Boston Review has a poetry competition around the corner. I started collecting some of my unpublished pieces to send off for the event and found one or two I did not even remember writing.
That because my writing “collection” is stowed “safely” inside my mac (and backed up!), stored as if it were some kind of deep freezer locked in a dungeon that someone forgot the map to.
So, I started using an app called Day One about 8 months ago. That’s because I realized that I was:
A) Drowning in papers (dang it kids!) – But seriously… what is up with all these cute kids drawings? I can’t take it. No really. I can’t take it. They are suffocating me with their adorableness.
B) Writing but not writing. Like on Blogs and FB and on Word and Mailchimp and for the love of sweet Pete everything is everywhere and I feel like I’ve said some brilliant things but where are they?
C) I like my pictures too. I mean, I LOVE my Hipstamatic app, and I apparently use my iPhone camera a lot. I want to record images and I freakin’ hate having to look for them.
I needed a dang system!
I came across these journalling apps, which are only a bit MORE like crack than buying moleskins. My only advice?? Just pick one for heaven’s sake (yeah right).
1. I personally I am INTO Day One. It’s like a total package for me: journal, notebook, scrapbook, filing system. If you use the tags (which I do!) you can find things again. Or just discover things wonderful in a group that somehow “belong together.”
2. There’s also Momento. I tried Momento and used it a little bit, but it never really caught on for me. It is a great app, but Day One is most useful for me on the laptop, with Cloud and Dropbox syncing options. Momento is iPhone-only so if you are a mobile only user, this is a great option.
3. You might be an Evernote person, however. I know there are tons of people who love Evernote. It’s web functionality is intensive and not where I, personally, am at at the moment (I own a typewriter for heaven’s sake!). See this really great LifeHacker piece about how to use it to the hilt.
Lots of people say Evernote is far better than Day One. Lots of people also leave the toilet seat up and jump out of perfectly good airplanes.
It’s all about style, taste and what feels good for you. The interfaces are really different, though, with a much “less is more” approach with Day One. However, you get more features with Evernote, so you decide.
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I didn’t really intend to write a reviewy sort of thing but I just freakin’ love Day One so much that I had to tell you!
Also here’s a really awesome drawing that Tati did:
