No matter how much I like the analog life, when it comes to journaling I feel digital is much easier at times. Probably seventy-five percent of my journaling is done on a PC or my phone. The rest in my trusted Lochby with a Platinum Preppy. I’ve tried a few methods, apps, and software products throughout the years and I think I may settle. 

What I’ve tried

  • Simple text documents - I tried to do this in a sort of flat file folder system, but it is way too cumbersome and in the end, I don’t think it would ever be read or discovered, just deleted after I croak so someone else can use the machine. 

  • jrnl - this may be one of the coolest command line apps I’ve used. At it’s base it’s pretty simple, but it can get pretty advanced. Downfall is it needs to be on a laptop or desktop PC. I was trying to access my file by syncing with pCloud so I could append it via my phone, but it wasn’t the smoothest experience. I had to jump through a few hoops to get it to work on mobile. 

  • Penzu - penzu did a lot of what I wanted, but I couldn’t get over the UI, it just rubbed me wrong for some reason. It may have improved, that was a few years ago, but it disliked it enough to not give it a second chance. 

  • Apple Journal - I gave this a try just the last few days, but it really isn’t worth it. Your only access is on your iOS device, and there isn’t really a great option for retrieval other than just printing it. 

  • DayOne - DayOne does a lot, I had used it in the past but never could stick because it was Mac/iOS specific, that is until they got a web version. It’s fairly economical, and a bonus is you can have entries reproduced in a nice little book if you like. 

What I’m going with

I’ve decided to stick with DayOne. I am an iOS user, so it’s great to use on my phone. And as mentioned, now that there is a web version I can use it from my PC whether on Windows or Linux. The book publishing feature is really the closer for me also. Though I haven’t used it yet, I look forward to being able to publish my thoughts to something I can leave lying around when I kick it and the family can find out how crazy dad really was. 

Voice Dictation

The other thing I am experimenting with is doing my entries with voice. It’s a habit I’m trying to get into, I find it funny how hard it is to resist typing something. But there are many times a thought doesn’t get jotted down, mainly because I’m feeling too lazy to type it. Also, it can be triggered from my watch if I don’t have my phone with me. Though dictation can be a bit sloppy, I would rather have to revisit and edit than miss doing the entry at all. 

In the end I will still try to-do analog as much as I can, I feel physically writing stuff is therapeutic. But I just don’t find it feasible to carry my physical journal everywhere I go. I will have them exist side by side. They will complement each other if anyone ever reads any of my drivel someday. Maybe in the end, it’s just the fact that I like to talk to myself. Who knows?

Cheers!