On Diaries and Maintaining a Gemlog

17 January 2025

I remember someone posting on Station a throwaway comment about how

they're still trying to work on a digital diary. I quickly jumped in,

because I'm like that and I have no impulse control, and shared my two

cents on digital diaries. In hindsight, I'm not sure if they were

developing a diary app or they were setting up a digital home for

their personal writings. It was probably the former, because this

space is filled with people tinkering with code.

My uninvited suggestion was to not let the digital diary dictate their

writing -- that it should serve them and not the other way around. I

was saying if they don't have anything to write down, then it's okay

not to write anything down. I continued by saying there is no need to

try to keep an audience engaged. I may be right about the audience,

but I think I might've been wrong about everything else.

Without having an obligation of some kind, I find that my gemlogs get

fewer over time. I'll still maintain there is nothing wrong with this,

but allowing it to continue may lead to not writing anything at all,

after a while. This would negate the reason for maintain some kind of

log, as its purpose is to record our thoughts on our experiences, the

things we learn, and our feelings as time passes by. Not having that

initial obligation would eventually allow those thoughts to disappear

into the ether without leaving any mark as to their existence.

So, since my thoughts on this matter was never asked for, I'll

maintain it here, as it would better serve me. I need to set up a

regular schedule for writing my gemlogs. I think it should be

realistic, so writing every day is a nonstarter for me. It should also

not be too lenient, as once a month entries may be leaving too many

things left unrecorded. I think I will try for once a week and see how

that works for me. I will allow myself some grace, if I miss a

deadline. My livelihood doesn't depend on my writing, and I won't be

disappointing anyone else if my latest entry doesn't get published on

time.

~j

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