Guest Author - Lisa Shea

A journal is a log of your thoughts, feelings, desires and fears. It's a very important consideration if this journal is going to be a private or a public one.

If your journal is private, then anything goes. You can admit to illegal activities. You can admit to fears that are very deep seated. You can talk with complete honesty about people that you despite, and things that they have done.

With a private journal, there are no worries about future employment, about retribution from teachers, family members, friends or bosses. You can be brutally honest.

On the down side, with a private journal you get no feedback at all. Nobody can comment on the events to help you gain perspective, to give you support. Also, nobody can draw inspiration from your trials. Maybe thousands of people out there are in the same situation and could draw comfort from hearing your story.

If your journal is public, then you are going to need to consider what you write about. For one, if you are sexually explicit, your journal won't be read by a large segment of the population either for filter reasons or for personal reasons. If you mention non-standard things you have done, then this can affect not only your current life, but also all future employment and relationships you might enter into. Even if you delete your blog, enough archive sites exist that your words will be available for eternity.

If you write a quality public journal, though, you can literally achieve worldwide fame. You can receive praise and publicity almost instantly for your works. You can inspire millions of people to change how they live their lives based on your writings.

That publicity can go both ways, though. If your journal has flaws, people are often quite vocal in letting you know. If you don't take care with spelling or fact checking, the criticism can become quite loud.

There is no right or wrong in the private / public discussion. Many people keep both types of journals, so that they can experience the best of both worlds. Consider what it is you are looking to get out of journaling, and give it a try!