Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
Leather-bound five-year diaries were once popular gifts at children's birthday parties, sometimes providing the first taste of a lifelong pleasure. While an estimated 12 million journals are sold annually, Johnson, a teacher of creative nonfiction at Harvard and Wellesley, has found that people also record their lives on dinner napkins, menus, slips of paper and, increasingly, the computer. In her follow-up to The Hidden Writer, for which she won a PEN Award, she proffers advice for journal keepers who want to develop material for later books or who simply enjoy logging life's events. Commiserating on diaries abandoned as "joyless collections of grievances," she offers tips on how to "break the deadlock of introspective obsession." She advises perfectionists on how to silence their censor--"that dark, icy whisper of the confidence thief." Apt remarks by Virginia Woolf, Tobias Wolff, Annie Dillard and others add to her perceptive and often humorous insights on unearthing the interior life, improving observation skills and finding images that reveal significant motivations. The transformation of a factual log into a creative work requires investigating essential patterns: disclosing what has been left out of memory, charting periods of great intensity and connecting the dots between events and influences to develop a true narrative. Because a journal is usually a private affair that offers little opportunity for discussion, people seeking direction on keeping a successful one should welcome this thoughtful guidebook. (Jan. 4) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
KLIATT
Alexandra Johnson begins her work with the comment by Eudora Welty that "All serious daring starts within." That quote is one that Johnson undoubtedly copied into a notebook years earlier, thus illustrating one of the many values of keeping journals so beautifully explored in this volume. In her introduction, Johnson explains that "journals honor that most human of instincts: our need to leave a trace." The purpose of the book is to provide some guidance for those asking two questions: "How do I keep a journal?" and "What do I do with all the material in the ones I've kept?" As these questions suggest, this work will be helpful to someone thinking of starting a journal as well as to someone who has kept journals for years. Johnson shares many of her personal experiences in keeping journals. More than this, however, Johnson is a collector and reader of journals of the past and present and of the famous and the unknown. In one paragraph, for example, Johnson refers to the insights of Virginia Woolf, Annie Dillard, and Patricia Hampl in explaining how to find the "tension spots" in the process of rereading a journal. All journals lead us to "uncover the extraordinary in the ordinary." The book itself is divided into three parts. Part One, The Successful Journal: Practical Inspiration, deals with many of the problems a beginner might face including dealing with the internal Censor, "that confidence thief," the procrastinator, and the perfectionist. In fact, there is no one correct way to write a journal. Johnson encourages her readers to make their own rules. Part Two, Transforming a Life: Patterns and Meaning," discusses methods of indexing and finding threads of meaning.Once again, each point is clearly illustrated by referencing either her own experience or that of another writer. She also identifies ten categories of life patterns: "longing; fear, mastery; (intentional) silences; key influences; hidden lessons; secret gifts; challenges; unfinished business; untapped potential." Part Three, Crossover: Moving a Journal Into Creative Work discusses the practices of veteran journal keepers who move into memoir, fiction, or poetry. Phrases and images often written years earlier in journals may be the inspiration or the material itself for creative writing. At the end of each chapter throughout the book, there are "Exercises and Journal Prompts" that offer specific writing challenges that would be appropriate as assignments in a writing class or for the individual writer. Johnson's book is both practical and inspirational. Anyone who has ever thought of keeping a journal or diary should benefit from her advice. Anyone who has not thought of keeping a journal or diary may now decide to do so. Category: Literature & Language Arts. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2001, Little, Brown, Back Bay Books, 242p., $13.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Anthony J. Pucci; English Dept. Chair., Notre Dame H.S., Elmira, NY SOURCE: KLIATT, March 2002 (Vol. 36, No. 2)
Library Journal
Highly personal (in fact, almost intimate), Johnson's long essay centers on the discipline of keeping a journal and the effect reading other journals has on a creative life. The essay is broken into chapters that provide some organizational structure; threaded throughout are exercises and activities to motivate, encourage, and inspire. Further, each chapter features stories and journal entries from well-known writers as well as everyday people. A gifted storyteller, Johnson provides examples on how the discipline of daily, reflective writing is crucial to nurturing creativity and skillfully weaves together the relationship between the creative process and the craft of writing. This tome is beautifully written, but as it focuses on transforming one's journal rather than getting published, its audience is rather limited. Johnson teaches memoir and creative nonfiction writing at Harvard and has published extensively in national newspapers and both scholarly and popular magazines. She won the PEN/Jerard Fund Award for The Hidden Writer: Diaries and the Creative Life. An optional purchase.--Denise S. Sticha, Seton Hill Coll., Greensburg, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
