Suggestions for Journal Writing

From Christina Baldwin’s One to One:

1. Write about one of your secrets, beginning with "I couldn’t stand it if . . ."

2. Write about your feelings concerning journal writing (e.g., your privacy requirements, your customary writing habits, your thoughts on possible audiences for your journal writing).

3. Write a list: "My Expectations of Myself." Then write a second list: "My Expectations of Others." Finally, write about your reflections on what you placed on each list and why you placed those items there.

4. Write an entry on the subject: "What motivates me to write?"

5. Choose a photograph from the past, a photograph that is important to you and a photograph in which you appear, either alone or with others. Then, write about what the occasion was, how you saw yourself when the photograph was taken, and how you remember the occasion now as you look back on it.

6. Write about this subject: "How I’d Spend an Ideal Day"

From Tristine Rainer’s The New Diary:

1. Write an "unsent letter"–this is a letter that you need to write to someone, a letter that you will not send. It could be written to a person no longer living or to a person now living, expressing what you need to say to that person.

2. Write about one of your earliest childhood memories, focusing on what you saw, heard, smelled, felt, and thought then (as your memory brings these sensations back to you). Then write about how it feels to you now as you reflect on this memory.

3. Write about a time you felt inferior to someone.

4. Write about a time you felt superior to someone.

5. Write about how it felt to write #3 and #4 above.

6. Remember a window from the past–a time, a place, a location–and write about what it was like to look out (or in) that window. What did you see? How did you feel? What is it like as you remember it now?

From Suzanne Bunkers:

1. Write about one belief or value that you hold in high esteem. Define what this belief or value is. Then write about why it is important to you now. Finally, write about how and why it has become important to you.

2. Think about the first "comfort place" you remember. It might have been the kitchen or parlor in your childhood home; it might have been your own room; it might have been another place. Write about this place, describing what it looked, sounded, and smelled like. Then write about how you feel as you remember it now.

3. If you could travel anywhere and be in one place that is very special to you, where would it be? Describe how this place looks, sounds, and smells as you remember it. Then describe the feelings you have as you remember it.

4. Write about a time when you felt like an outsider who didn’t belong. Remember where you were and with whom; then write about those details. Afterwards, write about the feelings that come back to you now as you remember the experience.

5. Write about a time when you had to "take a stand" that was unpopular with your partner, a family member, a friend, a colleague. First, recall the experience, writing down a list of sights, sounds, smells, etc. Then write about the details of the situation and your need to "take a stand." Finally, write about your feelings as you reflect on the experience now.