Customer Reviews

Notes from Myself: A Creative Guide to Journal Writing

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As a fan of personal writing who collects published and unpublished diaries as well as books about keeping a journal, I pick up everything on the subject I can find. This is one of the few purchases I regret having made. Notes from Myself lurches from ponderous, excessively formal prose to incongruously informal comments, never quite managing to settle into an engaging, accessible style. Aldrich spends a good deal of time describing the journals of famous people, from Pepys to Woolf, but rarely quotes them. Even more irritating, the book is littered with grammatical errors and typos, and in one place Aldrich recommends a book but misspells the author's name! The ideas in this book may be worthy, but the poor writing and careless presentation were so distracting that I couldn't manage to finish it. I won't be keeping this book for my collection. Anyone interested in exploring the possibilities of journal-writing would be much better off with Tristine Rainer's classic The New Diary.

This is a wonderful book on journaling. If you liked this book and would like to read and use mroe books on journaling, read "The Healing Journey" and "The Healing Journey for Couples," both by Phil Rich. There are also 5 other journaling books in the Healing Journey series.