May 19, 2026 · Betsy Rubiner

Betsy Rubiner Looks at the Hows and Whys of Journaling

Rubiner also explores whether diaries are therapeutic and can help with creativity. Rubiner quotes novelist Madeleine L’Engle, who started a journal at age eight and advised young writers “to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you.” Rubiner also quotes Joyce Carol Oates, who called journal writing “immensely helpful” to develop the essentials for a writer. Rubiner sums these up as “the ability to observe closely, to think deeply for sustained periods of time, to describe the world in language.”