How to start a journal entry: 12 first lines to copy

Why the first line is the hardest part

A blank page asks a huge question: what, out of your whole life, is worth saying tonight? No wonder the pen hovers.

The first line makes that question smaller. Once it’s down, the page has a topic and the second sentence has somewhere to go.

But it can’t carry the whole day. So give the first line one small job, and keep the big stuff for later.

A first line only says when, where or what.

Real diaries start plainly too. Samuel Pepys opened his entry for 2 January 1660 (opens in a new tab) with “In the morning before I went forth”, then wrote about bottles of sack and a shilling.

One entry can’t speak for every diary. Still, a famous one began with an ordinary morning.

No time or notebook picked yet? Start with how to start journaling, then come back.

12 ways to start a journal entry

Copy the opener, then swap in your own details. If a second sentence shows up, let it.

1. “Today I…”

The plainest opener there is. “Today I” points straight at something you did, and the verb that follows it usually drags the rest of the sentence along with it.

Line to copy: “Today I fixed the wobbly chair with folded cardboard.”

Best for: a night with no idea at all, when the day feels like it happened to somebody else.

2. “Right now I…”

Write what’s happening this minute. It needs no memory at all, which helps when the whole day has turned into one long smear of tasks.

Line to copy: “Right now I’m in bed with cold feet and the fan on.”

Best for: a tired night.

3. The time and where you are

A time stamp and a place set the scene, the way a play script names the room before anyone says a word.

Line to copy: “9:40 pm, kitchen table, rice still warm in the pot.”

Best for: a night you’ll want to picture again later.

4. One feeling word

Start with one feeling word, then a full stop. Great, okay, so-so, worried or hard will cover most days.

Line to copy: “Okay. Mostly okay, with one good hour after lunch.”

Best for: a short day or a hard one.

5. A question

Put a question at the top and answer it underneath. The page gets a job before you have time to doubt it.

Line to copy: “What did I do today that I’d do again? Called my sister back.”

Best for: a day that felt like nothing at all.

6. “I noticed…”

Noticing is smaller than thinking, so it’s easier at night. And one small sound or smell from today is enough.

Line to copy: “I noticed the bakery on the corner changed its sign.”

Best for: an ordinary day.

7. A list of 3

A list skips the trouble of building sentences. Three items is enough, and commas can do the work grammar usually does.

Line to copy: “Three things today: new socks, a long call, lentil soup.”

Best for: a busy day with too much in it.

If you’d rather find a question already waiting each night, try it in Yumemira, the small-steps journal for iPhone.

8. Something someone said

Open with a line of speech from today, in quotes. People say odd and lovely things, and a quote is easy to remember.

Line to copy: “‘You’ve got flour on your ear,’ said the man at the till.”

Best for: a day spent around people, whether that meant a crowded bus, a family dinner that ran long or a shift behind a busy counter.

9. The first thing you did today

Go back to the very start of the day, whether that was an alarm, a shift or a baby down the hall. Then write the first thing you actually did.

So simple it feels like cheating.

Line to copy: “First thing today: stood at the window and checked for rain.”

Best for: a day you can’t sort out.

10. Weather, plus one detail

Everyone has weather, which is why it’s a classic. Add one detail that only you saw, and the line stops being a forecast.

Line to copy: “Windy. My umbrella turned inside out at the bus stop.”

Best for: a day when nothing comes.

11. “I’m glad…”

Begin with a small thing you’re glad about. It can be tiny, and it shouldn’t sound like a thank-you speech at an awards show that’s already running long.

Line to copy: “I’m glad the bus driver waited while I ran.”

Best for: a good day you want to keep.

12. “Tomorrow I want…”

Point the first line at tomorrow. The thing should be small enough to do in ten minutes.

Line to copy: “Tomorrow I want to read two pages before bed.”

Best for: a night when today feels finished.

Pick an opener in 5 seconds

Twelve is a lot to hold late at night. These six cover the usual nights.

On a blank night, pick a row by feel.

Whichever row you pick, the next sentence is the easy part, because the first one has already told it what the entry is about and roughly where to go.

That’s the trick.

How to write a journal entry after the first line

After the opener, write one or two sentences more, then stop. Three lines will do, even when the rest of the page stays empty all the way down to the bottom corner.

That’s allowed.

1. 1

   Add one detail.

   Who was there, what it looked like, or what you ate.

2. 2

   Add a feeling.

   One word: great, okay, so-so, worried or hard.

3. 3

   Stop early.

   Close the notebook before it starts to feel like homework.

Stop while you still have one more thing to say. Tomorrow’s line will thank you for it.

The lines worth keeping are often about something you did. So on empty nights, do one small thing first, like watering a plant or reading two pages. Then write about it.

Yumemira is built the same way: one small step a day toward a goal, then one line about it. After a step, Mira cheers and a button says Say how it went.

It’s hard to have nothing to say about something you did five minutes ago, because the plant is still dripping and the two pages are still fresh in your head.

On paper, a pen and a thirsty plant do the same job.

For nights when even the detail won’t come, here’s what to write next.

How to start a diary entry

Journal or diary, the start is the same. A diary usually records the day, and a journal can also hold plans, lists and questions.

The old opener “Dear Diary” still works. It turns the page into someone to talk to, which helps on the nights when you’d rather chat with a friend about your day than file a careful report on it.

Line to copy: “Dear Diary, the bus was late, so I read the ads twice.”

It sounds a bit old-fashioned, the sort of thing a character writes by candlelight in a film, but the page doesn’t care how it’s greeted. It just listens.

On a phone, a journal that opens with one question gives the first line its job before you start. In Yumemira, Write without one gives you a plain page instead.

Your first journal entry tonight

You don’t need all twelve. Pick one opener, use it for a week, and switch only when a night clearly calls for a different one, like a hard day or a crowded one.

But keep the first one handy.

If you’d rather answer a question than pick an opener, any of these beginner journal prompts will do the same work.

The wedding guests can sit down. Nobody needed a speech.

Write “Today I”, finish the sentence, and put the pen down.