Jennifer Karchmer was a student in a ten-day silent meditation retreat in March 2011 through the Northwest Vipassana Center, known as Dhamma Kuñja, located in Onalaska, WA. What follows is Jennifer’s personal experience, as told in interview form while she was living in Reykjavik, Iceland in 2012.

​Click here to read the entire article on Medium: 
https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/jennifer-karchmer-was-a-student-in-a-ten-day-silent-meditation-retreat-in-washington-state-f1af95577f27

New Job? Here are five tips to help you thrive — and survive

Landing a new job can be exciting and scary at the same time. You’re pumped for the challenges (and to receive your fat paycheck!) but maybe a little nervous too about how you’ll fare fitting into already-established workgroups.

If you’ve been wanting to start a new daily routine to stay centered and calm especially in your high-powered career, now is the time.

Click here to read the entire article on Medium: 
​https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/ask-a-career-coach-bb92fc518494

Since 2014, Jennifer Karchmer has been successful in beating her eating addiction, abstaining from two trigger foods — chocolate and ice cream — sweets that she abused for several years. This is a Q & A interview with Jennifer on what lead to her out-of-control eating, how she addressed the behavior and the steps and mindset she has adopted to address her addiction. Jennifer, 49, lives in Washington state, USA. The interview was conducted Nov. 10, 2019.

Read the entire article on Medium:  ​https://medium.com/@journalist_jk/how-i-beat-my-food-addiction-2c41e5176c69

by Jennifer Karchmer

I'm hot and cold about writer's retreats. This is pretty funny because I've been a professional writer for more than 25 years, so you'd think that I would jump at the chance to share a comfy couch with fellow scribes and commiserate about the craft.

​But my relationship to the weekend escape known as the retreat is more like a "Sam and Diane" connection (think TV show "Cheers") rather than a hand-in-glove love affair. I'm a writer in passion, talent and career, but I tend to resist the meta — the bird's-eye view of writing.   

This ambivalence is rooted in two precepts common to many writers — fear and procrastination. What if I find out that my writing sucks, that everyone else is better than me? Am I just stalling by getting away from it all, when what I really need is to get my butt in the chair? 

"A writer writes, right? How could attending a veritable break get more words on the page," I thought? 

Last fall, I decided to drop all of this psychological baggage to attend Write Doe Bay, a writer's mecca in Washington state that dubs itself, "an intimate artists' retreat and multi-workshop event..." Now that the dust has settled, I can say this three-day weekend (Oct. 6-8, 2017) gave me  ... 

Don’t tell my editor this: I've always had trouble meeting deadlines. The moments leading up to the finale crush me as I work frantically getting a piece done, sometimes kicking myself that I didn't dig deeper sooner.

What exactly do I resist? Avoid? Battle with? Struggle with?

So I ask myself: Is it fear of failure? Fear of performing? Fear of rejection?

When I write, I see the faces of my audience, as if I’m on stage. I’m ready to utter my lines, but my throat tightens with censorship. Will the performance be as good as the rehearsal?

I write the story in my head, but when I face the page, my mind is blank like a painter’s new canvas. Why does that prospect instill panic, rather than entice like an invitation?

As I sit at my desk toiling over my next draft,  judgment enters the room. She takes a seat, clipboard firmly clasped against her chest. She bites the end of a pen, her peering eyes above the bifocals ooze critique. She’s not front row and center shaking her head. Rather, I see her midway, maybe seven or eight rows back, just far enough to give the guise of objectivity, yet close enough that I can feel her heat.

These worries are cliché: a writer stalled, mind numb, paralyzed in the chair, what to write?

Enough of this, I say.

I’ve been resisting the muse for too long. I take an ice pick to my writer’s block; it’s time to chip away. I turn to my best friends on my bookshelf: King, Lamott, Goldberg and others who instruct and inspire. Strunk & White are in the corner (smoking a cig and sipping whisky).

The block begins to melt, just slightly. I pull a marked-up paperback off the shelf. On the cover, I see six thin pencils, standing at attention, serving as tree trunks to the web of ideas a writer calls upon when she grabs words from head and heart. The inside back cover is like a New York City subway car in the 80s: scribbled graffiti with lists, arrows, bullet points -- my notes from the first time I read the book.

​​It’s “The Forest for the Trees,” by Betsy Lerner, a long-time editor. She dubs it “Advice to Writers,” gently providing food for thought in the Track Changes of our writer minds. It’s one of my favorites, and today, I summon her counsel.

As I flip through the pages, I happily find several passages that I had circled, underlined or starred to remind me why I am a writer, why I struggle with my confidence and why I resist my muse.

From Lerner, I learn:

Ah! I recall the day I originally highlighted these poetic and prophetic paragraphs. As a collective, they lecture me like a professor: Your writing is like a piece of clay. You don't begin with the etchings of the tiny details and fine lines. You must build the foundation before it takes shape. So too with writing, one must put the thing up and lay it out. You cannot carve away (edit) pieces that could be saved for good use later.

Early in “Trees,” Lerner tells a story of the time when she got to study with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jorie Graham. One day during a private conference, Graham had played a trick on Lerner – one that set in motion a detective's work of discovery.

​To be instructive, Graham had reassembled a series of the student's poems in such a way that transformed Lerner's approach to writing. The poems had gone from “acorns" to "an oak,” Lerner recalls.

With renewed creativity and a permission slip to experiment, Lerner rushed home and sifted through her poems to create new masterpieces, which eventually got published in prestigious literary journals.

“If you are struggling with what you should be writing, look at your scraps,” she says.

Back at my desk, I sit down and pull the paper snowballs out of the trash. I dust off an unfinished essay that was demoted to the lower drawer I rarely open. 

I hear Lerner's advice continue: “Whatever you do, I beg you not to look at the bestseller lists.”

Don’t try to copy what already exists, she says. Look at your scraps; therein lies your pot of gold.
​
Now, resist the voices that sit on your shoulder. Judgment does not have to be front and center; relegate her to the back row, I tell myself.

A version of this article was originally published in Red Wheelbarrow Writers.

by Jennifer Karchmer
 
How long have you been dreaming about opening a restaurant? How about quitting your day job and travelling around the world? Maybe you’re still thinking about getting that yoga certification? Or wondering when you’ll get published even though you’ve stuffed 50 pages of your memoir in a drawer because you’re worrying it’s not any good?
 
We all have lifelong dreams. They drive our passions and feed our imaginations. For some, we lock them away (like the manuscript) because we think they are out of reach, too lofty, or “crazy.”
 
It’s easy to get discouraged when you share your vision with friends or family only to get shot down with: “It costs too much. Your head is in the clouds. That will never happen. It’s too expensive. It will take forever.” On and on those negative thoughts permeate your daily life and soon enough, the dream bubble is burst and we truly believe that our dreams are as far away as the sun.

Digging Deep
Theo Mahy is a business coach in New York. Originally from France, Mahy came to the US to help other French entrepreneurs relocate to the States and find new ventures and grow their businesses. He’s since branched out and works with a variety of clients, from college administrators, to restaurant owners, to athletic company CEOs to freelance writers.
 
“It’s like digging deep,” Mahy says. By giving yourself at least one hour each week, you can “let go and work on yourself and create value just around you.” Mahy himself worked regularly with a coach when he was student. It was a great way to set up measurable goals and, most of all, stay accountable. When we know we have to report to someone, we’re more likely to do the work, he says. Those sessions, “help you see yourself as powerful.” And who doesn’t want to powerful?
 
So how do you know it’s the right time?
If you’ve considered working with a coach, then you’re ready. Just having the idea percolate in your mind means it’s important to you and that your dreams are poised to become reality. Somewhere in there is a block but you’re open to sharing your most intimate fears and doubts with an objective third-party.
 
Your BFF and your mom lend a listening ear, but a professional coach will give you the good, the bad and the ugly truth about your mindset.
 
So what is holding you back. Perhaps it’s opening up to a stranger? The dent in your pocketbook? Does the thought of actually achieving your dreams seem scary?
 
Here are some common fears and ways to overcome them:

1. Fear: "I’m nervous about opening up to a stranger."
   Solution: Do your homework and work with someone who shares your vision. A professional will listen non-judgmentally and keep your information confidential too. Search online for keywords that are important to you (i.e., fitness, dreams, lose weight, travel, etc). Send emails, ask about rates, read up on the coach’s philosophy and see if you’re a match.
   
   
2. Fear: "I can’t afford it."
   Solution: You can’t afford not to. It’s a cliché but true. Working with a coach is a long-term investment. What you get out of each session is knowledge and inspiration and practical advice that you will hold onto and use for the rest of your life. Changing your mindset from negative to positive is like money in the bank so start saving today.
   
   
3. Fear: "What if I don’t achieve my goal?" 
   Solution: But what if you do? Moving to Africa, becoming a best-selling novelist, earning your pilot’s license – does the thought of achieving your lifelong dream give you the butterflies or catapult you to a stratosphere that is impossible to imagine? You need to believe it before you can achieve it (someone said that). Your first step is to accept what you really want is within reach.

 
The bottom line: if you’re even thinking about working with a coach to reach your dreams, then the time is now to find the right person who can guide you and help keep you accountable. Why wait any longer to be able to say, “I have fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams.”

Back in the day when I was a reporter for my hometown paper, The Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal, we were advised to carry a stack of coins in our pockets to make a call from a pay phone to get an attorney on the line in case of trouble. This advice was mostly for the reporters covering crime and the courts. As a reporter on the business section, the most danger I could expect was pissing off potential advertisers.
 
Today, however, the advice to reporters covering politics, demonstrations, and even run-of-the-mill public meetings has shifted: program your lawyer’s number on your smartphone’s speed dial, and make sure your bank account is flush so you can make bail if you find yourself in handcuffs.

Here is latest episode of The jPod -- interviews and conversations with a journalist. Today, I talk about the work of international female journalists and discrimination in the newsroom. My guest is Elle Toussi, an American journalist based in LA who started the nonprofit "In One Minute" as part of her platform for multimedia storytelling.

Click here for the podcast: www.jenniferkarchmer.com/podcasts.html#ElleToussi

Pay particular attention (go to 14:00) to the discussion of the lack of female trainers in the hostile environment training field. Can men effectively train women for dangerous assignments? Should more women be part of the teams preparing reporters for conflict reporting? 

Join the conversation via these hashtags and links and comment on this blog below:
#WomenMatter 
#WomenInJournalism
#PressFreedomMatters
Elle Toussi @ElleToussi 
SPJ @spj_Tweets
SPJ International Community @SPJ_IJC 
Jennifer Karchmer @journalist_jk

For Further Reading:
"Report: Violence against women journalists," by Annabelle Sreberny
“Violence and Harassment against Women in the News Media: A Global Picture"
“International News Safety Institute, Survey: violence against women journalists”

Years ago, while living in New York City, I would spend a Friday night at the Barnes & Noble at 14th Street-Union Square. First, I would grab a handful of books I had on my reading wish list and plunk down in a comfy chair. Unfortunately, my pocketbook at the time allowed me to purchase only one book. Before departing, I would get a coffee at the café and go to the metal folding chairs set up in the reading gallery to listen to an author talk about his or her latest book.

​When I wanted to support a small, independent bookstore, I would head over to BookCourt in Brooklyn and do the same.More recently, while living in the Pacific Northwest, I listen to authors of fiction, memoir, non-fiction, humor, and all genres by attending writing conferences like the annual Write on the Sound held in Edmonds, Wash. When I want to hear an author do a reading from his or her book, I go to Village Books, an independent bookseller in Bellingham, Wash.

Bonus info: 
While this video (below) is geared toward public speaking, I'd argue it provides an excellent structure for all storytelling. 
​
Authors and writers take heed... watch this short explanation (8 mins) of how to succeed at public speaking and pay particular attention to the parts about giving your audience a reason to care (5:32) and building metaphors (6:45):
https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_anderson_teds_secret_to_great_public_speaking#t-39948

This is an excerpt from Jennifer’s upcoming book,“Take (Your) Time To Write: The Path to Peaceful Writing,” based on the concept of slow writing. 

I’ve always been a slow writer. In the 1990s, at my first job as a reporter, I would take hours to finish a 500-word column that should have taken an hour or two after sifting through my notes. I would return from a school board meeting or a run-of-the-mill press conference and toil over the lede (first sentence of a news story) and every sentence. I would rewrite and rewrite until everything was just right. Of course, accuracy is critical in journalism, so I checked, rechecked, and made my quotes perfect. Still, my editor pulled me aside one day, and while assuring me I was doing a good job, she said I needed to produce more quickly. They were paying me by the hour ($5) and wouldn’t be able to afford me if I kept up this tortoise pace.

​Thankfully, I learned to speed it up. After putting in more than a decade in busy newsrooms, I can say I have never been fired for missing a deadline. (Admittedly, as I work on this post, I see out of the corner of my eye on the TV, three episodes of Seinfeld have passed in addition to at least half of “Dirty Dancing” so we’re moving in on three hours and I’m only halfway finished.)

Several years ago, I made the transition from a “Just the facts, ma’am” reporter to a personal essay freelance writer. Today, I make my own deadlines – a dream come true for a writer, but with the autonomy comes discipline. So I’ve turned to other writers for guidance.

Frightfully, at a cocktail party, I overhear one writer say she jumps out of bed at the crack of dawn to get her butt in the chair before the family begins to stir. Similarly startling was the time a fellow scribe tell me he neurotically crosses off “Wrote 1,500 words!” on his daily To Do list. Getting up before the roosters? Hitting a daily self-imposed word count? ​Is this discipline or competition?

Realizing these conventions are not for me, I try to build my confidence, and my writing practice, around a slower, more relaxed pace that seems more in tune with my molasses gait. I admire you early risers, I really do. But it’s just not my style, so why force it? Writing is not only a career but an art, a passion–one that inches along to the tune of the muse whom I invoke when the sun and moon align.

Well, it’s actually not that magical but I put a lot of stock in how I am feeling. I am a productive writer, but these laments make me feel stressed out and depleted. Am I really a writer if I don’t adhere to these routines? I had left the busy newsroom grind and didn’t want to replace it with tortuous rules that seemed to leave me with a wet blanket of guilt draped over my shoulders.​