#diarykeeping

[glowettee]

HIIII MINDYYY!!! how are you doing?

i love your guides and advice so much, i wanted to ask you if you could make your own guide to writing in a diary? like diary writing tips, making it pretty, girly diaries, etc etc etc.

thanks so much for ur time and ily!!

hey glam!! omg i'm so excited to answer this because diary keeping is one of my absolute favorite things to talk about (and do!!)... i've been keeping diaries since i was 9 years old and i have boxes of them under my bed that i sometimes read through when i'm feeling nostalgic or need to remember who i used to be. so yesss, of course glam, i'd love to give you a little guide, i hope this post answers your question well <3

✧ mindy's guide to keeping the most magical diary ever ✧

first of all, let's talk about WHY keeping a diary is literally life-changing:

• it's like having therapy but it's free and available at 3am when you're spiraling

• you can say things you'd never say out loud (and sometimes just writing them is enough to feel better)

• it creates this beautiful archive of your life that future you will treasure

• it helps you notice patterns in your thoughts and behaviors that you might miss otherwise

• it's the perfect place to dream without anyone's judgment (including your own)

✧ finding your perfect diary format:

the biggest mistake people make is thinking there's only one "right" way to keep a diary. there isn't!! here are some formats i've tried and loved and hopefully you like it:

• the classic narrative diary: just writing about your day, your thoughts, whatever comes to mind

• the bullet diary: quick points about what happened, how you felt, what you're thinking

• the themed diary: keeping separate journals for different parts of your life (one for dreams, one for creative ideas, one for processing emotions)

• the question diary: answering the same set of questions every day to track how you're evolving

• the art diary: more visuals than words, perfect if you process feelings through colors and images

• the structured diary: using prompts and templates to guide your writing (i'm actually going to be selling prompts + journaling templates on my gumroad soon)

personally, i switch between formats depending on my mood and energy levels. some days i write pages and pages, and other days i just jot down three bullet points before falling asleep. both are valid!!

✧ making your diary absolutely beautiful:

• invest in a diary that makes you excited to write in it!! (this is so important... if you don't love looking at it, you won't reach for it)

• create a "diary aesthetic" with special pens, stickers, washi tape, pressed flowers, etc.

• designate a special spot in your room as your "diary corner" with good lighting and cozy vibes

• develop little rituals around writing (i light a specific candle and make rose tea before i write. i also love putting on the soundtrack from legally blonde on or sometimes even harry potter music, weird right?)

• don't be afraid to make it messy!! perfect diaries are usually abandoned diaries

• use different colored pens for different moods or topics

• leave space for future reflections (i leave margins so i can add notes when i reread)

• include little artifacts from your life (movie tickets, dried flowers, polaroids)

✧ what to actually write about (for when you're staring at the blank page):

• write a letter to your future self or past self

• document the tiny beautiful moments that would otherwise be forgotten

• write about what you're learning right now (about yourself, about others, about the world)

• create lists (things i'm grateful for, things that made me laugh today, things i want to try)

• write about your dreams (both the sleeping kind and the aspiration kind)

• describe someone you love in detail

• write about what's worrying you and then write advice to yourself as if you were your own best friend

• document your current favorites (songs, foods, people, places, outfits)

• write about the version of yourself you're becoming

✧ how to keep it up long-term:

• lower the bar for what "counts" as a diary entry (sometimes mine are literally two sentences)

• connect it to an existing habit (i write right after i brush my teeth at night)

• don't try to catch up if you miss days (just start fresh where you are)

• give yourself permission to be boring, repetitive, and contradictory

• read old entries when you need motivation (it's so magical to see how far you've come)

• remember that you're writing for YOU, not for some imaginary reader

• create seasonal "check-in" dates where you review and reflect (i do this every equinox and solstice)

• experiment with different times of day to find when your thoughts flow most easily

• use voice memos when you don't feel like writing (you can transcribe them later)

✧ making your diary extra girly & coquette ✧

i know this was your main question, so here is a long list of a bunch of things i personally do to make my diaries cute and girly <3

• use pastel gel pens for different moods (pink for happy days, lavender for dreamy thoughts, baby blue for sad reflections)

• decorate your diary cover with pressed flowers, lace trim, or tiny pearl stickers

• create "pretty borders" around special entries with delicate doodles of flowers, hearts, or ribbons

• use strawberry or rose scented stickers as entry markers (scratch-n-sniff diaries are elite!!)

• add little bows or ribbons to mark important pages (i tie tiny satin ribbons to the corners)

• press flower petals between pages (roses and lavender dry beautifully and make your diary smell divine)

• use a soft pink book light for nighttime writing to keep the aesthetic consistent

• write in your prettiest handwriting for entries about things that made you happy

• add little watercolor washes as backgrounds for special memories

• use heart-dotted i's and swirly flourishes when you're feeling extra

• create "memory pockets" by gluing tiny envelopes to pages where you can tuck away small mementos

• draw tiny butterflies or hearts in the margins when something good happens

• use coquette-core stickers (bows, ballet slippers, swans, cherries) to categorize different types of entries

• spritz your favorite perfume very lightly on special pages (just a tiny bit so it doesn't damage the paper!)

• decorate with vintage-looking lace tape along the edges of important entries

• use a pink silk ribbon as a bookmark (i attached a tiny crystal charm to mine)

• draw little crowns above dates that were particularly magical

• create a "glossary of feelings" in the back with different symbols for different emotions

• use glitter gel pens for birthdays, achievements, and other celebrations

• write quotes from your favorite romantic movies or books in fancy lettering

• create little "note to self" sections with pink highlighter boxes around them

• use strawberry-scented erasable pens so your diary always smells sweet

• add tiny pearl or rhinestone stickers to mark especially precious memories

remember that "girly" means whatever feels feminine and special to YOU. there's no right or wrong way to express your femininity in your diary!! the most important thing is that it feels like a beautiful, safe space that you're excited to return to every day.

✧ the deeper magic of diary-keeping:

the most beautiful thing about keeping a diary is that it helps you become friends with yourself. you start to notice your own patterns, celebrate your tiny victories, and hold space for your struggles. you create this ongoing conversation with yourself that grows deeper and richer over time.

your diary becomes this sacred space where you can be fully, messily, contradictorily yourself. in a world that's constantly asking us to curate and filter our experiences, there's something revolutionary about documenting your life exactly as it is. beautiful, boring, confusing, and real.

xoxo, mindy 🤍

p.s. if you're worried about someone finding and reading your diary, i have a whole system for that too!! let me know if you want me to share it in another post!! 💭 thank you so much for this ask glam! <3

[cockworkandbats]

im gonna do this blog thing by pretending this is my diary because im cool and manly and everybody wants to know about me because im cool

(im lying, dont read this or whatever, i just need a place i can reliably check later because books have been finicky because of the whole spy issue lately)

anyways today im just out hanging out with the the cool trolls today before we go our separate ways and ive been thinking about stuff

like, we found mars uhhh a month ago at this point and he wants to finish some business in alternia, so on top of the counterattack thing ive also been juggling his comeback stuff. which is a bit annoying because girl hi theres already a lot going down with the entire ruler wants to blow my planet up thing, maybe wait in line a little? like, its fine that he wants to go, im not going to force him to stay despite liking it when hes around much more than when he fucks off to sea (rebel version). its still much better than when he goes fucks off to sea (scared version) because at this point they dont come hand in hand anymore so this is actually something he does want to do

and hell be safe there too because of the attack and thats important

dont get me wrong hes like 2 whole heads taller than me but if you as much as look at him wrong he passes out, shrivels up and then dies. in that order.

actually i think im just gonna make him carry back to alternia some of our other important troll dudes cuz even though these dudes actually know how to hold a gun i dont think i want to risk losing half the brains of the cause, 'cause im pretty sure im not making it this time for one reason (getting blasted into bits) or another (world ending game or whatever)

also maybe getting kanaya to haul some humans that way would be nice too, we need to try and carey as many humans by the scruff outta here as fast as we can because i have some rough estimates of where the rulers troops will land at and hm! concerningly close to here!

god why does alternia suck so much by the way, that place isnt even livable dude

im pretty sure i could dig a hole in the surface of one of jupiters moons and have an easier time being there with no gear than living in some weird alternian city

my head would explode in either case but were i at least in io the view would be pretty

hellhole

atrocious

anyways, ive been talking to the weird fish troll girl and shes kinda cool actually. she has her own plans and shes leading her own stuff, but also she refuses to leave earth so thats pretty damn stupid. like girl get out, theyre going to put you in the air fryer for 45 minutes and serve you with lime slices

eh, whatever

id try and convince her to leave but she does have a solid defense attack so im not too bent on it. shes responsible and smart enough to stay. ive been trying to teach her my role so when i skedaddle she can keep my codex and the info. kinda sucks that the trolls are taking over leadership of the allegiance, but i guess right now its for the best as they can get shot like 30 times before they start really feeling it and we only need to get shot once to actually die

anyways the important thing is that im microwaving some nuggets for lunch and im extremely excited about that

[treesareleavy]

Norman Rockwell

[ilnestjamaistroptard-blog]

There is something oddly affecting about historical diary entries for the first day of January, so full of hope for a year that has long since vanished into the past, and often beginning the diary-keeping habit itself...In an age when social networking sites host perpetual updates on the mundane details of our lives, this unbending commitment to private writing feels heroic.

Diarykeeping is an exceptional and heroic act

[brisanjapisanja]

No one ever kept a diary for just himself. (...) But an audience will turn up. In fact, you are counting on it. Someone will be reading and you will be talking. And if you are talking, it means you're alive. The cheating of death, staying alive, still seems to me the fundamental impulse of diary-keeping, the one that sustains all others."

Thomas Mallon, A Book of One's Own: People and Their Diaries