Professor Meghan Hurley-Powell Publishes Journaling Guide

Graceland University Visiting Assistant Professor of English Meghan Hurley-Powell, PhD, recently published “The Power Within Her: Guide to Journaling,” a book aimed at making journaling less mysterious and more tactical, tangible, and fun. Hurley-Powell is the creator and host of “The Power Within Her” podcast that helps women to seek self-empowerment and to be intentional about embracing the power of critical thinking and personal growth.

Hurley-Powell began journaling in the summer of 2020 as tool of her own self-empowerment and growth. As a social media content creator, she would post a time-lapse of her journaling on Instagram. Suddenly, her Instagram direct messages were filled with questions from women who were also interested in journaling as a tool for growth but had no idea where to start. “I just realized that could answer all these questions. I felt it was my responsibility to use the knowledge and experience I have to write something to help these women,” said Hurley-Powell.

Dr. Hurley-Powell had completed the drafting of her book and knew it was time to enter the revising phase, this required an outside editor to work closely with the draft to add, cut, move, or change information to improve content. Sharing a book in progress is a vulnerable act and she knew she needed someone who had the skills to edit but also cared about the project and its mission. Dr. Hurley-Powell recruited recent Graceland graduate Tori Simpson ’21 to be her book editor and together they worked tirelessly to produce this innovative journaling guide. Tori Simpson graduated from Graceland University with a major in English and minors in Hispanic Studies and Creative Writing. Tori will be attending Oxford University in fall 2022 for their Columbia Publishing course, her goals are to continue her work as a freelance editor, have a career in book publishing, and become a published author herself.

Hurley-Powell wants her book to benefit women, not just through the content in the book, but also through its sales. She made the decision that a part of the proceeds from each book purchased will help fund a scholarship for women in their senior year of high school to cover the cost of application fees to different universities. Congratulations to Dr. Hurley-Powell on this exciting accomplishment, learn more about the “The Power within her: Guide to Journaling.”