A Creative Journal

All the Details

by Heather Goldsmith on May 4th, 2006

Catherine Jones of Western Mail asks some interesting questions about why people decide to write their thoughts and feelings down in a journal. She examines the recent published entries from the diaries of the secretary of England’s Deputy Prime Minister. Catherine berates the secretary’s journal entries as banal and “excruciating.” The secretary was having an affair with the Deputy Prime Minister, yet mentions how much she slept at night and other mundane moments of life, rather than revealing juicy information about their elicit affair.

While the need for detail is necessary for great journal writing, a certain amount of boring detail finds its way into any journal. A good publisher should hire an equally good editor to present the more relevant and interesting entries to the public. The fact remains, though, if you write boring entries there’s not much any editor can do, no matter how skilled they are.

Catherine Jones might demand wit and deep wisdom, but the best thing she wrote was how much detail can enrich journal entries. The exact details might have been more than the public wanted in this case, though. The article is another reminder to add the details and meanings for your life as you write in your journal.

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POSTED IN: General: Journal Writing