Journaling

Spiritual Journaling: Recording Your Journey Toward God (Spiritual Formation Study Guides)
$8.99
This guide to recording your walk with God is essential for the discerning disciple. It allows you to chart your forward course through understanding God's activity in your life from past to present.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Journaling
$4.79
I have read many books on journaling (can't pass them up!) and this is, hands down (along with Neubauer's other book on journals) the worst in the field. No question and not even close.

Most of the reviews before mine pretty much sum up the problems. She is big into "rules" for keeping a journal. This, of course, is nonsense. About the only "rule" to journaling is that there ARE no rules. Write at the same time of day, at the same place - and even with the same pen! These are some of the ridiculous "rules" she, obviously, feels so strongly about.

I noticed after the book was released there are a few positive reviews. They were all very generalized and reading the praise, I wondered if we read the same book at all. I would pay more attention to all the more recent reviews (of which almost all are very bad).

Better books on journaling can be found all over Amazon. Start with "The New Diary" by Tristine Rainer, "Journal To The Self" by Kathleen Adams, and "On Keeping A Journal: Leaving A Trace" by Alexandra Johnson. I could mention Christina Baldwin's books and go on and on. The point being there are many good books for beginning or experienced journalers - but this is not one of them. To say this is the worst of the worst books on journaling says a lot, but from one who has read dozens and dozens, it truly is.

True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling
$24.99
I love this book. It is full of inspirational exercises and information. Lots of photos and tips. I gave it four stars because some of the best information in the book is written across the ends of the page and it is annoying to have to keep turning the book to read it. But worth it! I have several journaling books and this is by far the best one I have found.

Writing and Being: Embracing Your Life Through Creative Journaling
$12.95
Like many people, my experiences in English class were uninspired and downright dreary. The teacher told us to write about our summer vacation so painstakingly we all wrote some sort of drivel, as short and quickly as possible. Inevitably, that work came back with red marks all over it. I really wish I would have had G. Lynn Nelson as a teacher.

G. Lynn Nelson started out his career just like every other English teacher, ready with that red pen in his hand. Then, he had an epiphany which changed his teaching style and the lives of many of his students. Creative writing became his weapon against lack of creativity and the hatred of writing.

Writing and Being is an excellent guide to the beginnings of creative write either for person journal writing or for pieces that will eventually be seen by the public. This book would make an excellent text for a high school creative writing course but could easily be tailored to suit younger students or even adults wishing to reconnect with themselves. Personally, writing in my journal is an automatic part of my day, like brushing my teeth or checking my email. It keeps me centered and allows me to look to the heart of the issues that I face each day.