I know that it has been a while since my last post. I decided that I would take a return to my formative years and start writing a diary again. We spend so much time focusing on sharing, sharing, sharing in this world of social media and constant updates, that I thought I would try and write a few thoughts purely for myself.
As a teenager, I was an avid diary writer and obsessively journaled by every thought. Looking back is always a little depressing. That geekily cool teenager with a razor sharp intellect was actually just a nerdy fat girl with a love of words and a pretentious air. However, this thirty-something cynic is prepared to admit that she can learn from this misguided teen and hopes that perhaps my future self will be able to pick up a few things from my current grumpy musings.
Anyway, this diary writing idea presented a challenge. I was used to writing my thoughts in coloured gel pens within battered hardback notebooks jammed with cut outs from magazines, postcards and doodles. This doesn’t really fit in with the modern age – or the fact that I spend most of my time working and have little time to sit and dwell. I knew that I had to find an iPhone app so that I could use it on the move and edit at my own leisure. I eventually settled on two: Momento and Evernote.
Momento is less of a diary and more of a librarian. It collates your tweets, status updates, Last FM activity etc. and neatly archives them. You can even add your own little entries to make it more like a diary. Whilst this appealed to me due to its ease of use and the fact it collates information that I already write, it wasn’t quite the powerful journal tool that I wanted. In the end, I went for a note taking app rather than a specific journalling app – Evernote. It has allowed me to create an online version that is as close to my teenage version as I could muster. It allows me to type an extensive journal entry, clip a web page that captures a current event, snap a photo, grab a screenshot…endless options.
Despite feeling a little Carrie Bradshaw, who I despise, so far, so good. Now I just need to do exciting things to fill it with, rather than the naval gazing that fills ‘the early years’.
Retro Geek Girl 