One to One: Self-Understanding Through Journal Writing

by Christina Baldwin

For years I've been telling friends about the therapeutic powers of the act of writing. Now at last I have a book that I can recommend.―Judith Guest, author of Ordinary People

Genres: Writing, Journaling, Self Help, Nonfiction, Journal, Personal Development, Spirituality

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Me · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on journaling. A must if you are really into the power of the pen and paper as tools towards knowing yourself.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring book about journal writing. A lot of it is just straightforward stuff about questions/prompts you might ask yourself in order to get started writing, or encouragement about what you might get out of it. One odd (to me) chapter at the end tells you how to get a journaling group started. I wasn't altogether sure why you'd want to get together in a group to do something personal and private such as writing in a journal.

Two qualifiers making me think my blah reaction may be a bit unfair: (a) first edition came out in 1977, and it may be that journaling was less common in those days, so pointing out potential advantages etc. would be more newsworthy; and (b) it's a book featuring instructions, and I was not actually following along and doing anything.

If you don't write a journal but want to start, you might find this book helpful and interesting. If you are just interested in reading about journaling as a technique or phenomenon, you probably won't find this helpful or interesting.

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic and still quite useful as a basic guide to journal-writing. Includes useful information on the issue of privacy and 'what to do' with journals after they're written. I love the fact that Anais Nin stored her journals in a bank vault.

[Anne]

Just got this from the library! I loved hearing her in Denver.

[Lindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that leads to self-understanding and opens the creative window for self-expression and clears the mind for writing from the heart.