Restorative Reading and Writing for Wellness

Today, we are tackling a true bookish dilemma: what do we do with the piles of unread books that we have on our shelves, but never seem to read?

Yup, I’m talking to you. 

There’s some good research behind why we need to have books in our home, more books than we could read….but there’s also research on why it’s important to read the books we already have, too.

Come listen as I explore why and how we should read the books we already have and how we can have a lot of fun doing it, too. I’ll even share a couple of the books on my own shelves gathering dust that I finally plan to read. 

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here: https://www.alitlife.com/2025/03/11/the-why-how-of-reading-books-you-already-own/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at www.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try: https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website: http://www.alitlife.com/ 

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Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

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I’ve been researching the role of writing in my own wellness journey and have reignited my love for a practice that I did so often and so thoroughly so long ago, but didn’t have a name for. 

Now I do: It’s creating mandalas.

Mandalas are circular, intricate and symmetrical designs that have been used for centuries across cultures. It’s actually a form of meditation and mindfulness, blended with a dose of creativity. 

Come listen as I explain exactly what mandalas are, why they are important for mental wellness and the different ways you could create one today.

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here: ⁠https://www.alitlife.com/2025/03/04/mandalas-for-mental-health/⁠

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at ⁠www.getliterate.co⁠. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try: ⁠https://amzn.to/44wELKN⁠

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store: ⁠https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife⁠

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website: ⁠http://www.alitlife.com/⁠ 

⁠Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit⁠

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit

Today, I’m sharing a new-to-me genre that might be a new-to-you genre, too. I stumbled upon it in a moment of food poisoning and now, I at least have something good that came out of that experience. =)

In this episode, I’m exploring the genre of graphic medicine: what it is, why it’s important, how it can help us heal, titles worth exploring and more. 

Come listen and add a new genre to your TBR with me!

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here: https://www.alitlife.com/2025/02/25/exploring-the-power-of-graphic-medicine/https://www.alitlife.com/2025/02/25/exploring-the-power-of-graphic-medicine/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at www.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try: https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website: http://www.alitlife.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit

Today, I’m sharing a therapeutic technique for your notebook: one that can be done at any time, anywhere and to anyone, to help you feel better, get more clarity and spark your creativity, too.

What’s the technique? Writing hand-written letters that you’ll never send. 

Come listen as I explore the research behind this practice and offer many different ways you could bring this into your own notebooking.

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here:https://www.alitlife.com/2025/02/18/a-notebook-idea-to-get-clarity-move-on-spark-creativity/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more atwww.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try:https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store:https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website:http://www.alitlife.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit

Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram:http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit

I love exploring ways to make our reading and writing habits more restorative. Small changes can make a big impact in our enjoyment of reading and writing AND in our productivity too.

Aromatherapy uses essential oils to improve our health and well-being and can elevate any experience we choose to engage in…especially reading and writing. 

In today’s episode, I’m exploring how aromatherapy can enhance our reading and writing experiences: making us calmer, helping us focus, soothing our nervous systems and sparking our creativity, too. 

Come listen as I share all I’ve learned and recommend some of my favorite oil scents and blends, too. You won’t want to miss this episode!

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here: https://www.alitlife.com/2025/02/04/aromatherapy-for-readers-writers/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more atwww.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try:https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store:https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website:http://www.alitlife.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit

Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram:http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit

Today, I'm playing an encore of my most downloaded podcast episode of all time as I recover from the flu. If this episode is new to you, then enjoy! If you've already listened once, I bet you'll enjoy a second listen to inspire your writing in the new year!

I love books. I love reading. I love notebooks. I love writing. 

But life is busy and sometimes, it can be hard to make the time for the kind of reading and writing lives we want to have. 

Today’s guest is changing all of that. ⁠Dr. Nicole Janz⁠ is a writer’s coach on a mission to help book lovers and writers establish a creative practice that gives them joy. 

And it all begins with The Write Habit: A Planner for Writers.

Let me be clear: This planner is not just for writers who want to share their writing publicly with the world. It’s for ALL of us who simply want to bring more writing into our lives….and in the process, make our actual lives better, too.

Come listen as we explore how to create a writing life you’ll love and how a planner can help you do it. 

⁠You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here. ⁠

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Patreon community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at ⁠www.getliterate.co⁠. 

Get your own ⁠Get Lit(erate). notebook ⁠to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try!

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Do you wish you had more time to spend in your notebook or journal? Do you want to grow a more consistent writing practice? Are you working to put pen to paper in the coming year to gain all of the physical, cognitive and emotional benefits?

This episode is for you. 

Today, I’m sharing five new tips to grow a joyful, consistent notebook practice. Whether you call it notebooking, journaling or writing, I’ll share five new ways to help you to pen to paper more often.

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here: https://www.alitlife.com/2025/01/28/new-tips-to-grow-your-notebook-habit/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at www.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try: https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website: http://www.alitlife.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit

I adore tracking my reading life and geek out with my bookish spreadsheet where I track important metrics around the books I read. 

I browse these statistics each month and use them to inform my next month’s reading choices. Plus, I do a deep dive into these stats at the start of every year as I plan the kind of reading life I’d like to have in the coming seasons. 

But there’s SO much more to it.

Because here’s what I’ve discovered: the important themes I uncover in my reading life ALWAYS point to parallel themes in my actual life, too. 

In this episode, we’ll dive deep into this idea and you’ll come away with a pretty important insight: finding your reading gaps can help you find your life gaps and tending to your reading gaps can help you tend to your life gaps, too. 

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here:
https://www.alitlife.com/2025/01/21/when-our-reading-gaps-point-to-life-gaps/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at www.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try: https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website: http://www.alitlife.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit

Have you winterized your reading life yet?

In today's episode, I’m sharing concrete ways to winterize your reading life: to protect and prepare it for the winter season of reading.

We’ll chat about how to winterize your reading habits, your TBR stack and the ways you connect with other readers over this season, too. 

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here: https://www.alitlife.com/2025/01/14/how-to-winterize-your-reading-life/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at www.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try: https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website: http://www.alitlife.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit

We are at the time of the year where we are setting intentions, making goals and looking forward to a new year ahead.

This year, I abandoned my usual way of creating goals and it wasn’t on purpose. A dumpster fire of a day turned into a therapeutic journaling session that naturally chose my intentions for me. 

It was unlikely and unexpected, yet quite effective and exactly what my frustrated mind needed.

If you are looking for a new way to set intentions, release pent up emotion and leave the page feeling like a better tomorrow is on its way, then this episode is for you. 

You’ll find the show notes for the episode with links to all of the books and resources mentioned right here: https://www.alitlife.com/2025/01/07/an-unlikely-way-to-set-intentions/

Love this podcast and want more? Consider this your invitation to join my Get Lit(erate) Substack community! Each month, we take a deep dive into one bookish theme and work to bring it to life in our own lives. You’ll get bonus episodes, book calendars, live book club and notebook sessions, special events and much more. Learn more at www.getliterate.co. 

Get your own Get Lit(erate). notebook to take notes on the books you want to read and notebook ideas you want to try: https://amzn.to/44wELKN

If you’d like to support the podcast, consider purchasing some Get Lit(erate). merchandise from my Zazzle store: https://www.zazzle.com/store/alitlife

All earnings are funneled right back into the podcast expenses and maintenance fees. Thanks for your support!

Follow Stephanie:

Website: http://www.alitlife.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AffinitoLit

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AffinitoLit

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/AffinitoLit