Globejotting by Dave Fox is quick and easy read to encourage travel journaling. Dave Fox is a seasoned writer and a seasoned traveler. He uses his experience of both to teach travel journaling through personal examples, discussion of the principles, and exercises to follow through in your own journal. I enjoyed is writing style and the instruction inside was highly applicable. I have been journaling since about 1982, and I was very pleased to learn new techniques and ideas. But more than that, I was encouraged to continue writing—even though at times I fall into slumps.
One favorite lesson from the book was a statement he made that said: “Write like no one is watching”. This is a critical piece of advice for journalers. The fear of having the writing be read by another person is a common fear—one that I struggle with. Fox’s statement offers a framework to think about when that fear pops up its head.
Another lesson that I truly liked was the author’s encouragement to practice travel journaling even when you are not traveling. This is a good lesson for me because it encourages a different voice for my journals than one that I have used in the past. He encourages this technique with the observation that if you are comfortable writing every day, then it won’t be a chore when you travel.
One final lesson that I appreciated was an emphasis on speed writing. Speed writing he explains is simply writing everything done as fast you can during the trip as a rough draft. This helps get the ideas on paper and then they can be cleaned up later. It is a great technique to use in the travel journal because it accomplished the task of capturing the moment, but doesn’t chew up your entire vacation doing it.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book for people that desire to journal—there are many trips that can be transferred into daily journaling. I also recommend it to people that want to take a travel journal with them on their next trip. I am going to use some of techniques as I travel more and develop more for my blog in the future. It is also a good book to keep as a reference after it has been read. It is full of ideas and concepts that may take some time to work through. I enjoyed reading the book of the weekend as it has helped me rethink my approach to travel writing.