Get Started with Your Digital Diary

A new creative practice -- perfect for relaxing in the evenings.

Hi friends,

By the time the sun sets these days¹, my energy is gone. Between my two overlapping headache disorders and the exhaustion of the day, all I want is to curl up on the couch with my blankets, my water bottle, and absolutely no pressure to do anything. The idea of grabbing creative supplies for an evening crafty session, let alone putting them away afterward? Not happening.

But right after Christmas, I bought myself a new Apple Pencil, and something shifted. Instead of forcing myself into a full creative session at my standing desk in my studio, I started playing around while lounging on the couch—no extra setup required.

I experimented with drawing, took a few illustration classes, and played around in Procreate. But the thing that’s brought me the most joy over the past few weeks? My digital diary.

It’s where I stick the little bits of my day—screenshots, photos, notes, doodles—all tucked into a GoodNotes file built on a simple planner PDF. I go in, delete the pages I don’t need, and keep it as basic as possible. Just one page per day, a low-pressure place to collect my everyday details.

And the best part? This is where I’m doing a majority of my everyday life documenting². At the end of each quarter, I’ll print it out (probably using Blurb’s trade book option) and keep it on my shelf next to my physical scrapbooks.

It’s scrapbooking, but cozier. No mess. No pressure. No perfection. Just a creative habit that works for where I’m at right now.

I love collecting screenshots throughout the day, and having a contextualized space to put them.

I’ve been enjoying this experience so much over the last few weeks, especially when I haven’t been feeling 100%. Going through this reminded me of something really important:

Creativity doesn’t have to be complicated to fill your well.

For so long, I felt like filling up my creative well happened over in my studio, surrounded by all my supplies, in a place that I set up to be my creative sanctuary. But that mindset was really getting in my way.

Before—any time that I wanted to get creative in the evenings, I’d grab some stuff, bring it over to the couch, and inefficiently cut stuff up and glue it down. It wasn’t comfortable, I made a mess, and it was the kind of crafting that pulled from my creative well. It wasn’t ever really creatively fulfilling.

I didn’t need to duplicate my studio routine to fit creativity into my evenings. I just needed to adapt my creativity to fit my the way I was already living my life.

And once I did that? It was so much easier to show up consistently in a new space.

Because here’s the truth: The best creative habits are the ones that work for you, exactly as you are right now.

Nerd alert. Also, you should absolutely go watch Arcane on Netflix.

How to Get Started with Digital Journaling

If you’ve ever wanted a creative practice that’s low-effort, flexible, and easy to do from the couch, a digital journal might be your new best friend. Whether you want to capture your everyday life, experiment with digital art, or just have a place to stick random screenshots, this method is all about removing friction and making creativity effortless.

It’s also the perfect place for Thursday3 selfies—and memes.

1. Choose Your Device & Program

• Pick a device that fits your lifestyle. I have a larger iPad Pro, but for my digital diary, I use my iPad Mini—it’s light, easy to grab, and perfect for couch journaling. Use whatever you already have, you can even do this right on your phone or computer. You don’t need a tablet like me.

• Select a program that matches your needs. I use GoodNotes for journaling and Procreate for drawing, but you might prefer Apple Notes, Notability, Canva, or something else entirely. You can honestly do this whole thing in Google docs.

• Reduce friction. If a program feels clunky or frustrating, it’s not the right one. Choose what feels effortless! It’s easier to be creative in programs that you’re comfortable with.

2) Pick a Journal Format That Works for You

• Use a daily planner PDF (or don’t!). I grabbed mine from Etsy, but there are millions of styles out there, plus free options on Canva. You can go structured (pre-dated pages) or freeform (blank pages). There’s no right way. It’s however you feel like playing around. I like the dates because it makes things easy and keeps everything in context.

• Stick to a simple format. I use one page per day—just filling it in with whatever feels right in the moment. No templates, no strict layouts, no overthinking.

3. Capture Your Day with Photos, Screenshots & Notes

• Words + Images. Your digital diary doesn’t have to be just writing. Think of it like a collage of your day. I put a bunch of little bits and pieces in mine.

• Take photos & screenshots throughout the day. I grab moments I want to remember—whether that’s an actual photo, a funny text, or a meme I loved.

• Include little creative bits. If I’ve drawn something in Procreate or taken an some type of creative class, I’ll drop that into my journal too. There are a few days where I’ll include a photo of my Daily Page if there’s something special about it.

• Keep it haphazard (on purpose). This isn’t a polished scrapbook—it’s a diary. Some days will have a ton of content, some will be lighter. That’s part of the beauty.

4. Make It a Cozy, Low-Effort Routine

• Find a time that works for you. I usually journal in the evening on the couch after dinner while watching TV. It’s a wind-down activity, not a task. Whatever I get done, I get done, and if tomorrow, I realize there’s something else I want to include—I’ll just go back and do it!

• Set up a comfortable space. I prop my iPad up on a pillow, use an Apple Pencil, and have a Paperlike screen protector so it feels like writing on real paper. You set yourself up in a way that feels good for you.

5. Decide What You’ll Do with It Later

• Print it out if you want a tangible version. My plan is to print mine as quarterly books using Blurb’s trade book option—this keeps them manageable and accessible. There are a bunch of different options out there for book printing, so check out what works best for your needs.

• No post-print embellishing needed. For me, this is about capturing everyday details, so I’ll just keep them as-is on my bookshelf alongside my physical scrapbooks. If you want to add in more stickers, washi, or journaling—go for it!

A thumbnail look at all the pages together in GoodNotes.

Getting Started is the Easiest Part

This process is all about making creativity easy. There’s no right way to do it—just find what feels good and go with it. You don’t need to keep up, you don’t need to be perfect, and you don’t need to do it for anyone but yourself.

Want to try digital journaling? Grab a blank page, a planner PDF, or whatever works for you, and just start!

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Tools I Use (in case you’re curious!)

🖥 iPad Mini – My go-to for couch journaling
📲 GoodNotes – For pasting in photos, notes & sketches
🎨 Procreate – For making small digital stickers & illustrations
✏️ Apple Pencil – No grip or sleeve, just the standard one
📄 Paperlike Screen Protector – Makes the glass feel like paper
📚 Blurb Trade Books – My plan for printing quarterly books

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Here’s what we covered today:

• Creativity doesn’t have to be complicated. A digital journal can be an easy, low-pressure way to document daily life.

• The best creative habits are the ones that fit into your real life. If you need something that works from the couch, that’s valid!

• There’s no right or wrong way to journal. Photos, screenshots, notes, and doodles—whatever works for you is the right way.

Action step: Try starting your own digital journal!
📌 Choose an app—GoodNotes, Procreate, Apple Notes, Canva, or even Google Docs.
📌 Add something from today—a photo, a screenshot, a doodle, or a note.
📌 Keep it simple. No overthinking. No pressure.

Let me know if you try it! Hit reply and tell me how it goes. 😊

Talk to you next week!

xoxo,

Kristin

P.S. If you’re enjoying these newsletters, please consider sharing this edition with a friend who might need a little creative boost today.

And if you’re new here, there are 3 ways I can help you tell your story and build your own creative practice:

1. Check out the FREE Daily Pages 101 course.

2. Upgrade your Substack subscription and join me Monday-Friday at Noon ET for my Daily Pages creative time (bring any project you’re working on). And—join us on the first Saturday of the month. for our live masterclasses, a new topic each month on building and sustaining your creative habit. See the full archive here.

3. Check out the free Awesome Ladies Project community + app and join us for weekly challenges, free stickers, and amazing friendships!

1. Right now it’s still winter, so that’s about 5:30pm here in Michigan.

2. I’ll also be making a 12x12 scrapbook with monthly pages of my favorite photos + words.