CONTENTS

Foreword

Phillip Lopate

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part 1—The Journal as Tool

Journaling—a Stepping Stone

James Brown

The Use of the Journal in Writing the Private Eye Novel

Sue Grafton

On Meeting Yourself

Robin Hemley

Journal—the Place of No Limit

Kim Stafford

Using My Notebook

Ilan Stavans

A Life Observed

Katherine Towler

Blogging like a Child-Arsonist

Tony Trigilio

Part 2—The Journal for Survival

“Musements” and Mental Health

Zan Bockes

Clearing the Decks

Kathleen Gerard

Le Misérable

Maureen Stanton

Sea of Blue Ink

Kathyrn Wilkens

Part 3—The Journal for Travel

From an Audience of One to an Audience of Anyone

Wendy Call

Writing in Public Places

Bonnie Morris

Notes from an Accidental Journal Keeper

Michael Steinberg

Part 4—The Journal as Muse

Holdalls

John DuFresne

My Own Particular Custom

Reginald Gibbons

Thoughts on a Writer’s Journal

Rebecca McClanahan

From Writer’s Notebook to Poetic Journal

Mark Pawlak

The Icebreaker

Lori Van Pelt

Part 5—The Journal for Life

Daily Doodles

Dorianne Laux

Forgetting to Remember—Why I Keep a Journal

Kyoko Mori

Keeping Up with the Days

Peter Selgin

Anne Frank Redux

Karen de Balbian Verster

Journaling without the Journal

Michelle Wildgen

Appendix I Use Journaling to Spark Your Writing

Appendix II   A Journaling Workout

Sources and Further Readings

Contributors