“Anne Frank wasn’t writing a book. She was talking to herself. And she was talking to herself in a way that any of us can do too. She was finding solace in writing her life, her thoughts and feelings, day after day. Words to live by.” (Anna Quindlen, Write for Your Life)
When Anne Frank addressed her diary entries to “Kitty,” she wasn’t crafting a manuscript for publication or trying to impress an audience, she was engaging in a vital internal dialogue. That kind of writing connects you to your own thoughts and feelings, even when the thoughts are murky and the feelings are hard to name.
Most writing asks you to perform for someone, a love letter, a job application, a social exchange, a first impression. Her journal was the one place she didn’t have to. No one was reading over her shoulder.
This is what a diary can offer anyone willing to keep one. The page doesn’t just record what you already know, it helps you find out what you think. When we treat writing as a direct conversation with our own minds, we’re doing exactly what Anne Frank did in hiding.
Pick up the notebook you’ve been meaning to return to, or start a new one tonight. Write one page to no one but yourself.
R.A.R.
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Rolando Andrés Ramos 
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