A related device for your journal might be borrowed from the Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon. A courtesan in tenth-century Japan, she kept a diary of the goings-on at court and concealed it in her wooden pillow—hence its name. Sei Shōnagon made lists, inventories of things fitting specific, often quirky categories. This device is capable of endless variety and can reveal yourself to you as you find out what sort of things you want to list: Things I wish had never been said. Red things. Things more embarrassing than nudity. Things to put off as long as possible. Things to die for. Acid things. Things that last only a day.

Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edit…, loc. 63