Emotional Spring Cleaning: how writing can clean the slate

Ever heard the advice ‘make lemonade if life sends you lemons’? Wise words, no doubt, but how do we rise above hurt feelings and anger, come to terms with life-threatening illness, or rebuild our lives after redundancy or the loss of a relationship?

We all acquire ‘emotional baggage’ as we travel through life. The good news is that when the baggage gets heavy, we don't all need a 12-step program or a personal therapist to ease the load. For the everyday ups and downs of life, most of us have a hidden ability to be our own therapist - to heal ourselves, in fact.

Writing is a good way to unlock this hidden power. Let your emotions out in writing, and when you see what you write, you'll begin to know what you feel. Putting those negative feelings into words may allow you to gain some control over them.

Put your deepest thoughts and feelings into words, even if no one ever reads them. In fact, don’t plan to show the writing to anyone else; write it just for you, advises Professor James Pennebaker of the University of Texas, Austin USA, a major researcher in this field.

The medium is not the message. Whether you type on a keyboard, write in ink, use pencil or chalk doesn’t matter. Writing in the air with your finger (if you don’t mind looking a bit eccentric) can work just as well.

The healing power of writing has been found to work for life’s downs and ups – we can write about events that were traumatic, or just distressing; we can write about happiness and strength that we hope for in the future. Either way, most of us will benefit by putting it into words. Our immune systems will normally improve, too, which is good for us, and bad for the common cold.

Magic formula? There is none. Spelling and grammar don’t matter in this case - knowing how to punctuate (or even just knowing how to spell 'punctuate') won't make you feel better faster. There is no ‘right way’ to write about your feelings. You are the expert on you, after all, and you’ll know best what suits you.

If you can write about your deepest thoughts and feelings for 15-20 minutes at least, without stopping, and do that for several days in a row, so much the better. If, over several sessions of writing, you develop a new perspective and see things from other points of view as well as your own, you are even more likely to benefit from your writing. When you express your thoughts and feelings in a way that makes new sense to you, the new perspective can bring new understanding and a new peace of mind. That’s the key to letting go of anger, hurt feelings and shame, and transforming those emotional lemons into a tonic.

Who knows, maybe after a few experiments you might even catch the writing habit and keep a journal. Perhaps you’ll be the next Bridget Jones! If so, well and good, but for most of us, the chance to clean the emotional slate is ample reward for a few short writing sessions.


5 top tips for expressive writing

1 Write about what crops up most often now in your thoughts and dreams.

2 Write whatever comes into your head, in the way that suits you. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.

3 Tell yourself the story – it’s your understanding that matters.

4 You can write about positive things too – the future you want to achieve.

5 If writing about a traumatic memory becomes too distressing, STOP and do something pleasant instead. Give yourself a treat!



Further information

Opening up: The healing power of expressing emotions - by James W. Pennebaker (1997), published by The Guilford Press.

The writing cure: How expressive writing promotes health and emotional well-being - by Stephen Lepore & Joshua Smyth (2002), published by the American Psychological Association.

©: Cecilia Lenagh 2008. All rights reserved. www.cecilia-lenagh.com

Less is more for Neo-minimalist writing

The writer’s notebook is a venerable tradition, frequently recommended to new writers. Some brands of notebook are legendary - Ernest Hemingway and Bruce Chatwin used the classic little black Moleskine books on their travels.

The downside is, those hastily scribbled, handwritten notes might be more accessible and indexable in a computer program, but who has time to transcribe their notebook jottings? Should today’s writer rely on the notebook computer instead of a little black book?

When you want writing-to-go, possibly with fries, a lightweight notebook laptop is one solution. However, laptops are still relatively expensive, and apt to be heavy and hot. That’s enough to make a pen and a paper notebook seem attractive again.

So is there a compromise? A writing tool that’s light, portable and not too precious to be risked out in the world of real travel? Something with a good keyboard that isn’t going to give you RSI just looking at it?

The answer may lie with the Alphasmart Neo. The Neo, a battery-powered word processor, fills the niche for the impecunious writer or the freelance journalist needing a sturdy writing keyboard that can take a few knocks. What’s more, the Neo runs cheaply for over 700 hours on 3 AA batteries – eat your heart out, laptop users! – and switches on and off in seconds. No more waiting for everything to boot up before writing down those fleeting thoughts.

In Writing Magazine (November 2007, pp12-13), Victor Paul Borg, a travel writer, swore by his Neo. As he was swearing by his Neo while using it to pound out an article somewhere ‘in remote mountains of western China’, his professional opinion carried due weight. Further research revealed a whole community of writers who like nothing better than to sing the praises of their Alphasmart Neos.

The Neo is a simple, minimalist keyboard, though it offers a thesaurus, spell checking and calculator functions. You can’t connect to the Internet or play Solitaire, but you can write in almost any environment! The keyboard is full-sized and wonderfully quiet - ideal for writing unobtrusively even in company. Some writers even use it while commuting, squeezing an extra hour or two of writing time into their daily schedule.

Happily, the Neo is compatible with Windows and with Macintosh, making it easy to bridge the gap between different operating systems if, like me, you might move writing work between home and office systems. And after work, if you favour the old nursing maxim ‘never stand when you can sit, or sit when you can lie down’, with a Neo you can recline like Cleopatra and still write.

The Neo has a small built-in screen, slightly angled, and wide enough to view several lines of text. Font sizes are adjustable and although the screen is not backlit, text definition is sharp. No need to save every half hour, either – Neo saves every keystroke automatically. You can open the Neo straight into the last file you worked in, with the cursor exactly where you left it.

If Neo has one obvious drawback, it is the fixed memory capacity. Many writers claim the Neo would be improved by having a USB port or a card slot. However, at 2MB Neo’s capacity is more than enough for most writers to get that vital first draft written without letting the Inner Critic start tweaking and editing. In fact, Neo’s miniscreen keeps one focussed on the text without the temptation to format as one writes.

Neo uses a system of eight working files, which may be switched between at the touch of a key – great for working on different projects, or separate chapters, and ideal for writers who want to keep a journal or a jottings file of ideas alongside their works in progress.

The Neo has infrared (IR) and USB for file transfer. (There’s a curious pleasure in watching the text pour onto a blank page as one transfers a file by USB.) It is possible to connect by USB or infrared to compatible printers, though probably easier to download text into a PC or Mac and print from that.

The new generation of Smart phones also pairs well with Neo; via an IR port, you can beam a text file from Neo to a suitable phone, then email it or store it on your phone to download later. (In my case, a Sony Ericsson K800i gives Neo a back-up memory.)

Alphasmart Neo is available from specialist educational suppliers, and from companies selling assistive technology for people with disabilities. Comparison shopping online is recommended – including eBay if you are looking for a secondhand bargain.

In 2007, my own Neo cost about AU$540, bought new online in Australia. Of course, for twice that amount one could purchase a basic Dell laptop with some bells and whistles. However, as a trade-off one would lose the simplicity and durability of the Neo, not to mention its marvellous, economical 700+ hours running time for every purchase of 3 AA batteries.

If you are a writer looking for an affordable laptop alternative that offers straightforward writing time, durability, portability and economical operating costs, Alphasmart Neo is this writer’s choice for 2008!

Suppliers in Britain and Australia

http://www.portabletechnology.co.uk

For Neo in Britain – a Neo, USB cord and Alphasmart
carry case costs approximately GBP 210 including VAT.

www.keytools.co.uk

For Neo in Britain - approximately GBP185 for Neo, software and manual, AC adaptor and a USB cable. This supplier offers a variety of Alphasmart bags, from GBP24.

www.batterypoweredcomputers.com

For Neo in Australia – approximately AU$540 for a Neo, USB cord, software and manual, and Alphasmart carry case, including GST.

www.moleskine.co.uk

For information on Moleskine products in Britain.


Do your own research into how writers around the world are using
the Neo:

For a friendly and knowledgeable global writers’ forum on Alphasmart writing tools,
look at:

www.flickr.com/groups/alphasmart/discuss/

For an in-depth, 4-part review of Alphasmart Neo, by writer Mark Zeedar:

www.macopinion.com



© Cecilia Lenagh 2008. All rights reserved. www.cecilia-lenagh.com

what do you want from 2008?

The temptation to make improbable but heroic resolutions has faded for most of us by mid-January. But what would you like to be, do or achieve in 2008?

Here is one of my not-resolutions: Educational recycling:
Invest in an upgrade for vocational qualifications that are looking a bit dusty. Gone are the days when a post-school qualification lasted for the rest of your life.

And here's another: Keep up with new technology:
I'm venturing into blogland, where the newly evolved cyber-humans graze on RSS feeds, in vast, socially networked herds of nerds.