Monday Morning Writing Prompt

It's all well and good to talk about journaling, but there are many of us who buy a journal or open a new document on our computer only to discover that we are suddenly tongue-tied and staring at a blank page. Writing prompts can often be the kick that we need to get the pen moving and the keyboard clicking. So each Monday morning we'll provide you with a prompt to help you get words on a page. At the risk of sounding repetitive, we believe every person has a story and that those stories are lost if they are not told. Sometimes, we tell the stories to a select audience (maybe only ourselves), but there are times when we desire to tell the stories to a wider audience. However you choose to tell your story is up to you, but we do encourage you to put pen to paper and say something. If nothing else it's good therapy, but who knows how it might impact someone if you choose to share it? So here is your Monday Morning Writing Prompt:

Think back to your best friend in elementary or middle school. Describe her and your friendship. What secrets did you share? What was your favorite thing to do together? How did that friendship shape you for life, or did it?

Now, write!

We love to read your stories, so if you want to share it with us send it to lisa@miamagazine.net.

Journaling

We took a stack of journals to the photo shoot for our Winter issue cover. We wanted to include a journal in the photo - not obvious, just a subtle nod to storytelling. That is, after all, the point of the magazine. I've posted the question on our facebook page: how do YOU journal? We first tell our stories to ourselves - a rehearsal of sorts - before we launch the stories to the world. It's not a rule, however. Some women just don't have time to sit every morning or evening and with pen write down the events and thoughts of a day into a thick journal. Honestly, I don't make the time, but instead find other ways to journal.

Some days I take a stack of photos with my IPhone - it's with me wherever I go, and the photos taken in the course of one day definitely tell a story. Other days I pull the thin, paper journal from my bag when I'm waiting somewhere and jot down three thoughts. The thoughts that cross my mind during a day also tell a story. About once a week, I try to post something significant on my blog - a longer, more polished form of journaling that (yikes!) the world can see. Some women seem to journal through facebook status updates and tweets. I'm not too good at this, so I'll let others tell their story through this form of social networking. I do like to read them, so I suppose in some way I'm participating in the social network storytelling process. For decades, my husband's grandparents wrote at least a two page letter every Thursday to their daughter who lived several states away. This most certainly qualified as journaling since the letters were filled with stories of the week and their thoughts and feelings about the events. I know some mothers who write a letter each week to their infants and young children, which is a great way to tell the story of motherhood and create a keepsake for a child.

There are many ways to journal. I've often given up on the process because I limited myself to one form - pencil, paper, and a block of time. But that doesn't often work for me, so I'm intent on finding creative ways to tell my own story that fit this season of my life.

We'd love to hear from you. How do you journal? You might even be journaling without realizing it! Think about it, then do a short form of journaling and send a comment to let me know how you tell your story. As you know by now, we love to read your stories - whether they are 1,100 words or only a few sentences.

-Lisa

Destination Calling

"The first time I ran away to a foreign land I was about 6 years old. A mystical destination whispered to me through the windows of my tiny two-bedroom house, so I waited until my mother was loading the washing machine before I slipped out the storm door and set sail. I chose a dependable vessel, a turquoise banana-seat bicycle bought from Otasco..."

This begins Sheilah Bright's beautiful travel story, "Taking the Long Way Home", which was published in the Summer 2009 issue of Mia. Since that first voyage on the bicycle, Sheila has traveled to Antarctica, Thailand, Bhutan, South America, and is planning to continue her travels and visit Australia and Africa before her 50th birthday. That's a humbling goal, and one that I'm not sure I could make. But as she tells us in her travel essay, destinations don't always have to be far away or exotic. Those who have the vision to see the beauty in all places can share stories about locations that are as close as the neighborhood bookmobile (that was six-year-old Sheilah's destination as she pedaled her bike through Prattville).

I think all women love to hear stories about where others have traveled, whether it is the Arctic peninsula or the local botanical garden. What moved you? Changed you? Caused you to make discoveries about yourself and the world we live in? Share it with us! Give us a comment here, or send an email to lisa@miamagazine.net.

Happy travels!

-Lisa

Life To-Do List

It's time for us to hear from YOU. Do you have a Life To-Do List - otherwise known as a "bucket list?" Are there things you want to accomplish or experience in your life? I've thought quite a bit about this, and realize that my own list has two problems: it's vague, and focuses on what is known as the "tyranny of the urgent." I'll give you two examples. Traveling is on my Life To-Do List, but I haven't quite narrowed it down to an exact location. My life is so hectic at the moment that I'm anything but particular about travel destinations. I told someone yesterday that I'd take a weekend in the woods with a tent if I could just wrestle myself away from the constant obligations that keep me here. But I'm determined to get more specific with the list, choose some places, and start planning. The other problem with my list: I've included things that "must" be done. My list includes, "finish graduate school." Since I'm already two semesters in, that should be a given. It's a bit like filling a daily to-do list with entries like "brush teeth" and "feed dog." A Life To-Do List should force us to look past the moment, and dream about something outside of the urgency of everyday life. What are your deep-down desires? Where do you long to go? Whose life do you want to influence? How can you make the world a better place? This is an opportunity to make a list of what you want to do, rather than scribble yet another list of what you need to do. I like that idea.

I'm curious about your list. Or maybe just nosy. But at Mia, we believe that when we share our stories - even the small stories - we gain strength for our own journey. Is an entry on your Life To-Do List a story? I believe it is. Here is what we would love to receive from you: tell us one thing that is on your Life To-Do List, and why it is important to you. You don't have to write much - only 50-100 words. We'd like to publish a collection of these small stories in the Summer issue of Mia. You can send yours to lisa@miamagazine.net. In the meantime, if I can find that tent and scout out a place in the woods, I'm going to work on my own list. I look forward to hearing from you!
-Lisa

What We Believe In

We've been asked several times, "Why did you decide to start a magazine when there are so many out there?" We've also been asked, "Why start a print magazine? Why not an online magazine?" Here are our answers:

Everyone loves a good story, and that's what we publish. That's ALL we publish. We believe in the power of stories. Journalist Alex Tizon says this: "Stories give shape to experience and allow us to go through life unblind. Without them, everything that happens would float around, undifferentiated. None of it would mean anything. Once you have a version of what happened, all the other good stuff about being human comes into play." When we share our lives with one another, it makes us feel more human - more connected. We're all longing for stories that help give meaning and perspective to our own experiences, and each issue of Mia introduces you to women who tell these kinds of stories. So that's why we started this magazine, even though there are many magazines out there to choose from. We believe in storytelling.

Why a print publication? We don't deny the lure of the Internet, and we love having a complementary website where the magazine is uploaded in its entirety. But we also love holding our magazine and looking closely at the beautiful photography. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing our work come to life when its delivered from the printer and we open it for the first time, then seeing the faces of women we hand the magazine to as they open it for themselves. There is something about reading a publication that you can hold in your hands. That's why we started a print magazine, and that's why we'll continue to publish it. We believe in print media.

Dreams Do Come True

It was about a year ago that four of us sat at Juli's lake cabin and envisioned a magazine for women that was unlike anything we had seen. We agreed that the checkout stands were filled with magazines that told women what to wear, what to eat, how to decorate, how to please men - or how to snag one. We wanted to offer a magazine that didn't tell women what they should be doing, but instead let the voices of women be heard through the art of storytelling. The magazine we were dreaming about could be a conduit of encouragement, healing, hope and community. When a woman picked up our magazine and began reading, we wanted her to feel like she was sitting around a table listening to the stories of other women, and finding the strength and courage to tell her own. We agreed that the big issues of life can often be most clearly seen through the seemingly small stories that we share together. Life has a way of coming into focus when we listen to the experiences of others, and then add our own to the mix. We believe that every woman has a story, so we knew there would be no shortage of content. It's been one year, four issues, and 47 stories later. Everything that we envisioned has come together in Mia magazine, and the positive response has been overwhelming. It has proven to us that stories - and the sharing of those stories - is good, and necessary.

We are hard at work on the Summer 2010 issue. It seems like not so long ago that we were at the cabin, dreaming and brainstorming and thinking about the stories we could share through our magazine. And now here we are preparing to publish our fifth issue of Mia. Yes, dreams really do come true. We're glad you're along for the ride!

Our Newest Team Member

Michelle Presley is our new Advertising Director. Welcome aboard Michelle! Advertising is such an important part of Mia magazine. We do not publish advertorials or self-promotional articles about products or businesses. We depend on paid advertising to make the publication of Mia possible. We're adamant about this, and so we treat our advertisers very well. Michelle is such an important part of our team because she has direct communication with our advertisers - first and foremost sharing with them why their presence in Mia is a huge benefit to their business. Then she makes certain that they are taken care of all along the way, from the signing of the contract to the final product. Now that she is part of the Mia team, we're wondering how we were able to live without her! We know our advertisers are in good hands, and that makes us breathe a little easier. Thanks Michelle!!