How to Write a Journal - A Book Review

How to write a journal is a question that haunts a lot of people. Why? The reason is simple, writing a journal requires writing. Just like any other piece of art, the only difference between the art of writing and that of painting is that when you paint, you can show off your paintings for everyone to see but when you write, you are writing to yourself only.

This makes how to write a journal for a whole lot more difficult because you have to decide if you are going to be writing to yourself or to anyone else. You may find that your friend who calls you at three in the morning and asks you what you are doing and what you have been up to at night. What do you do, you ask?

You then tell him that you are writing a journal and that you have just finished writing essays and giving him your thoughts about everything. You don't want to go home alone at night, do you?

The other day while I was out shopping, I came across a book with an exercise on how to write a journal. I cannot recall the name of the book but it is now one of my favorite books. I liked it so much that I bought the first edition and still have it in my car.

It is called How to Write a Journal. It is by one of my favorite authors Mr. David Sedaris.

I keep reading and I come across this section about procrastination. Yes, I am a procrastinator. For as long as I can remember I have procrastinated, usually with my school work, on things that I thought I would be able to finish sooner.

They say that the only way to get things done is to start. If you start now and work until it is completed, then you will have accomplished something. If you wait till next week to write about it, then you will be giving yourself time to procrastinate. So begin now.

Well, Mr. Sedaris has done all of this and he also tells us in How to Write a Journal that there is no right or wrong way to write a journal. When writing to yourself, use a journal first.

In his second chapter, How to Write a Journal, Mr. Sedaris teaches us to write to ourselves first. He says, "The tendency to neglect the inner voice is often hereditary. It is easy to write to others. To read your own thoughts is harder."

When I read this persuasive essay online, I was very excited to start writing to myself again. How can I write to myself again? This book made me write to myself about all of the little issues that I had been putting off writing about for a long time.

So I went online and I started to write to myself about all of my little problems. Then I started to write about the things that I found interesting and I got started. In time I started to write about all of the things that I wanted to write about but did not want to write about because they were too personal and very private.

How to Write a Journal continues to bring me peace of mind every day and reminds me that I need to write to myself every single day. It makes me realize that the hardest part is always writing about it, not the writing itself.