Book Journals aren’t just a good way of keeping track of what you’ve read, but they’re an excellent tool for all writers. Writing down your thoughts about what you’ve read will help you focus on your own writing. Here are a few tips on how to keep a journal.

1)      Write a short synopsis of the plot. When I first started out keeping a book journal a few years ago I omitted this stage, now when I do back to look over the earlier entries it’s not always easy to match up what I thought to the right book. Even with the title and author, I’ve read many books since I started the journal so it’s easy to get confused sometimes.

2)      Explain what you enjoyed about it. Even if you hated every aspect, try to find something about the book you liked, even if it’s just the font or the cover. It’s best to find three points you enjoyed, you don’t have to go into great detail why you enjoyed it just a sentence will usually do.

3)      Write about what you didn’t like. This will always be easier than the second point because no book is perfect, again try to find three points you didn’t like but also ways you think you could improve it.

4)      If you’re a writer think of ways you could use certain techniques in your own writing. Don’t steal, think over what you’ve written before or any ideas you have and see if anything would work together. Don’t worry if nothing fits; it’s just useful to know what has a greater impact on your work.

I’ve been keeping a book journal for nearly three years, but only in the last year have I used this format. This works for me because it helps focus on the actual book, but it may not work for everyone. Some of you may be interested in the author and any apparent influences on the book you read, if so write about them. Use this as a template if you want and customize it to fit your own needs.