The writing and walking routine of Thoreau (1850–1862)

Beginning on November 8, 1850, Thoreau implemented a new writing system that placed his journal at the center of what he was doing. On that day, Thoreau wrote everything he noticed and thought during his daily walk in his journal. He wrote through streams of consciousness (drift, jumps). Thoreau did this almost every day for twelve years until he died in 1962.

Before this change, Thoreau treated the date as incidental. However, in this new writing system, he treated the day and the date as essential to his art. What he could write on his life on that one day became his quest.

In this process, Thoreau simply writes an entry that explored whatever caught his mind that day. He stopped cutting from his journals and treated his journal as the work itself. The value of Thoreau's journal entries lay in their regularity and completeness.

To accommodate this new writing system, Thoreau changed his walking process

1. He did 3–4 hour walks every afternoon.
2. In his walks, he invested a high degree of focus and discipline. He tried to find something new to see and made careful studies.
3. He walked with pencil and paper and scribbled brief names and phrases on the spot.
4. The following morning, he used those notes to write long, lyrical journal entries.
5. Sometimes, he accumulates notes for 2-3 days before writing an entry for them.

How can I adopt this?

I want my main work to be diaristic, chronological, to document how my mind changes. This follows my heroes (Thoreau, Bugbee, Kleon, etc.) and also aligns with the spiritual autobiography process that gives birth to religious writing.

Therefore, I need to launch a new writing process, where the journal becomes the main work. The day itself and what happens in it is the work. This process requires careful attention in both my studies and my walks. I will design my mornings so that the writing of this entry is at the center.

The journal entry will be a drift between learnings and walks.