Do the words "travel journal" bring up memories of grade school essays, "What I did during my summer vacation?" Are you a person who groans at the thought of keeping a trip journal, declaring that you are "on vacation"? Are you one who believes writing is an assignment rather than a pleasure?

If your answer is yes to either of those questions, maybe it is time to look at writing in a travel journal with new eyes.

I have a friend who professionally writes, and loves to write. She keeps a daily journal, taking it with her when she is on trips. As soon as the flight attendant gives permission to use the plane's drop-down trays, she takes out her journal and begins capturing her adventure.

However, within a few days, her excuses creep in. She promises herself that she'll do it tomorrow. The excuses keep piling up, and all of a sudden she realizes the trip is over. On the plane ride home, she struggles and struggles to remember all the details, however all but a few big ones are already lost.

One of her most powerful excuses is that she doesn't want to just jot down things to remember, or scribble in her trip diary, but that is PRECISELY what she needs to be doing, if she wants to keep those memories.

Can you relate to my friend's story? If you are stuffed to the gill with excuses, it is time to free yourself from them and find your inner writer. Whatever is choking your inner writer, remove the restraints and be free to capture your memories.

Here are some tips to overcome those excuses and to keep you on track:

• Keep it simple. Just a few words will capture the event, no need for a novel.

• Blank pages don't count; put something down. List a couple descriptive words about things you do each day.

• Don't worry about penmanship. You are free to doodle or scribble in your trip journal.

• The same goes for grammar. No teacher is going to grade your work.

• Remember a picture is worth a thousand words. If you do not want to write, then draw. You are not in an art class --- stick figures are cute.

• If you do not want to draw, then paste. Capture memories with ticket stubs, maps, postcards. Have fun scrapbooking!

• Just do it. Gently but firmly tell your "I'll do it tomorrow" voice to go away.

Remember the goal: you are preserving the memory of your extraordinary travels.

You, and you alone, get to decide what to say, how to write it, and how much to capture with words and souvenirs.

For many of us, the hardest part is just getting started. Even the best writers often have a challenge getting started. Here are some ideas that may help you to start the fun:

• Start with a good quality journal and a favorite pen.

• Don't think, just write what flows from your pen.

• Jot down what comes to mind; do not over-think.

• Any idea or words that pop up, write down.

• Censoring is a no-no. Resist the inkling to cross out anything.

• Imagine you are telling your story to someone.

• Highlight times of your trip that are fascinating - things out of the ordinary for you.

• Be playful with your writing. Your trip journal doesn't need to be only serious in nature.

• If you are really stuck, open your journal, then write the first idea that bubbles up.

Do you like everything to look perfect? Are you worried that your trip journal will end up with a messy look? If you can't let go of that gripping worry, then, get a pad of sticky paper that is about the size of your journal pages, stick the sheets to your pages in the journal, and write on them. On your plane ride home, transfer your words to the real pages. You'll only do it this way once, I suspect. Ever after, you'll go for the real journal pages and be so relaxed and confident.

Remember my friend who thought she would surely remember all the details of her trip ... but she couldn't?

The main lesson to glean from her costly mistake is to capture the high points EVERY day DURING your trip --- not on the way home. Or, the absolute fatal mistake of digging and digging for memory details AFTER you unpack your bags!

Trust me, the words will flow once you get started recording the high points, the low moments and all the extraordinary memories in between.

Your smile will be ear-to-ear when you have in your hands a lasting legacy filled with your very own too-great-to-ever-risk-forgetting trip memories in a travel journal you created.