Allow Me to Introduce the Two-Sentence Journal
Posted2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago
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JournalingWritingProductivity
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The author introduces the concept of a two-sentence journal, which sparks a discussion on the benefits and style of concise journaling.
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Nov 6, 2025 at 11:43 PM EST
2 months ago
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Nov 7, 2025 at 3:05 AM EST
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Nov 10, 2025 at 1:51 AM EST
about 2 months ago
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It reminds me of this maxim:
In each sentence, a fact and a feeling.
The idea is from this book:
Writing Non-Fiction by Walter S. Campbell (1949)
I found out about this book from the recommended reading section at the end of one of Ogilvy’s books (Ogilvy is a famous advertising man from the Mad Man era).
Joking aside, it's a cool idea. Kind of the flash fiction of journaling. When reading the vampire-game sentences I thought they felt a bit stilted. But when I got to the author's real journal entries they're quite compelling. I think he's right that splitting into two sentences allows them to be a bit more natural and less run-on-y.
It's interesting to imagine variations on this based on length in words, or with slightly more sentences (three or five, maybe). The burnout problem could also be mitigated by limiting entries by elapsed time to write (like limit yourself to writing for one minute).