We are taught that the story is the subject, and we are merely the lens, transparent, unbiased, and essentially, silent.
But lately, I’ve been thinking about the cost of that transparency. When you spend all your time building legacies for others, what happens to the architecture of your own soul? I saw the call for submissions for See Jane Write, and it felt like a mirror being held up to a face I hadn’t looked at in years. It asked a question that journalists rarely ask themselves: Are you the author of your own life, or are you just the biographer of everyone else’s?
February is the perfect month to write your way through 28 days of self-love journaling prompts. With Valentine’s Day and Galentine’s Day on the horizon, February is a month that’s all about love. And it’s my favorite month because it’s also my birthday month and Black History Month.
While we spend much of February focusing on our love for others – from best friends to romantic partners – we must be careful not to neglect self-love along the way.
