The Journal Writer’s Companion by Alyss Thomas (Book Review)

Hello everyone! Today’s post combines both of my true loves: reading and bullet journaling. The Journal Writer’s Companion is a book that guides the reader through the journaling process (not just bullet journaling, though it is one of the many types that are talked about) with lots of explanations, prompts, and expertise. Hope you enjoy my review!

The Journal Writer’s Companion
Alyss Thomas
Published September 10th, 2019 by Exisle Publishing
Nonfiction
★★★.5

Numerous studies show that journal writing is a fantastic resource that can significantly impact your life, but few people know how to go about it effectively in order to gain lasting positive results. The Journal Writer’s Companion aims to change this. Designed to be a clear, practical guide to using journal writing to help you succeed in any area of life and work, it is also a comprehensive reference source to all of the different types of journaling techniques, from gratitude journals to bullet journals, legacy journals to art journals.

An experienced psychotherapist and writing coach, Alyss Thomas explains how these various approaches to journaling can be adapted and combined in innovative ways to create a unique, personalized method that works for your life and your goals. You do not need to use any other journaling books or use any pre-printed journals. Instead, you can use any blank notebook, or set up your journal on a computer or online, using the guidance contained here on how to structure it to specifically meet your needs. The result is the only guide you’ll ever need to achieve personal and professional success the journaling way!

(From Goodreads)

The Journal Writer’s Companion is a thoughtful and thorough guide to the practice of journaling. Read on for some of the things I liked and disliked about the book.

The first thing I noticed when I opened The Journal Writer’s Companion was that it’s very well-designed—it has cute end pages, pretty title pages, and nice photos of journals. There’s also a ribbon bookmark and pages for notes, which I thought was a very nice touch.

As for the book itself, I found it to be very informative and detailed. Some of my favorite sections include the ones on daily pages, art journaling, journaling for school, journaling for readers, and, of course, bullet journaling.

Some of these sections included diagrams, which I really liked. There were also a ton of extensive journaling prompts lists—I didn’t read through every single prompt, but I liked the lists that I took a closer look at.

The book also includes a great deal of helpful tips on topics like journaling apps, which notebook to journal in, goal setting, and note-taking.

In addition to providing explanations and tips for various journaling methods, the author incorporates some of the psychology of journaling. She also addresses some common misconceptions about journaling, which I appreciated.

While there were some parts that I found interesting, there were others where I got a little bored. That is probably in part because I’m generally not huge into this sort of nonfiction (or nonfiction in general, usually).

There were also some parts that I felt would have been more useful for people who are very new to journaling or are skeptical about why journaling can be helpful. (I also thought the book was a little too self-help-y for me personally at some points.) For these reasons, I did end up skimming some sections.

That said, I think that’s how the reader is supposed to approach the book! There are different chapters that apply more to different people, and in the beginning of the book, the author encourages the reader to pick and choose which sections they’re most interested in reading.

One small issue I noticed is that the bullet journal section most likely could’ve benefited from some photos or diagrams of the different symbols and layouts.

All in all, I think The Journal Writer’s Companion is a really helpful book for anyone who’s new to journaling and wants to know more about the benefits of journaling and how to journal using various methods.

If you liked The Journal Writer’s Companion and want to learn more about journaling, here are a few of my favorite bullet journal resources. (I don’t have very many for other journaling methods, but I would suggest searching on Google, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram!)

bulletjournal.com, the original bullet journal site. If you’re getting started, be sure to watch this tutorial from the creator of the bullet journal sytem, Ryder Carroll.
Kara @ Boho Berry, who has an abundance of bullet journal content, including a ‘Bullet Journal 101’ series
AmandaRachLee’s bullet journal videos on YouTube
This video from Ashley @ Best Dressed, one of my favorite YouTubers
I have a ton of bullet journal posts on this blog! (Self promo hehe)