30 Days to Start Journaling

Day one. Write the date at the top of the page, then three plain lines about where you are sitting, what time it is, and what the light is doing. You have started.

Write Today began with at the top of the page and finish the sentence five different ways. Keep every version plain and unpolished, especially the first one.

List everything you can hear from where you sit, the near sounds first and the far sounds last. Pick the quietest one and give it three more lines.

Write the story of your shoes today. Where they went, what they stepped around, and where they are resting now that the day is done.

Write about tomorrow in the smallest possible terms. One meal, one errand, and one small thing you are looking forward to, each in a single line.

Describe your breakfast in full detail: the food, the plate, the seat, and the first bite. Ordinary mornings deserve one exact page.

Reread your first six days. Star the line you like best, copy it onto a fresh page, and write a few lines about why it earned the star.

Step outside or open a window for one minute. Come back and write about the weather as it actually is today, with no comparisons to yesterday.

Make a list of ten small things that went right this week, however plain they look. Give each one a single line and no explanations.

Invent a holiday for an ordinary thing, like warm socks or the kettle. Write the date you would celebrate it on and how the day would go.

Write about a smell that belongs to your home. Where does it come from, and when do you notice it most?

Spend one page on your hands. What have they made, carried, fixed, or held this week? Write it down as a plain record.

Write five questions you would like to ask the street you live on. Answer the easiest one as honestly as you can.

Write about a place you pass every week and never enter. What do you imagine goes on inside, and what would you look at first if you went in?

Write about someone who taught you a small useful thing, like tying laces or making tea. Describe the lesson the way you remember it happening.

Write a page about your favourite way to spend a free hour. Describe it in detail and let it need no defending at all.

Write about a room in a home you no longer live in. Describe it corner by corner and mark the place where you liked to sit.

List the games you played as a child, the indoor ones and the outdoor ones. Pick one and write its rules as you remember them, wobbly parts included.

Write about a neighbour, past or present, in plain facts only. What you saw, what you heard, and what you knew for sure. No guessing at reasons.

Describe the walk you know best as directions for a friend who has never taken it. Every turn, every landmark, and the part where the view opens up.

Write about a photograph you own and like. Describe everything inside the frame, then one thing just outside it that you still remember.

Rank five songs, shows, or books you return to, from fifth place to first. Write two lines on why the winner keeps winning.

Write about learning something as an adult that children seem to learn easily. What made it hard at first, and what finally worked?

Write a page of questions only. Big ones, small ones, and silly ones are all welcome. No answers allowed today. The asking is the entry.

Copy a line from one of your own earlier pages at the top of a new page and continue it in a new direction. See where the second version goes.

Write about one day from this month in the third person, as if it happened to a character you like. Keep every fact true.

Make a list titled Things I Want to Remember This Year. Aim for twelve entries at one line each, and star the one that matters most.

Write about your evening in reverse, from right now back to supper, at one plain sentence per step. Notice what the reverse order shows you.

Reread a few pages from your second week. Write one short entry titled What Has Changed and one titled What Has Not.

Final day. Reread the whole month quickly, then write a letter to the person who opens this journal next time. Tell them which pages to reread first and what you hope they write about.