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So lately I've been trying out journaling but on html files on my laptop and it's been really fun! I started doing this after writing some entries on my neocities and trying out dreamwidth for the first time a while back (didn't stick with it the first time but I'm so glad I came back- I really love the interactions and sense of community there :D). I really liked the customisation I was able to have using html/css since I feel like it's so much more expressive than a blank piece of paper, but I also wanted to be able to do this for more personal entries sooo decided to give it a shot on locally hosted html files and it's been great!

Some images!

I have each stored as an html file on my laptop that I use VScode's live preview to look at.

I originally didn't really want to write digitally since I felt like pen and paper was more real / personal, but I've realised that it's so much more enjoyable for me since I can type wayyy faster instead of writing and getting bored or frustrated with how much slower my pen was moving compared to my brain lol. It also allows me to add photos / images to my entries which is really fun to look back on. (Ik I could print out photos and other stickers/decorations on a physical journal but I'm way too lazy and this is so much easier lol) It also feel so much more myself and more expressive when I'm typing since I can use all caps, keyboard smashes, emoticons, etc. ALSO ALSO I was inspired by the different icons you can switch between on dreamwidth and used that to have a different icon for each entry which is SO FUN! I love browsing pinterest for new icons each time I write that I feel like encapsulates the entry or how I'm feeling at the time :D And coming up with a short name or title (similar to blog post titles or episode names or smth) is really fun as well!

The only main reason I journal is that it's fun to read back on old entries and I don't want to forget some memories. It used to feel like a chore because writing just took so long, but with typing them and being able to decorate my entreis easily and add images, I actually enjoy writing it now!

Side note: The entry 21/06/26 FUCKUFCUFKCK was from the day I was messing around with git for my site and was really stupid and basically made everything (including these journal pages) go poof and disappear lmao... Luckily I had a backup on google drive from a few days prior and THANK GOD for VScode's history feature (basically saves versions of all your files, including deleted files!!! Anyways, that was a traumatic experience lol-- taught me a big lesson about keeping proper backups. I'm still kind of paranoid about losing these entries since they're digital and I keep doing stupid things with git (LOL) but I'm thinking of finding a way of turning them into pdf files and printing them out??