Afternoon all

I'm looking to start keeping a Journal / Diary / blog but private and only for my own reference (this might change as time goes on) or that only family and friends can see.

what is everybody using ? i'm looking for recommendations

must be multi platform windows and android
must be able to update / make entries off line

Any help is vert much appreciated

Cheers
Ian

For me 'Journal / Diary / blog' are two separate things. There's the act of recording things that have caught your attention, things you want to think about, analyse etc and for that I still use notebook / pencil, or at a pinch, a camera. The reason is immediacy. I can scribble notes, make drawings, cartoons etc in a way that even the best electronic device can't match. I don't like doing voice memos but that's probably because I come from a visual background (ex pro snapper).

Later on, if a blog or similar needs updating, then I'll use those notes to construct it. For the last 5 yrs I've been using an iPad mini (so no Android etc although I'm sure there are equivalents) in a 'sturdy'case to do that mainly because the phone's too small and a full size iPad too fragile on a bike (ok in a car though). The limitation is the on screen keyboard which I find slower to use than a separate one but, for space reasons, I put up with. Having said that I don't do a huge amount on en route blogging. Most of the stuff I record is for later write-ups - articles, books etc.

As with other areas where there's loads of choice (which bike, luggage, GPS, tent, camera etc) there are many different ways of arriving at the same end point so don't take my methodology to be anything other than my choice. As they say 'your mileage may vary', and in my case most of it wasn't even thought out, it's just what evolved through a number of on the spot decisions. Most of the 'work' isn't in the 'data collection' but in the writing.

I have found wordpress ok for my needs. I used a combination of an app on my iPhone and a cheap windows notebook.

You can set different privacy settings to achieve what you want (so i have a public blog from a previous trip and other stuff i keep private). I just have a free account.

I also use a combination of notes on my iphone and a pen/small note book in real time. And then write what i want afterwards.

I also support your ‘primarily for me’ thinking. I love to be able to look back at stuff I did later and enjoy the memory, and the danger otherwise is you don’t do your trip for you, but for the story you want to tell others, which seems a loss to me. If having written it you think it might have wider interest/benefit you can then share. I am just writing up my latest short trip and will decide at the end whether to share at all, and if so, whether just to mates via my Facebook account, or here.

Let us know where you end up (and why).

Google Keep or a Google Docs document.