This post is specifically for answering the question, āIs $65 worth it for one diary?ā
The answer is, āYes. YES YES YES.ā
(This post doesn’t contain images. You can look at the diary I am talking about here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hobonichi-Techo-2026-Cousin-Book/dp/B0FJ2SNMM9/)
For years, Iāve heard great things about Hobonichi Cousin. But because of my tendency to use my paper objects for extremely practical purposes (as in, they get messy, I donāt like it when they get in the way, etc), I was hesitant to spend $65 on one diary.
But by late 2025, many things had changed.
First of all, for many conscious and as yet unconscious reasons, I stopped using paper products in the messiest ways (bad handwriting, whatever), and also, the unnecessary and weird āperfectionismā disappeared. Itās amusing that those two usually occur together: better performance happens when the need to be perfect vanishes.
Another big change has been that I am living my life even more like the way I tell my fiction stories. An important part of that is that I outline after the fact, not before.
Of course, when I start my day and I have to be somewhere at 3pm, I know that. But beyond such appointments, I donāt have a meticulous plan about what I will do at a particular spacetime coordinate. I have a general idea about what I will accomplish in a week or in a month, but I donāt fine-control what happens within a day.
I also donāt make 1-year goals anymore, yet I have overarching vibe goals that donāt really qualify as goals in the ordinary sense. Such goals are more like a knowing. For example, āI know that I am the best thing that has ever happened in my life.ā
(This isnāt some positivity bullshittery. I really hate fake positivity. It is useless. Iām talking about a very practical, visceral thing: Do I actually know that literally, without me, my world does not exist? If there is one thing that we, each on our own, would want to āaccomplishā in this lifetime, then I would say it is this knowing.)
Anyway, this is uncannily in alignment with what I do with my fiction.
- I have an overarching vibe goal. I know that a given story will have a happy ending. I also know the mood of the story. I know its color.
- I donāt plan what will happen in act 1, 2, 3 or beat 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. When I start writing a story, I never know how things will reach that happy ending that I am so certain about.
- Nevertheless, like so many others in the 21st century, I have been exposed to various storytelling formats for decades. Therefore, the acts or beats are pretty much ingrained in me. I know, roughly, when a story is moving forward at an appropriate tempo (according to my own tastes).
- I do know what I will write in the current scene, mostly. Based on that, I usually have a good idea of what might happen in the next scene. However, something might happen in the current scene that completely changes the next scene(s), and thatās fine too.
- After covering one scene (or parts of a scene), I make note of what just happened.
Which is exactly how Iām using Hobonichi cousin in my own life:
- Yearly view (with 3 months per page): habit tracking, general trends of me taking care of myself
- Monthly view: logging activities for my storytelling production (for example, word count, how many hours I spent, etc)
- Weekly view: very short interstitial notes: I note what I am doing, not by following a pre-made plan, but by noting it right after/while Iām doing it (for example, woke up – ate breakfast – worked on WIP – exercised – ate lunch – etc, etc)
- Daily view: a more detailed ādiary,ā but not in one sit-down session. Itās more like an expanded interstitial noting of what I am being. It can also include āfutureā stuff, as in, what I want about the future, now. It can include āpastā stuff, as in, what I am pulling from the past, now.
This āafter the fact outliningā method for my own life has been doing wonders for me. I can tell that I am way more present and unbothered. Iāve felt something similar when I switched from pre-outlining to post-outlining for my fiction, a long long time ago. I guess I just donāt enjoy following a pre-made plan, especially for this type of stuff–creative stuff, where it isnāt about precision.
There are a million ways a story can go.
There are a million ways my life can go.
Aside from the very fundamental things, the rest simply does not matter.
The thing is, both in my own life and for my novels, I rarely look back at the āoutline.ā Itās not like Iām going to forget that Character A kissed Character B. (And if the same were to happen in my own life, I wouldnāt forget that either.)
But it seems that the very act of noting what is happening is what pushes the present moment into the past, and pulls the future moment into the present, while I stay still in the now. (!!!)
The very act of noting leads me to shape my lifestyle, exactly the same way a novel is shaped.
This is practical stuff, people! š
I hope Iām making sense here. Hobonichi has a monthly view for December of the previous year, so Iāve been using it a bit since December 2025. But now January 2026 is past us, and Iāve been fully using it for a full month, and I am still very much in love with the diary.
Iām so excited to keep shaping my life story with this new tool.