I started my first official diary in 2011, fresh off the Royal Diaries and Dear Canada book series. I took it very seriously, detailing in colourful language the games and false scenarios I’d made up, the events of my day, and even occasionally roleplaying as one of the characters in books I’d read. One entry details my pretending to be Catherine the Great on the eve of her wedding; I went on at length about how scary it was that my fiancé Peter had contracted some form of the pox.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep the habit up. I kept a diary on and off for years, but never built the habit.
Then, when I started to take creative writing more seriously in 2016, I started my first writing book, and the difference was immediate. I took that sucker with me everywhere I went. I planned stories, made character profiles, kept a list of my favourite names in the back, and, most importantly, I was writing regularly. As I began to build this habit, I realized something essential; I was able to write more because I was doing so casually, without putting pressure on what I was writing. Keeping a diary with a strict format with a “Dear Diary” and a “Love, Lara,” and a mandate to write every day inevitably failed. But I wondered how I could bring this new casual approach into recording my own life—not just the lives of my fictional characters.
It’s 2022 now. I’m in grade 12, about to graduate high school, and I’ve finally figured out a system. I’m on my fifth writing book, as it were, with countless other notebooks on the go for varying purposes. I also use an agenda and keep a daily account of my life in Spanish, because I’ll be darned if I let six years of high school Spanish go to waste! Although it doesn’t always feel that way, I have by most accounts succeeded in my goal of writing things down—be that random shower thoughts, important memories, bits of creative writing, or just an interesting fact or cool song lyric I heard that day.
The Secret
So, what’s the secret? In fact, I mentioned it earlier on. The top three steps to learning to write habitually (and these tips apply to most every habit) are as follows:
1. Know Why You’re Doing It
We’ll cover some good reasons to write things down shortly, but the most important thing for building any habit is to set your intentions and be aware of your motivation. Write it in a visible place or just remind yourself. This will help you keep going.
2. Quit Putting Pressure On It
If you skip a day, who cares! (And don’t say you do, because no you don’t, stop it.) I often go back to retroactively fill in my Spanish journal based on my agenda and photos etc. from that day. And sometimes when I’m feeling tired, I will literally just write “Today I feel tired.” And leave it at that. One sentence—that’s enough! The habit you’re trying to build, at least initially, is about writing casually, so don’t forget that.
3. Tailor Your Experience
As your writing habit builds, consider what you need to feel satisfied and successful. For me, having several notebooks with different purposes and a healthy amount of crossover works really well. For others, one or maybe two notebooks do the job. Others still use apps like Day One or their built-in Notes or Calendar apps.
Find what works for you, and don’t be afraid to experiment. If one thing fails, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. It just means you haven’t found your solution yet.
Why Do It?
There are a number of scientific and also purely vibes-based reasons to write things down. But for me, aside from the practical purposes of honing my craft, I’ve found that the number one thing that keeps me motivated to keep writing down the little things in life is this: time actually slows down.
Do you ever feel like the days blur together, and you look up and realize that a whole month has passed? Or do you get the sense that you trek from day to day without accomplishing anything meaningful?
Writing will ensure that you’ll have something to look back on for months or years to come, but more importantly it will affect you in the present as you’ll be able to see what you’ve done and learn to practice self-forgiveness and mindfulness when you maybe don’t do everything you were planning to?
How Do I Get Started?
It’s simple, really. It doesn’t take much. A notebook will probably serve your purpose best rather than loose sheets of paper, but it doesn’t have to be anything fancy—you can pick one up for two dollars at your local Dollarrama. And once you have that, tell yourself that you’re not limited in what you can write in this book. It’s your book, for your eyes only, and you can use it however you want.
Then, don’t hesitate to branch out! If your notebook isn’t around, use your hand and transfer later, or keep it in that good ol’ Notes app on your phone, or write it in the margins of your physics notes.
Thank me later.