Customer Reviews

Inner Outings: Adventures in Journal Writing

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The "Book of Exploration: Using the Inner Outings Method and Diarist's Deck of 33 Cards," by Charlene Geiss and Claudia Jessup, includes 33 cards. Each one is colorful and decorative, and each one has a phrase on it. You mix the cards up, pick one, and use it to spark your journal-writing for that day. The cards are huge--these are definitely larger than any tarot cards I've seen! This means they're nigh-impossible to shuffle. However, they're also incredibly beautiful. They layer images of leaves, puzzle pieces, and so on with unusual papers, paintings, and scenes. The words and phrases are interesting, with such examples as "Choices," "Crossroads," "Doorways," "My greatest fear," and "Explore the Possibility." They're a bit on the abstract and generic side, but if you haven't journaled before and aren't sure how to start, then I think they'll give you a nice push.

While the cards are inspiring, the book is less so. The introduction by Charlene is warm and friendly, but other parts of the book devolve into clinical seminar-speak. The language would feel at home in a sterile $19.95 video tape for sale on an infomercial, not in a book that started out with warmth and presents such lush cards as inspiration.

The book briefly addresses why it can be helpful to keep a journal, and what you can get out of the experience. The brief sections and thoughts provided to go with each card (like a tarot deck's accompanying book) are nice, but they stick to the shallows for the most part, with a few easy suggestions and minor thoughts to help you out. The best section in this book is the one on writing techniques--I hadn't thought much about the variety of ways in which one can approach journaling, and this section definitely inspired a few ideas.

This set would help someone who wants to journal but isn't sure where to start. The cards would make nice prompts for any sort of writer. And lastly, the set makes a great collector item for someone with a taste for beautiful tarot-like cards. For the experienced journaler, however, this set doesn't offer much beyond the writing techniques and the pretty pictures. I'd give the cards five stars and the book three; in the balance I'll average it out to four.

For journal writers who need a push to get going this is a perfect little set of inspiration.

"Inner Outings" is the perfect tool to have on hand for those days when journaling seems like drudgery. The Book of Exploration contains suggestions for keeping a diary and how to develop the best writing technique for your life. The book explains the cards otherwise you might be lost without it. The cards are pretty and creative but make little sense on their own standing. With titles like "A Gift For Me" and "Doorways" you would have to be very creative to find inspiration from the cards alone, but with help from the book you will discover that "A Gift For Me" could be a prompt to write about a great gift, a person, a talent, who you are a gift to, your ten best gifts and so on, while "Doorways" become real or imagined and open or closed.

Once you run through the cards a few times the process gets a little easier and journaling much more interesting and individual. We all wake up in the morning, go about our routines and fall into a deep slumber at night, but with this set next to your journal you might surprise yourself with how interesting you really are.

I have always kept a journal, but after reading this book and doing free writes, I am beginning to realize how much a journal can really mean! Jessup and Geiss ask such pertinent, thoughtful questions and help to open up unexplored parts of my memory and being. It is so well written--very clear and nurturing for beginners, yet challenging and fresh for avid writters. The cards add beautiful and poetic visualization. Inner Outings is a staple for anyone who wants to be creative.

In their journaling manifesto Inner Outings, Jessup and Geiss have established a technique equally suited to the seasoned journal writer and novice alike. The cards are beautifully designed and inspirational, the accompanying book witty and thought provoking. Together they are an excellent tool for breaking through writer's block, and the walls of the subconscious.
Whether you're cracking open a hand-crafted journal or switching on the computer screen, Inner Outings helps conquer the fear of the blank page and unleash the writer within us all.

For me, the beauty of the cards are absolutely worth the money you pay . . . Your heart will be moved by pictures of collages with words in script . . . "Celebrating my strengths" . . . "doors" . . . "Trust". . . "love" . . . "Curiosity." If you are a professional who uses cards like this to stimulate clients' creativity or thought processes, GET this deck. I've used it in small groups for interfaith spiritual growth, and each time the cards have helped people go more deeply and gracefully into their spirit. Now -- the book, on the other hand, is same-old same-old stuff about journals. Another person's take on "how to do it." But with the cards so great, who cares? Buy this deck.

For people who have writers block: This book will completely turn you around!! This guide helped me feel more creative than I ever have. The cards are beautiful, and each chapter has insightful questions and ideas that are neither too specific nor too vague. Your journal can be anything you want it to be--how great! This book is perfect for everyone.

Some people think keeping a journal is just a matter of jotting down the day's events on a blank page: "Had breakfast at Denny's. Picked up pants at dry cleaners. Lunch with Fred." That's one way, but it's about as rewarding as corn flakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. INNER OUTINGS takes journaling into the realm of haute cuisine. It's an appealingly packaged box that puts together a deck of cards and a book. The cards are evocative collages embellished with a word or phrase to get you thinking outside the lines as you approach your journal. The book is a combination of a blueprint on how to use the cards, advice on how to approach journaling, some history, some psychology, and a very practical and exhaustive index of journaling resources on the web. Charlene Geiss and Claudia Jessup have put together the perfect package.

Each week I tutor a learner though a local adult literacy program. Lori is a friend who wants help with spelling and grammar, as well as writing a book about her healing journey. Recently we've been using cards from The Diarist's Deck as writing prompts to help get us started. There are 33 cards from which to choose. While these cards, and the accompanying book, are described as "adventures in journal writing," they can also serve as a doorway to the larger story waiting to be told in the form of a memoir.

It's often difficult to write about relationships, such as with a parent, but a card with a prompt as a writing springboard helps us begin. Then the parent story is reached, not directly at first, but from a meandering writing path. The cards in The Diarist's Deck also act as a visual stimulus to creativity. The cards are large, measuring five by seven inches, with collage creations by Charlene Geiss.

"Each of the topics was selected to invigorate your mind, stir your soul, and make you eager to write," the authors write. And yes indeed, Lori and I are eager to write with the help of the cards. We're always amazed and surprised by the writing journey inspired by them.

The cards fall into three categories: introspection, investigation and purification. The introspective cards include such phrases as, "I Remember," and "When I Was a Child," to allow one to write in a contemplative manner. The investigative subjects include "Heart Song," and "The Masks I Wear." In this category your writing "will be more descriptive, even exploratory or questioning."

The purifying topics "are meant to cleanse, liberate and heal." They include "My Greatest Fear," and "I Forgive," which may inspire you to give voice to suppressed fears or problems, allowing them into your consciousness. "The effect," as the authors write, "is enormously therapeutic and can bring closure."

The accompanying book called Book of Exploration has a chapter on "Keeping a Journal. The Inner Outings Method, Using the Diarist's Deck, and Hints and Writing Tips."

The latter chapter offers descriptions of many writing techniques including the imagined letter, rage writing, non-dominant hand writing and postcards.

The authors remind us that "the diary is being used increasingly for both therapy and healing." Each of the card prompts has a chapter designed to help you "pursue your unique self with abandon." The chapter entitled "Celebrating My Strengths" is a good boost for personal awareness and growth, as are all the chapters. Each chapter includes several questions for delving deeper into your story.

If you don't know where to start, or need a nudge now and then, these resources, The Diarist's Deck and Book of Exploration, will give you lots of ideas and encouragement. You can use the set on your own but getting together with a friend to write and share your writing is especially gratifying. As valuable as these tools are for diarists, I think they are a wonderful resource for the writing you want to share with the world such as that memoir you've been intending to write or the short stories that have been bubbling for a while.

As a sixth-grade teacher for more than ten years, Charlene Geiss kept a file of illustrations clipped from magazines to use as creative writing prompts. Then she began to design cards with single words or phrases to help diarists focus on a single topic to explore during class. She spent a long time meditating on and designing each one. The Diarists' Workshop was born in 1997 when Geiss started teaching evening classes. Within a year the workshop moved into its own studio space where students can work at large tables and have access to all her supplies and writing materials. Geiss teaches journal-writing classes and the introductory level of the Diarists' Workshop at Santa Fe Community College. Her classes inspire her students to use the diary as a tool for inner exploration, creative expression, and the recording of one's personal journey.

Claudia Jessup is the author of five novels (under the pseudonym Meredith Rich) including Bare Essence which was made into a CBS television mini series. She has also written The Women's Guide to Starting a Business as well as all kinds of non-fiction and magazines articles.

by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I've kept a journal forever and love it, and I scoop up everything written about journaling and journal-writers. This book and deck is among my favorites. The beautiful cards are helpful when I want a random prompt (amazing how the "right" card always shows up!)and the book provides great techniques and ideas for inspiration for each of the 33 cards. Highly recommended! .

This set comes with a helpful and informative book about journal writing methods as well as a set of cards that are beautiful pieces of art in and of themselves. I recommend this set to anyone who enjoys a little different twist on journal writing. I continue to enjoy using these.