Hi, readers! Today I’ve got author Leslea Tash here for a quick and easy chat. I posed one question to Leslea:
Do you keep a journal?
Turns out, journaling has been an important part of her life. She says:
I wouldn’t be a professional writer now if I hadn’t been a journal writer first. About 12 years ago I started blogging publicly in an anonymous journal that was eventually attached to my real name. That led to several nationally syndicated writing opportunities and my own opinion column in a few hundred newspapers, and eventually I even taught a series of classes about journaling. I highly recommend it as a therapeutic tool–and you never know! It might lead you to become a full-time writer, as well.
So, what about YOU? Do you keep a journal or a daily diary?
Leslea Tash is a professional writer published in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and websites for over a decade. In 2014 she launched a contemporary romance series and a historical Western romance series–her first works of fiction without a pen name!
Check out The Rancher Takes a Wife by Leslea Tash
Chastity Lilly is no flapper. In 1920s New York, she’s determined to find a career as a teacher so she can support her family upstate. But one thing leads to another, and the company she keeps in the big city leads her down a very different path than the one she sought. When she helps a handsome rancher in town looking for his own errant sister, can she turn her act around?
Will she take his offer of a teaching position in Wedlock, Montana and make a brand new start? And if she does, can she–and the rancher–leave the past behind to forge a new future together? Not if the rancher’s sister has her way. This is a sweet historical Western romance. There are no PG-13 or R-rated scenes.
ABC: Author Book Chat 
Wow, so much to like about this post! I never knew that journal writing could get you so far, although I can understand that such kind of writing is wonderful and valuable preparation for works of fiction. Congratulations!
Also, due to the web being flooded with steamy stuff, I had no idea there was actually sweet Western romance out there – and with such a beautiful cover at that!
Oops, nearly forgot to add my own comment: I used to keep a journal (the traditional diary, paper-bound and filled with emotional nonsense), but I stopped because Sri Lanka simply offers no privacy at all too keep such writing, whatever language they might be in. Now I simply have a ‘writing journal’ of sorts where I scribble down ideas and story concepts.
I think journal-keeping in one form or another is important for writers. It’s good to look back and recall experiences we might have forgotten, impressions about people and places, and the odd philosophical thought we’d had here and there.
One of the best things I ever journaled about was my fear of becoming a writer. I’d always played it safe and done other jobs that paid more but were less fulfilling. I have experienced increased happiness since choosing to follow my heart!
Did you go through any of the “Journal Workshops” that were once so popular? Are those still around? I never attended any workshops, but I did read “At a Journal Workshop” which presents the same information in book format.
Nope, never heard of those, but I did read The Artist’s Way program more than once. An excellent resource.
I will check it out! Thanks.
Thanks, Devika. I think journaling is the best therapy, and it’s so wonderful to write out what you want to do, what you want to be. I really believe that is a powerful tool to move anyone in the direction they want to go!
Thanks for your comments about The Rancher Takes a Wife, too. I thought about making it steamy, but decided I really wanted to write a book I wouldn’t be embarrassed to tell my friends and family I wrote. This is one you don’t have to be ashamed to share with your grandma, you know? Something about that is fulfilling to me. And I did the cover, myself, so I’m super extra glad you love it.
Keep journaling!
I can totally relate to that. 🙂 I do my own covers, too, but yours looks so much more professional and eye-catching than mine. Congrats!
You’re too kind!