rewrite: blog posts with unixsheikh-inspired tone - direct, opinionated, no fluff
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lotherk
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title: Quick Start Guide
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title: How to Actually Use DearDiary
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date: 2026-03-26
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author: Konrad Lother
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excerpt: How to get started with DearDiary in 5 minutes
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excerpt: Stop writing essays. Start capturing moments.
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---
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# Quick Start Guide
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# How to Actually Use DearDiary
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Getting started with DearDiary takes about 5 minutes. Here's how:
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Here's the thing about journaling: most people don't do it because they don't have time to write paragraphs at the end of the day.
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## 1. Create an Event
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I built DearDiary because I wanted to remember my life. Not write essays.
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Press **Ctrl+J** anywhere in the app to open the Quick Add widget. Type your event and press Enter.
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## The Core Idea
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That's it. It takes 3 seconds.
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You capture events throughout the day. In seconds. Then AI writes your diary.
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Try these:
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- "Had coffee with Sarah at the new cafe downtown"
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- "Finished the chapter on machine learning"
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- "Rain started around 3pm, got soaked walking back"
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That's it.
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## 2. Add More Events
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Not "write down your thoughts." Not "reflect on your day." Just: what happened?
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Throughout your day, capture anything that feels worth remembering:
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- Meetings and conversations
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- Meals and what you ate
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- Exercise and how you felt
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- Thoughts and ideas
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- Photos and voice memos
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## Step 1: Capture Everything
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Don't overthink it. A short note is better than nothing.
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Press **Ctrl+J**. Type what happened. Enter.
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## 3. Generate Your Diary
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Examples:
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- "Coffee with Marcus at that new place downtown"
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- "Finished chapter 5 of the ML book"
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- "Got caught in rain walking back from the station"
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- "Argument with Sarah about the project direction - she's probably right"
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When you're ready, click the **Generate** button on today's page. AI reads all your events and writes a narrative diary entry.
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Three seconds. Done.
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You can:
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- Regenerate with different instructions
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- Add context by including previous days' diaries
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- Edit the generated diary (but the events stay locked)
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Don't think. Don't edit. Just capture.
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## 4. Review and Reflect
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## Step 2: Keep Going
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Read your generated diary. Does it capture the essence of your day? If not, regenerate with instructions like:
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Throughout the day, whenever something happens that might be worth remembering:
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- A conversation that mattered
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- Something you learned
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- How you felt
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- What you ate
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- Where you went
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> "Focus more on the interesting conversations I had"
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Short notes. Bullet points. Voice memos if you're driving.
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or
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A short note beats no note.
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> "Make it more concise, highlight the key moments"
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## Step 3: Generate Your Diary
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## Pro Tips
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When you're ready, click **Generate**.
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- **Be specific**: "Lunch with Marcus, talked about his new hiking trip to Patagonia" beats "Had lunch"
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- **Capture emotions**: "Felt anxious before the presentation" is more interesting than "Presented to team"
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- **Use voice**: Record voice memos while driving or walking - very efficient
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AI reads all your events and writes a narrative diary entry. Not a summary. A story.
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## Step 4: Make It Better
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Not happy with the result? Add instructions and regenerate.
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> "Focus on the conversations I had"
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> "Make it more concise"
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> "I want more detail about the technical work"
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Or don't. The AI diary is a suggestion, not scripture.
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## The Secret
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Be specific.
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Bad: "Had lunch"
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Good: "Lunch with Anna at the Italian place, she mentioned moving to Berlin next month"
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Bad: "Meeting"
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Good: "Project kickoff meeting - new client wants delivery by June, seems doable"
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Specific notes = interesting diaries.
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## Why This Works
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Traditional journaling asks you to reconstruct your day from memory at 11pm when you're tired.
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DearDiary asks you to note things in 3 seconds when they happen.
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3 seconds beats reconstructing from memory every time.
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## What You Get
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At the end of the week, you have:
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- A diary entry for each day
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- The actual events, not reconstructed memories
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- Locations, times, context
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- Something you can actually read and remember from
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Not perfect. But real.
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That's the point.
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That's it. Happy journaling!
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