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Do you keep a diary?
I've been thinking about keeping a diary to improve my English because I rarely use it, but I don't know what to write about... So, if you keep a diary, what do you write in it? And what do you use/prefer, app or paper?
There's no magic answer, no "right answer".
You just write. It really is that simple. Your first entry can literally be:
And your next entries can be stuff like:
The point is to write. That's the whole point, period and done. There's no magic right answer. Whatever you write, that's what you should be writing about. Why? Because that's what you wanted to write about.
Your question is quite similar to one novice authors often have. They feel they should be writing something monumental and staggeringly brilliant, that they need to have something astute and insightful to say with their story.
No. They don't. You don't. No one does. No story you love was ever written by some author who sat down and spun it out in a single sitting, no edits, no changes, no deletions, no worries. Every story you love went through draft after draft, revisions, wholesale changes. The story they ended up with is rarely the story they thought they were writing when they started.
This is something that usually confuses the hell out of inexperienced writers who want to become storytellers. They often have a very hard time letting go of some sense they have to be amazing and perfect from the very first page.
No. They just have to write. It really is that simple. Do they have a story in their head they want to try to tell? Then write it.
Same for you with your diary. It's your diary. The only one you're writing for is you. There are no things you "should" be writing about, or really even things you "shouldn't" be writing about. If you hate the asshole across the street who plays his music too loud, write about that. If you saw a bag spinning in the wind in a parking lot and were moved to spew out three pages of what it meant to you as you watched a piece of plastic spin around and around, write about that. If you're bored, or sad, or happy, whatever ... that's what you write about.
Whatever you write, that's what you're supposed to be writing. So just write.
Appreciate you!
The same thing is true of almost any creative work. Want to make games, but don't know what to make a game about? Make a game about anything. Want to start programming, but don't have a project in mind? Duplicate something that already exists. Etc.
I never was one to journal, but I have been doing it sporadically. Nothing major, just a paragraph or so, and about nothing in particular. I basically just write down what I'm feeling that day and what caused it.
I love journaling! Digital and physical. I end up writing almost everyday, but I don't force myself to do it daily.
It's a great way not just to practice writing, but also as a way of thinking through things. Something about getting the words out of my head and into a screen or paper helps me think clearer about any topic. A practice I've started recently is whenever I come across any news or post I find frustrating, I write a rant in my journal about why I find it frustrating. This has helped me combat the constant negativity I would feel every time I came across a similar theme (climate change issues, for example) and I go back and read what I've already written and add to it if there's anything as a way of processing it. Before this, I would be stuck thinking about it for a long time and ruin my mood. Instead, I can channel that frustration into focusing on coming up with something actionable instead.
You also don't have to use it just to write what's happened in your day or your thoughts, you can also use it as a commonplace book to collect things you like. You can write down anything that catches your interest - song lyrics, something you overheard someone say, anything at all that interests you. Don't limit yourself to whether something is important enough to document, this was something that had put me in a writing block for a long time.
I use Obsidian for all my notes (I had shared more in this comment a while ago) but if you are having trouble getting started, I would start with the most simple thing and whatever format/tool you're most comfortable with. I go digital for most since I have it on my phone and PC, but I also write on paper sometimes because I love the feel of it. Experiment with the process, and have fun!
Over the years I've kept different types of writing books. All physical pen and paper.
I used to journal a lot when I was younger. Not as a daily practice exactly, really just to work through life / emotions. So, I mostly wrote about myself and my feelings: what I wanted in life, impactful events from my day, how I was feeling, etc. I never had an issue getting started because my young brain was roiling with so many thoughts that it felt like a relief to externalize everything going on inside.
After I stopped feeling the need to do that, I started what I called an ideas book. I used this for everything that popped into my mind that I cared to put to paper. Silly jokes, funny ideas, insights that came to mind, to-do lists, working through problems or tasks I was trying accomplish. Personally, the way I used my ideas book, it lent itself to shorter, fragmented writing, but that didn't need to be the case. I do think it higlights the concept that really anything can go when it comes to keeping a diary, or journal, or notebook - however you'd like to call it!
I wanted to write more, as a habit. My first idea was to start a blog, but then I constantly find excuses not to write. "I have nothing interesting to share.", "I'm not an interesting person", "Nobody will visit your blog", etc. True or not, these excuses prevented me from writing consistently.
And so, I started a journaling habit. I write using Obsidian and make an entry every day in my daily note. Occasionally I slip, but I apply the "two day rule", and never miss writing in it twice in a row. Sometimes I write about how little I have to talk about because my day was uninteresting. Sometimes I write about something I learned. I love to write about something new I learned about someone, which is great for future reference too.
I've been doing this since January of this year. I've made an entry almost every day, but interestingly (or not!) have never once read an entry back!
I do, two separate ones in fact.
One is written using Obsidian. I've been doing so every day since 2020. It's a very matter of fact thing. I separate a day into four sections (morning, afternoon, evening, midnight) and I write what I do in each of these sections, but not everything. For example, I don't write what I cook for that evening, but if I'm hosting someone, I do write about it. I don't write every phone call I make or receive, but if the subject of the call is somewhat of an importance, I write it. If another person is involved, I use Obsidian's internal links so I can more easily refer to it when needed. Some days are very short. I had a down time yesterday and all I wrote was two sentences. Some days, I write about a thousand or so words. I try to write it at the first opportunity after something worth writing about has happened, but it's not always easy, so I usually write it at the very end of a day. If I'm too tired, I just write an outline and fill it out later.
The other one is a handwritten journal I recently started writing. To be honest, when I started doing this my only intention was to make more use of my fountain pens, a hobby I somewhat recently picked up, but it's grown on me so now I'm doing it just for the sake of writing itself. This journal is very personal and unfiltered. I wouldn't mind anyone reading my Obsidian journal, but I'd never let anyone read this one. I'm an anxious person who spends way too much time overanalyzing social interactions and I found out that writing about them (or things I have unusually strong feelings on) help me deal with them better. Since writing slows time and requires some sort of structure, I believe it helps with my thinking too, which is often many thoughts coming in and out fast paced, all jumbled.
i journal infrequently — but to get started, focus more on the habit. for content, just document your day, something you did well, something you’d like to work on… before long you’ll find your groove.
i use a text file and edit it with nano. :)
A few years back I got into the habit of scribbling down a few notes about the day in a tiny pad I kept in the breast pocket of my jacket. This usually happened on the tram back to my home and was mainly a way to organize my thoughts. It was also nice that I could go back and sort of reflect on if the week had been particularly challenging and how my mood had been.... I should get another pad :)
I have been keeping a diary for a few weeks. I am using the journaling feature in Org-Roam. It's nothing much, I don't really get the point of writing at length if no one else is gonna read it. I don't write about anything emotional or personal. I feel more comfortable working through my emotions via fiction (which is in the same Org Roam directory and database). So my journal may not resemble what most people put in their diaries. I just list the things that I did in regard to work (I am writing a novel). It's nice to have a record of whatever I did each day, and I can also write things to do in the future. For example, I can write "do X" on the file in which I will be journaling tomorrow.
I wouldn't want anyone to read it. I am tracking it on a private GitHub repo. I have no idea how safe this really is. So I will seize the opportunity to ask my fellow Tilderinos: should I encrypt my Org Roam files?
I was also thinking about using Org-Roam considering my experience with emacs.
If there's something that you feel you should keep safe, then of course encrypt. I guess a small bash script would be enough.
Thank you for your answer.
Org-Roam is trippy!
I think it only works if you go all in though. In my previous attempts I was being very intentional and methodical, and it was terrible. You either embrace the beast or avoid it all together. The structure seems to emerge from chaos. I do have some ways to do things now but it would never work if I planned beforehabd. You gotta make links, that's about it. I do use the backlinks sidebar! Because if you don't, you might as well just use native Org, or org-superlinks.
I decided to put almost everything in Roam, in the same directory, and let Org Roam do its magic. And if it all fails, the links will work on Org regardless, and Emacs has rg and other similars which can find stuff regardless of the size of your data.
Quick tip: The default function to get preview for the backlinks sidebar display the entire org heading where the link is. So if a heading has a lot of content it will the backlinks completely. I talked to some people and they gave me this wich works much better (you can't use soft-wrap though)
Source.
Also, how does one encrypt an already existing private GitHub repo? :D
I've stopped on org-capture. It's easier to sync between devices.
An already existing repo, I guess, you can't... Have you tried hosting your own Git server?
Thanks ;)
Hosting my own git server is not something I ever considered. Unfortunately it would probably be too complex and time consuming for me.
I like using git for prose as a form of backup and also because git-timemachine allows me to use Gir as an extremely reliable undo system. Timemachine doesn't revert a file to a previous commit, it just show how the file used to be so I can copy and paste into the current one.
I may sound technical but in reality I am just a writer that hates using the mouse, which is why I started my Vim and Emacs journey years ago.
I use journals in a few different ways. Historically, in a "dear diary" way, when I was younger and full of hormones that needed to be heard. For a little while I tried out something I titled my "wins journal," attempting to inject some gratitude and positivity, and list out a few items every day. Recently I've been reading some non-fiction that has prompted a few introspective journaling sessions that were somewhat guided by the book itself. I've also started "ADHD journaling," where I have a single page in my book dedicated to a month. I number the lines for the days of the month, and add a few check boxes in columns for any goals/daily activities that I think I might try to accomplish. Then sometimes I fill out any significant events for the day, and check any boxes where I met the goal. The facing page I've been using for some longer term patterns, or just whatever. If I don't fill it in for a few days, it's fine. If I feel like it, I can long-form journal too, but no biggie if I don't.
For example, the entry today will look something like this:
It ends up capturing a lot of info in a small amount of space and time. We'll see if my tendency to quit after the novelty wears off happens to this too.
For several months in 2022 kept what I think is a diary. Most of my entries were about things that interested me on the day it might be reviewing a chapter from a book or about a subject I had learnt about from a YouTube video or the ending of a video game. I would also try and create recipes for me to try that week/month. Sometimes I would of course write about my own experiences or write about planning for the future but only when I felt like it. It was a very rewarding thing to do and I still enjoy reading back on it when I see it in my Google Drive (I wrote it on Google Docs).
P.S sometimes I would make quizzes or games that I could share with my friends. One of my favourites is stolen from The Horne Section Podcast where you get lyrics from a song and put most of the words through a thesaurus. My friends seemed to enjoy me badly singing stuff like "William Trousers is not my mate, they are a women who alleges I am the only"
I would do it, if Apple were to release the journal app they have on iOS for MacOS. I don't like typing on my phone.