Note to Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits

193 Pages·2008·3.14 MB·English

by  Samara O'Shea

to
note self
ON KEEPING A JOURNAL
AND OTHER DANGEROUS PURSUITS
y
y y
samara o’shea
This book is dedicated to
my distinguished little sister,
Andrea Lynn O’Shea,
the one who has always read my journals
and loved me just the same
CONTENTS
Introduction: Write for Your Life ix
CHAPTER 1
IN THE BEGINNING 1
Express Yourself, Don’t Repress Yourself 9
The Diary Versus Journal Dilemma 12
Red Light/Green Light Journals 13
Anne Frank (1929–1945) on Writing the First Few
Entries in Your New Diary 15
CHAPTER 2
ROMANCE ON RECORD 19
Express Yourself with Other People’s Words 23
“I Love You, Too”? 25
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) on Falling in Love in
the Summer Rain 29
CHAPTER 3
HEARTS THAT HURT 32
Express Yourself in an Unsent Letter 40
The Blind Date that Broke the Camel’s Back 42
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) on Breaking His Heart
and Your Own on a Late-Summer Night 46
iv Contents
CHAPTER 4
THE SPIRIT IS WILLING 48
Express Yourself with Questions and Concerns 53
On the Universe 56
Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938)
on Contemplating Your Place in the Universe 57
CHAPTER 5
SENSE OF SELF 59
Express Yourself in a Stream of Consciousness 65
Sense of Another’s Self 67
Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) on Pondering Your Place
in This Strange Thing Called Life 69
CHAPTER 6
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING 71
Express Your Subconscious Self 75
Picture Yourself in a Boat on a River 77
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) on Using Your Dreams
to Define Insanity 81
CHAPTER 7
A DAY IN THE LIFE 84
Express Yourself with a Specialty Journal 87
A Day in the Life of the Philadelphia Museum of Art 88
Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) on a Day in the Life
of a Seventeenth-Century Englishman 92
Contents v
CHAPTER 8
ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT
TO BLOG 94
Express Yourself Online 99
On Being Blogged About 102
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) on Being
an Effective Pamphleteer 103
CHAPTER 9
CRIMES OF PASSION 106
How to Make a Joke Out of Your Girlfriend’s Cheating on You 111
Express Yourself Before the Crime Is Committed 112
The Dangers of Forgiving Too Soon 114
John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865) on How to Journal
After You Just Killed the President 117
CHAPTER 10
A DREAM DEFERRED 119
Express Yourself with Goals and Lists 126
Alternate Ambition 129
On Being Naked in Front of Strangers 132
Sins of the Mother 133
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) on Giving
Birth to Your First Book 135
vi Contents
CHAPTER 11
INTIMATE DETAILS 139
Express Yourself Explicitly 144
The Violin Concerto; or, Lessons in Taking a Lover 147
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) on Sex
Both Good and Bad 161
Endnotes: This Above All 165
Acknowledgments 169
Sources 171
About the Author
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
NOTE TO READER
regarding dates: My publisher and I decided to move forward with
this book by verbal agreement on June 5, 2007. Although I continued to
keep a journal beyond that date, there will be no entries found here from
after that point, as I feared the knowledge of imminent publication would
inf luence my private writing. Throughout the course of keeping a jour-
nal, I dated the majority of my entries. There were, however, a few occa-
sions where I did not, in which case I looked to nearby entries and listed
simply the month and the year of the entry.
regarding names: Many of the names in this book have been changed
and a few of them remain intact. There is no indication as to which is
which, to protect the privacy of those who were comfortable having their
actual names appear, but who still didn’t care to call direct attention to
themselves. The names I have changed will remain consistent throughout
the book. For example, if someone named Charlie appears in chapter 2
and then again in chapter 5, know that it is the same person I’m referring
to. When initials appear in lieu of a name, they are the actual initials of
the person being written about.
regarding edits: I have made some edits to the journal entries, mostly
spelling and occasionally grammar. I have only corrected grammar for
clarification’s sake (and spelling for embarrassment’s sake). If the initial
grammar in the journal was incorrect but the statement read clearly, then
it was left as originally written.