Jill’s Quill is your place as a reader or writer to listen in on my personal self-assessment (and maybe discuss something that strikes a chord in your own life). This can be fun, eye opening and lead to personal growth.

In my novels, I often explore aspects of mental health. And in my day job, I’m a counselor. I evaluate the mental health of everyone who walks through my door. And like any good counselor, I need to be mindful of what’s going on in my own head as I try to help others maintain mental fitness.

One tool utilized in mental health is called a mental status exam. It includes but is not limited to a rundown of an individual’s appearance, judgment, thought content, behavior, and mood for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment. I don’t want to get bogged down in psychiatric jargon here. So consider moods, emotions, feelings all perfectly fine to discuss.

I believe writers think entirely too much. Speaking for myself, I have difficulty getting out of my head. So reviewing and sharing here at Jill’s Quill what’s going on in my mind is a fast, therapeutic way of dealing with thoughts, emotions, and feelings that might be nagging at me—about writing, reading, marriage, work, God, food, history, art, movies, and more. I’m not shutting down my Jillian Kent blog, but I’ll use it just when the need arises for longer posts.

My thoughts here will be longer than a tweet but shorter than my typical blog posts. I don’t plan to journal every day, but I do want to keep in touch often. I hope you’ll join me whenever you can, and comment or share your identified mood, thought, or feeling for the day and what caused it.

CAUTION: Jill’s Quill is not to be used for personal counseling or psychiatric emergencies. This is for fun and exploration only.

So let’s get started!

Today I’m motivated! I’ve been meeting with friends every month related to Gretchen Rubin’s, The Happiness Project. I love September in her book because the focus is on, Pursue a Passion. And four of the goals or resolutions she mentions are, write a book, make time, forget about results, and master a new technology. I’m doing all of them in my own way. I’m writing a new novel on Scrivener, which I have yet to master, but I’m not worrying about the results at this point.