28 Aug Journaling Outside the Book, an Interview with Celeste King Conner
Are you ready to think outside the book? Join Celeste in her class, “Journaling Outside the Box” on November 3-9, 2024 and brainstorm different writing approaches and prompts that will jog your thoughts and memories.
Read more about Celeste and her class in our interview below! Register today to secure your spot.
JCCFS: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background in writing. How did you get started?
CCK: Words are my medium. I have been scolded for words as they’ve left my mouth. I’ve been accused of saying too many of them. But when others read what I’ve written, I’m often told, “You said what I was thinking!”
I encourage others to write some words down, not profound with perfect punctuation. Just captured. In 2013, my first cousin and I uncovered 16 years of our grandmother’s diary, 25 years after her death. She recorded both of our births.
I think no excuse is acceptable for not writing a few things down to be left behind. A journal has no rules. It doesn’t even have to look like a journal. It can be letters or lists, written in calendars or in children’s books.
Journaling is not a chore. It is a gift.
JCCFS: Tell us more about your class’s specific technique or process.
CCK: Mostly, folks just need a little prodding, a nudge towards remembering. We’re going to talk a lot, read a little, and write a few stories down. We’ll discuss our favorite lyrics, our childhood besties, what love looks like, and my great grandmother, Lovey Louemma, because I try to drop her name in the universe as often as possible.
Celeste’s grandmothers diary
View from the writing studio
JCCFS: What can students expect to leave your class with?
CCK: Students should leave my workshop with a list of quotes, like: “I know you’re supposed to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but that doesn’t always work out.”
“I was on the phone, crying, running from one end of the doublewide to the other. He said things were fine. And, in that moment, I knew everything was wrong.”
“I got arrested in October.”
JCCFS: What do you enjoy most about teaching?
CCK: Mainly, I’m a cheerleader, an encourager, a facilitator. I like drawing memories out of folks. I like hearing years later, “Hey! I wrote some stuff down!”
JCCFS: Where do you draw inspiration from for your work?
CCK: Conversations. I collect quotes. Sometimes in conversations with friends. Sometimes by eavesdropping. Sometimes I hear myself say something I didn’t anticipate and exclaim out loud, “That’s good!” then write it down.
JCCFS: Where can folks find you if they would like to stay up to date on your current work?
Upcoming Class with Celeste
Journaling Outside the Book
November 3-9, 2024
The only person who can tell your story is you – highs and lows, prayers and wishes, life and death. If you are ready to think outside the book, join us and brainstorm different writing approaches and prompts that will jog your thoughts and memories. The goal is to write, not finish, and you will leave with inspiration to continue at home.
About Celeste King Conner
Celeste King Conner excels at three things: making lists, talking to strangers, telling stories. She stayed in trouble throughout school for talking too much. Her daddy’s friend called her Blabbermouth. She wasn’t aware of her penchant for writing until Facebook, when “friends” told her “I love your posts!” She blogged at blabberingsbyceleste.com for several years, then self-published two books by the same name. She teaches journaling classes locally wherever given opportunity. She found 16 years of her grandmother’s diary 25 years after her death. She thinks no excuse is acceptable for not writing a few things down to be left behind. She was the inaugural recipient of the DC Stanfa Memorial Scholarship to the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop in 2022. Currently, she writes op-eds for the Dothan Eagle and the Opelika-Auburn News.
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