Diary entry examples
A diary entry is a date, something that happened, and how it felt. That is the whole form. These are finished examples of ordinary length, the kind you can write in a few minutes. None of them is a model of style. They are models of being specific.
An ordinary day
Tuesday. Rain, and the bus was full. I stood the whole way and read four pages of the same novel I have been reading for a month. Work was quiet. I ate noodles at my desk and felt slightly ashamed of that, then got over it. Called my sister on the walk home. She is painting the kitchen and hates the color she chose. I told her to live with it for a week. I will probably do the same thing the next time I buy paint.
Notice the small facts: the bus, the noodles, the paint. Those are what you will want when you reread this. The feeling is one sentence, not a speech.
A bad day
Wednesday. I snapped at the person on the shop floor and I was wrong. They had not done anything. I had been waiting on a message since morning and I took it out on them. I apologized before I left, badly, and they were nicer about it than I deserved. The message never came. I am going to bed angry at myself and also tired of being angry at myself.
A bad day does not need a lesson at the end. Write what you did, including the part you dislike. You can decide later whether it still looks the same.
A decision
Thursday. I told my manager I want to move teams. I rehearsed it for days and it took four minutes. She said she would think about it. I felt sick beforehand and light afterwards. I keep waiting to regret it and I do not. Next: stop checking my email every ten minutes.
The decision, the facts, the feeling, and one next step. You can stop there.
A week late
I did not write last week. We were at my uncle's, the train was delayed both ways, and I got back too tired to care. What I want to remember: the dog slept on my feet, and my uncle still makes the same terrible coffee. Today was normal. Groceries, a long meeting, early night.
You do not have to reconstruct the missing days before you are allowed to continue. One line about the gap is enough, then write today.
One line
Friday. Nothing happened, and that was the good part.
A short entry is still an entry. It marks that you were here, and that the day was quiet. Later, a string of one-line days tells you something a single long essay would miss.
What they have in common
- A date, or a weekday, so you can place it.
- At least one concrete thing: a place, a meal, a sentence someone said, a thing you did.
- A feeling, stated plainly, without explaining it to death.
- No introduction. They start in the middle of the day.
If you need a question to start from, use what to write in a diary. The longer version of getting going is how to start a diary.