Newsletter archive · 15 Apr 2024

My EXACT journaling process

Hello Reader—

I’ve kept journals of different for twenty-five years.

I wrote journal entries in notebooks and password-protected files.

I bought fancy Moleskine notebooks.

And I tried popular writing and digital writing apps.

Notebooks work fine.

But, they filled my bookshelves.

And finding old entries took ages.

So, I stored them in the attic.

Why Write a Gratitude Journal?

Read our guide on writing in a gratitude journal.

Journal Writing for Students

Check out our expert journal writing guidelines for students.

I started using a password-protected file via Microsoft Pages and plain text files.

These always work and don’t take up much space.

You can edit your entries using almost any writing app.

This process worked until I reached 200,000 words.

Then, I tried Evernote.

But didn’t like how it combined my journal entries with other clippings and items I saved online.

These days, I use Day One for journaling.

It’s purpose-built for journaling.

I keep multiple journals about my personal life, business, and creative projects.

Arranging and tagging entries is easy. And I can add photos and other meta information (like location).

Read my Day One review to learn more.

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Is Day One essential for effective journaling? No.

Is it pleasant to use? Yes.

Don’t worry too much about apps.

Every writer should keep some type of journal.

Here, you can read more about how I write journal entries.

I put together this list of journaling topics to help you start.

After twenty-five years of journaling, here’s what I learnt:

Journaling regularly fosters clear thinking.

It can help you become a better writer.

And it’s cheaper than therapy.

After years of following this practice, remember:

A consistent journaling habit is more valuable than picking the right tool.

Journaling regularly will help you beat writer’s block and build a catalog of stories you can use.

That’s one of the principles I teach in my course Conquer Writers Block.

Details below if you’re interested.

https://courses.becomeawritertoday.com/p/conquer-writer-s-block

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I use Grammarly's AI writing assistant and grammar checker daily–it's powerful and fast.

Write on,

—Bryan Collins

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