Weblog Entry:
         Write a brief (two page) descriptive piece about yourself that you would be willing to read out loud to others engaged in the same exercise. Do this by offering a narrative of some revealing and representative 'moment'-perhaps a kind of moment that tended to recur-in your life. Sometimes the most telling moments, those that play a significant role in how we come to be who we are, are subtle, small moments, rather than 'big' life-changing experiences. Some of these small but significant moments are barely remembered until we start looking for them with writing. Thus, they engage readers in the writer's process of discovery, which is what good writing should do.
         Your piece will necessarily be a blend of showing and telling, of description and more explicit analysis, but make sure not to substitute telling readers how you felt for re-creating the experience that made you feel as you did. Offer your experience of a revealing moment to your readers. Avoid evaluative (empty of detail, judgmental) adjectives. Insofar as judgments are being made in your piece, let them be implied rather than overtly started..." (10).

Private Journal Entry:
         Then produce an entry that blends empirical detail (showing) and analysis (your interpretation). Analyze moments in your weblog where you were not able to express fully what you wanted to say because of the non-judgmental restraint or where you felt liberated by the restraint to describe yourself more specifically. Again, diagnose rather than judge. Don't tell your imagined readers what you liked or disliked about what you could or could not say. Tell them instead what was interesting and revealing and why (31).

Private Journals:
For the next four weeks, try to write in your private journals at least once a week. "The best way to get a journal to work for you is to experiment. You might try, for example, copying and commenting on statements from your reading or class meetings that you found potentially illuminating. Use the journal to write down the ideas, reactions, and germs of ideas you had during a class discussion or that you found running around in your head after a late night's reading. Use the journal to retain your first impressions to books or films of music or performances of whatever, so that you can look back at them and trace the development of your thinking.
Try to write in your journal every day. As with freewriting, the best way to get started is just to start, see what happens, and take it from there. Also as with freewriting, the more you write, the more you'll find yourself noticing and thus the more you'll have to say" (16).