Journals have always been my dearest friend. Inside the covers I have scribbled the names of my truest love at the time, a phone number, a favorite quote. Then as the days have faded I have scribed my thoughts and expressed myself. It’s been a journey of “as the handwriting progresses” and a tale of empowerment. All have been authored exclusively by me.
Summer Pierre has inspired me to be more creative and inspired in my journaling. She has authored and illustrated Great Gals: Inspired Ideas for Living a Kick-Ass Life. It’s journaling on a more advanced level.
It’s a journal that’s going to make you want to kick off your shoes, escape to the sanctuary of your favorite place and begin a new phase of YOU. Beyond the artwork, there’s some fun and soul searching waiting inside the pages. Fun facts, obscure quotes and highlights of some pretty amazing women throughout history. It’s not your standard fare of those women who top the list–some of the women I had never heard of before Great Gals. Women like Betsey Johnson, Emily Carr and Anais Nin. Once I read their stories in Great Gals I wondered how they had escaped my “Girl Power”. Of course you’ll find the more well-known women too like Ella Fitzgerald, Cyndi Lauper, Emily Dickinson and Dolly Parton.
The art work on the pages reminds me of scribbles I’d like to pen myself. There’s portraits, word art and just some down-right stellar scribble doodles. It is very happy artwork and I love looking through the pages.
Great Gals dares to ask me the questions I haven’t take the time to ask myself–or maybe it’s that I just haven’t pondered them long enough to put the thoughts into words….my words.
Take the woman, Sojourner Truth. Without doubt a strong and courageous woman. Now, after reading her story, Summer Pierre invites me to write mine by finishing this sentence: I have courage because….. Go ahead, think about it and then set it free on to the paper. Or how about Joan Jett? This challenge is to identify what you can do and then explore the possibilities you have by writing about what you would like to do…then adding one small action you can take to start the ball rolling.
Page after page Great Gals lays the foundation for self-discovery and encourages us to be ourself–and finding out along the way just who we are that makes us great!
The book has had a tremendous impact on me and through it I discovered Summer Pierre’s blog. Her posts are just as enlightening as her book, Great Gals. One of my favorite posts is recent and is a list of her “My Favorite Names for Things” It’s detailed and as I tried to make mine I found it brought back some pretty delightful memories.
At the top of her blog she lists “100 Things” in a tab. I’m curious by nature and so I clicked on it. It’s “100 Things” she wants to accomplish before she crosses the finish line. It’s a work in action and I love that she finalizes them by putting a line through it once it’s done.
Great Gals: Inspired Ideas for Living a Kick-Ass Life is available through pre-order on Amazon for only $10.76. Trust me, it’s going to be an amazing purchase that will continue to produce a lifetime of inspiration. I’m giving a copy to each of my daughters. I hope they will use it as a foundation to achieve a remarkable and amazing woman who stares back at them in the mirror.
Get out there and live your life!
I was sent a copy of Great Gals: Inspired Ideas for Living a Kick Ass Life in order to facilitate an honest review. No other compensation was received. The opinions are my own and were in no way influenced by the sponsor. Other experiences may vary.