You keep it in the bottom drawer, beneath old tax returns and a folder of documents you’ll probably never need. A plain notebook. No label on the spine. Nothing to suggest what’s inside.
You’ve written in it maybe a dozen times over the years. Never consistently. Only when something happened that you couldn’t carry alone, but couldn’t say out loud either.
The truth is in there. Not polished. Not organized. Just the thing that happened, the way it felt, the details you didn’t want to forget, even though forgetting would be easier.
You’ve thought about destroying it. More than once, actually. What if someone finds it? What if it causes trouble? What if the words you wrote in the heat of the moment come back in ways you can’t control?
But you never do. Because part of you knows: if you destroy it, the truth goes with it. And something in you refuses to let that happen.
Silence has weight. You’ve felt it. The pressure of carrying what you’ve seen, what you know, what no one else will say. It sits in your chest. It shows up in the middle of the night. It leaks into conversations where you’re about to say something—and then don’t.
You tell yourself it’s not your place. That someone else will speak up. That it’s not worth the cost.
But what is the cost of staying quiet? You already know. You’re paying it every time you swallow the thing you were meant to say.
Maybe you’re not ready to share it publicly. The timing may not be right. Maybe there are people involved who would be hurt, and you’re not sure yet how to tell the truth without doing damage.
That’s fair. Courage doesn’t mean recklessness. Speaking up doesn’t mean burning everything down.
But here’s what you can do: keep writing. Not for anyone else yet. Just for the record. Just to make sure the truth exists somewhere outside your own memory.
Because memory fades. Details blur. The exact words someone said, the way the room felt, the moment everything shifted—those things slip away unless you pin them down.
A journal doesn’t demand an audience. It just asks you to be honest. To name what happened. To refuse the slow erosion of truth that happens when we decide it’s easier not to remember.
Maybe one day you’ll share it. Maybe you’ll rewrite it as something else—a letter, a story, a conversation you finally have with someone who needs to hear it. Maybe it will stay private forever, and the only person it ever serves is you.
That’s still enough.
The act of writing it down is already an act of defiance. Against forgetting. Against pressure. Against the voice in your head that says it doesn’t matter, or you don’t have the right, or no one will believe you anyway.
You do have the right. You were there. You saw it. You lived it. And that gives you standing no one can take away.
The drawer stays closed for now. That’s okay. But the notebook is still there. The words are still waiting. And when the time comes—if the time comes—you’ll have something to stand on.
The most courageous thing you can do right now might not be speaking. It might be refusing to let the truth disappear.
Keep the journal. Add to it when you need to. Trust that the words will find their moment.
Silence loses every time someone writes the truth down—even if no one else reads it yet.
If you’ve ever wondered what to do with a truth you’re not ready to share, The Power of Authors explores what it means to defy silence—even quietly, even privately, even now. You can find The Power of Authors on Amazon: http://bit.ly/3K6o8AM. If you’d like an autographed copy: http://bit.ly/4pgmzjM
Author Campaign Method (ACM) for Authorpreneurs
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. Author Campaign Method (ACM) of sales and marketing is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authorpreneurs who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for them.
Release Party
Web Presence
Book Signings
Amazon Author Page
Facebook Profile and Facebook Page
Active Social Media Participation
Ebook Cards
The Great Alaska Book Fair: October 8, 2016
Costco Book Signings
eBook Cards
Benjamin Franklin Award
Jim Misko Book Signing at Barnes and Noble
Cortex is for serious authors and will probably not be of interest to hobbyists. We recorded our Cortex training and information meeting. If you’re a serious author, and did not attend the meeting, and would like to review the training information, kindly let us know. Authors are required to have a Facebook author page to use Cortex.
Correction:
We take the quote by Marcella Smith, Small Press Business Manager, Barnes & Noble seriously: “The author is essential to the success of the book, giving energy behind the book to make it something that a customer will come in and ask for. That is what makes the difference in a book that sells, that develops legs, and has a life of its own. Otherwise the book goes on the shelf and stays there for three months. Then it gets returned.”
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. ACM is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authors who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for serious authors, but a burden for hobbyist. We don’t recommend ACM for hobbyists.
We’re the only publisher we know of that provides authors with book signing opportunities. Book signing are appropriate for hobbyist and essential for serious authors. To schedule a book signing kindly go to our website, <
An Author Page on Amazon Author Central is a serious author ACM requirement and desirable for the hobbyist. Author Central is a free resource designed to help authors become more active participants in the promotion of their books. In Author Central you can manage an Author Page, update information about your books, and view Customer Reviews and sales information for your bibliography. If you don’t already have an Author Page on 
We hear authors complain about all the personal stuff on Facebook. Most of these complaints are because the author doesn’t understand the difference difference between a Facebook profile and a Facebook page. Simply put, a profile is for personal things for friends and family; a page is for business. If your book is just a hobby, then it’s fine to have only a Facebook profile and make your posts for friends and family; however, if you’re serious about your writing, and it’s a business with you, or you want it to be business, then you need a Facebook page as an author. It’s simple to tell if it’s a page or a profile. A profile shows how many friends and a page shows how many likes. Here’s a link <> to a straight forward description on how to set up your author Facebook page.
Active Social Media Participation
Mosquito Books has a new location in the Anchorage international airport and is available for signings with 21 days notice. Jim Misko had a signing there yesterday. His signing report included these words, “Had the best day ever at the airport . . ..”
The Lyin Kings: The Wannabe World Leaders
Time and Tide
ReadAlaska 2014
Readerlink and Book Signings
2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results
Bonnye Matthews Radio Interview
Rick Mystrom Radio Interview
When he published those overseas blogs as the book The Innocents Abroad, it would become a hit. But you couldn’t find it in bookstores.
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Mary Ann Poll
Bumppo
Computer Spell Checkers
Seven Things I Learned From a Foreign Email
2014 Spirit of Youth Awards
Book Signings
Blog Talk Radio
Publication Consultants Blog
Book Signings
Don and Lanna Langdok
Ron Walden
Book Signings Are Fun
Release Party Video
Erin’s book, 
Heather’s book, 
New Books