Keep Moving: The Journal: Thrive Through Change and Create a Life You Love

by Maggie Smith

Based on the national bestseller Keep Moving—called “a meditation on kindness and hope” (NPR)—a 52-exercise journal about hope and renewal from the award-winning poet and author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful. As Maggie Smith navigated loss and upheaval, she wrote to herself each day—forgiving herself for a past mistake, reflecting on moments of joy, or looking towards the future, ending each note-to-self with the phrase “keep moving.” In her own words, “I wasn’t offering wisdom from on high; I was talking to myself at the bottom of a dark well, trying to climb up into the light, little by little, day by day.” Smith was surprised not only by how uplifting this process was, but also by the outpouring of support and gratitude from thousands of people who found solace in her words. Through the healing power of writing, Keep The Journal invites us to find beauty in the present moment, embrace change, and create a life we love.

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry

158 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 26, 2021

About the author

Maggie Smith is the author of the national bestseller Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change (One Signal/Simon & Schuster 2020); Good Bones (Tupelo Press, 2017); The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo Press 2015), winner of the Dorset Prize, selected by Kimiko Hahn; and Lamp of the Body (Red Hen Press 2005), winner of the Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award; and three prizewinning chapbooks.

Smith's poems and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Poetry, Image, The Best American Poetry, The Paris Review, AGNI, Guernica, Brevity, the Washington Post, The Gettysburg Review, Ploughshares, and many other journals and anthologies. In 2016 her poem “Good Bones” went viral internationally and has been translated into nearly a dozen languages. In April 2017 the poem was featured on the CBS primetime drama Madam Secretary.

A 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Maggie Smith works as freelance writer and editor. She is an Editor at Large at the Kenyon Review and is also on the faculty of Spalding University's low-residency MFA program.

Reviews

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll admit journaling is a part of self-care I enjoy and don’t engage in often enough. I’m so grateful to have the Keep Moving journal and purchased Maggie Smith’s companion book also titled Keep Moving.

The journal has 52 exercises, one per week, basically, to instill kindness and hope, especially after loss and change. So many of life’s challenges are regarding change, right? It’s all about focusing on the present and finding peace in that exact moment. I need to do more of the work. I’ve already incorporated “keep moving” and “keep going” as self-talk/mantras as we are in the midst of this holiday season.

In a nutshell, this is an approachable, easy resource. Sometimes journaling requirements overwhelm me, or I start with the best of intentions and stop. This is one I think I can see through because the tasks are simple but also quickly rewarding because of how calming and intuitive they are.

I received a gifted copy.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

[Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the worst book I’ve ever read, but not long enough to be a real book either. Peppy with a few nuggets of wisdom, but lots of material reused from elsewhere in Smith’s writing. This one feels sort of like a money grab frankly.

[Carly Yingst]

want to read for my research on pre-formatted journals

[Dr. Linda Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great journaling exercises.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't do all the prompts because they weren't going to serve me well in this particular moment. I may come back to them.