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Related Resources • Story Starter Collection • Quick and Easy Pages: Book Review of New Book by Joanna Campbell Slan • Journaling and Lettering • How To Get Started Journaling in Your Album: Beginner How To

From Other Guides • Journaling for Scrapbooks

Elsewhere on the Web • Scrapbook Storytelling

1) SELF-IMPROVEMENT MONTH -- Yes, I know YOU are perfect, but you might want to pass this one along. With the children going back to school, now is the time to pick a project you've longed to try.

• Page and Journaling Idea -- What have you always wanted to learn to do? Where did this interest spring from? Now take photos of your quest. Be sure to reduce and color copy covers of books or tapes that add you in your educational adventure.

• Journaling Idea-Often, we are kept from trying new skills because of our misconceptions or because of old fears and habits. What misconceptions have you faced? What old fears and habits have you erased?

2) BE KIND TO EDITORS AND WRITERS MONTH -- Often we enjoy a person's work and neglect to tell them how they add happiness to our lives. Writing is a lonely business. You do it in solitude and hope for the best.

• Journaling Idea -- Cut an article from a local or national publication and journal about it. What moves you? Do you agree with the author's point of view?
• Page Idea -- If you've always wanted to write, be kind to your inner writer. Create a faux book cover for a book you'd like to write.
• Page Idea -- Is there a book that has changed your life? Or a book that is simply your favorite? Add the cover to a page. Then journal about how you came to read this book and what it meant to you.
• Activity Idea -- Go to a book signing by an author you admire. Or go to a book signing by an author you've never heard of. I have discovered that once I see an author or hear an author, I am much more intrigued by the person's work. Take photos and create a page. Be sure to include your children if one of their favorite authors or book characters come to town.

 3) CHILDREN'S BOOK MONTH -- While we're on the subject, this is the perfect month to read and enjoy books for and about children.

• Family Activity -- If your child isn't interested in reading or isn't an eager reader, try books on tape. We've found that the interest in the unfolding story translates into a heightened interest in reading. As a plus, hearing the words often speeds vocabulary development. Be sure to take photos of your children listening to the books.
• Page Idea -- Do all your family members have library cards? This is also Library Card Sign Up Month. Take photos of your family standing in front of your local library or book store. Why not create a scrapbook page with a copy of your library card?
• Page Idea -- What was your favorite book as a child? Include a picture of the book's cover on your scrapbook page with a picture of you in your "salad days." Journal your feelings about this book.

4) NATIONAL MINDMAPPING MONTH -- Now is a perfect time chance to jump start your journaling. Create mindmaps of topics for use now or later. 

• Journaling Idea-Put a photo by your journaling paper and mind- map what you see. Start with a circle in the center of your paper. Inside the circle write a main idea or theme. Draw spokes or branches coming out from the circle and put new circles on the end of the spokes. Printing your words works best because printing makes it much easier to see and focus on the words. You can use color, arrows and symbols to connect ideas. For more information, I recommend Joyce Wykoff's book, Mindmapping.
• Page Idea -- Mindmap a complicated relationship or idea. Include the mindmap with a photo to create your page. Your journaling box would be a summary of what you decided, explored or learned.

5) NATIONAL PIANO MONTH -- Celebrate your favorite composer or artist with a nod to this percussive instrument nonpareil.

• Page Idea -- Use ebony and ivory as a background to the titles or words of your favorite songs. Journal how you were introduced to the songs.
• Journaling Idea -- Do you have a favorite piano memory? Most of us do, because the piano is the first instrument we learn. As a boy, my husband came home from his first piano lesson, sat down and played the few notes he'd mastered, then turned to his parents and said, "Now I can play the piano. What other instruments do we have around the house?"
• Photo Idea -- If you have a treasured family piano, use a photo of the instrument and a photo of its original owner to create a heritage page.

Have a blessed September. -- Joanna