Gratitude for Authors

 

 

This app is perfect for mediation, reflection, and grounding yourself. You can use it to create goals, visions of your future, and yoga practice. Let’s get creative about how you, as an author, can tweak this great app for use beyond a gratitude journal.

I’m a list-maker. The app is not designed for notes, but the cute color pallet makes me want to add all my notes to it. Here are a couple of ideas for lists/notes.

Color-code your ideas/tasks. Use different colors to denote ideas, tasks, or to-do items. Since you can add multiple lines to one entry, you can put down as many tasks or ideas as you need. The colors will be easy to track when you return to use the data.

Tracking your days. Again, with color-coding, you can track your days. Perhaps use blue for a writing day. Green was a sick day or one for exercise. One glance at the list will show your routine and where you might need adjustments.

Affirmations actually work. Positive self-talk changes your brain. I’m not a spiritual person, but the science is there, so I believe it. Use the affirmation folders to create “playlists” of positive words. Create lists of words, phrases, and tips to help with any upcoming event. Deadline—use these five. Event—use these other five. Writer’s Block—listen to these phrases.

Vision Boards work for writers in so many ways. You can use this simple tool to create a collage of your novel. Unlike Pinterest, this app has a note aspect to add information and details. It’s not just a clip of pictures. You can add scenery boards, character boards, and event snaps. Watch anytime you are stuck or looking for a new angle for your book.

And, of course, you can just use the app for self-care. We authors tend to be isolated and have imposter syndrome. Use this cute, simple app to help you be in a better place mentally.

 

 

How to Use Gratitude

 

Gratitude has four elements—Journal, Affirmation, Daily Zen, and Vision Board. All are available with the free option.

Journal—You will probably use this feature the most. It’s a daily, weekly, or monthly journal for marking your thoughts.

• Click on Journal at the bottom of the page and then the plus sign.
• Type however much you want or need, pressing enter to add another line. It might start you with a prompt to get you going. Or you can press Show Prompt and get a kick-start idea for your entry. Press the X in a circle to remove the prompt.
• On the taskbar, click on the small circle to change the entry color. Each entry is given a pastel color to start.
• Click on the photo icon to add a pic from your gallery. The free version allows one picture.
• Press the screen-shaped button to close your keyboard.
• Click Letter to add more text if you close the keyboard.
• Press Save at the top when finished.
• You can repeat this process to add multiple entries for one day.

Affirmation—These are words you will say to yourself.

• On the main screen, click Affirmation from the bottom taskbar.
• This will one a series of file folders with affirmations on various topics. Mine included topics such as Boost Your Career, Embrace New Beginnings, Be Joyful at Work, Achieve your Goals, and many more. Each category has multiple prompts for affirmations.
• Click on a topic and scroll through the talks. Click on one to view the affirmation. If it’s for you, click Add to Folder. This will put the affirmation into your personal folder. You can put them in My Affirmations or create a new folder.
• Press Play All to listen to an entire category as a meditation or have the app pick ten entries to play on shuffle.
• Press the music note to choose what type of ambient sound will accompany the mediation.
• Click on your My Affirmations folder to see your personal playlist.
• Press the pencil icon to edit the entry. You can change the text of your choices in your folder to better reflect your needs. Add a recording of you or someone with a great British accent to read the affirmation. (Brit is just my choice…) You can change the color, text, picture, and recording on the page or delete it.
• Press Save at the top when done.
• Gratitude tracks which affirmations you’ve listened to and how many times.

Daily Zen contains quotes, motivation posts, a Think Better section, Practicing Gratitude, Gratitude Stories, Affirmation for you, and Spreading Gratitude.

• Click the bookmark icon on any of these entries to save them.
• Press the Share icon to add them to your social media.
• These entries change daily.

Vision Board is a tool to help you accomplish your goals.

• Press the pink arrow to start and add a name. (The app suggests a few if you are stuck). Press continue.
• Add sections to your board. You can add multiple from their suggestions or type your own. Press continue.
• Next, place your photos/images. You can use their suggestions or add from your own gallery. They suggest having at least three. But it’s a vision board, and the app allows you to place many photos together. They combine them all in a reel to watch and inspire.
• Press the scissors and camera to clip the reel to use as wallpaper or download the image of all your images.
• To edit the board, press the pencil icon to add more pictures or delete.
• Press the trash can to remove the entire board.

Next week, we’ll see how the app works with a writer’s life.

 

Gratitude

 

I’ve neglected the self-care category on the blog this year! I apologize. It’s a terrible time to skip such topics. Recently, I attended a mini-workshop about self-care and stress reduction. I would highly recommend taking such a class, even if you think you’re doing fine. Writers tend to work in a vacuum, and we don’t realize the damage we do to ourselves. Two years of isolation takes a toll. Treat yourself to some care.

Gratitude by Hapjoy is a guided journal app to focus and clarify your thinking. A fellow author in the Albany NaNoWriMo group recommended it to me. The program won’t magically fix your writing blocks, but it can help your sense of well-being.

Features on the app include a gratitude journal, positive affirmations, a daily Zen quote or thought, and creative vision boards. The app has a simple interface for creating journal entries and vision boards. In other words, it’s a self-help program that does not require a master’s degree in tech to operate.

The app is available for both Android and Apple devices. The Google play store lists the app as Gratitude Journal Affirmations. The icon above is the logo for the app. It is a mobile device-only app. It does not work in a browser.

Gratitude is a free app with an upgrade option. Premium costs $30 a year. You get a no-cost seven-day trial to test out the paid features. Features for upgrade include cloud-save on Google drive, exporting to a PDF, and additional photos for your journal. Note, the app will not transfer devices without the premium payments. If you start on your phone and want to keep it free, you need to stay on the same phone.