A Line a Day
A Five-Year Memory Book with One Page for Every Date
The same date, five years deep.
- 366 dated pages, one per date
- Five year-blocks on every page
- Two lines a night, which is why it lasts
- From year two the page reads back at you
- 6 x 9 inches, includes 29 February
- Format
- Paperback, undated
- Size
- 6 x 9 inches (152 x 229 mm)
- Language
- English
- Shelved under
- Journal Writing, Do-It-Yourself
Two lines a night. In five years you will not believe what you had forgotten.
A five year memory journal works on one trick: every date in the year gets its own page, and that page is divided into five blocks. Tonight you write two lines in the first block. Next year on the same date you write in the second, and you cannot help reading what you wrote the year before.
That is the whole thing. It takes a minute and it turns into the only record of your ordinary life that anybody ever keeps.
366 dated pages, one for every date
Every date from 1 January to 31 December has a page, and 29 February is in there so leap years do not fall through a gap.
Two lines is a deliberate limit. It is short enough to do when you are tired, which is the only reason a five year diary ever reaches year five. Long entries are how these books die in February.
What is inside
- 366 dated pages, one page per date, five year-blocks on each
- Room for two lines per year, which is what makes it last
- Twelve month openings to mark where you are
- Two short pages on what to write when nothing happened
- A look back at the end for the things that spanned all five years
- Four lined pages at the back
Who it is for
- Anyone who has started a diary three times and stopped three times
- New parents, who will want year one back and will not remember a day of it
- A gift for her birthday, for Christmas, for a wedding or for a graduation
- Anyone in a year they suspect they will want to read about later
- People who like the idea of journalling and hate the blank page
From year two it reads back at you
The first year is an ordinary diary. The second year is when the book starts doing its work: you write a line about today and directly above it sits the same date a year ago, in your own handwriting.
By year three the pattern is unmistakable. The same worries come round. So do the same small good things, and you had forgotten every one of them.
Questions people ask
Does it have to start in January? No. The pages are dated but the years are not, so you begin on today's date and finish five years later on the day before.
What if I miss a night? Write it the next morning, or leave it. A blank line in April 2027 will mean something too.
Is two lines really enough? It is why the book gets finished. Ask anybody who owns a five year diary that made it past year two and they will tell you the same thing.
Can two people share one? Yes, and couples often do: one line each. It reads beautifully in year three.
The details
- 6 x 9 inches, 400 pages, matte cover
- Dated pages, undated years: begin on any day of any year
- Black and white interior on white paper
- Thick enough to feel like a keepsake, small enough for a nightstand
Five years on one page. It costs a minute a night and it is the only thing on this list that gets better the longer you own it.
Also from Mara Linde
The Word of the Day, one word and one sentence a day for a year, and The Us Journal, a fifty-two week relationship journal for couples.
One page per day of the year, divided into five. Write two lines tonight, and next year you will find them waiting above the space for tomorrow.
That is the whole trick. A diary you never keep up with becomes a diary you cannot put down, because the page argues with you.
366 dated pages, month openers, and room for a leap year.
Two Lines Before Bed: The Smallest Diary Habit That Actually Lasts
Long diary entries die in February. Two lines a night is small enough to survive a whole year, and specific enough to mean something when you read it back.
Other journals
-
The Cycle Journal
Your body has been keeping notes. This is where you write them down.
$12.99 · 6 x 9 in
-
Still Here
For the one who is always fine.
$12.99 · 6 x 9 in
-
Ninety Days of Small Goals
One goal a week beats twelve goals in January.
$12.99 · 8.5 x 11 in
-
A Year of Small Good Things
Seven lines a week. That is the entire commitment.
$12.99 · 6 x 9 in