Your life as a TV series: episodes, seasons and recaps

We already talk about our lives like television: a new chapter, a plot twist, the season of moving house. Taking that idea literally turns out to be a good way to keep a diary.

Every day is an episode

An episode has a beginning and an end, a title and a main storyline. Seen that way, a day is easier to write about: you are not trying to capture everything, only to say what this episode was about. Some episodes are big, most are quiet, and a good series needs both.

Genres tell you what kind of day it was

A sitcom episode can be chaos, a celebration or a quiet one in between. Giving each day a genre, such as routine, chaos, celebration, first time, pause or romantic, is a fast way to describe it, and over the weeks the genres show you the balance of your life better than any single entry.

Seasons give your life chapters

Ninety days is long enough for something to change and short enough to remember. Grouping days into seasons gives you natural moments to look back: what this season was about, who was in it, when it was at its best. Some seasons simply run their course; others end on a turning point, like a new job or a move.

The cast

Every series has its regulars. Noting who was there each day turns the people around you into a cast, and after a season you can see who has really been part of your story, and who you haven’t seen in a while.

Recaps: watching it back

The best part of a series is often the recap before the new season. A recap of your own season, how it felt, the genre that ran it, the people who were there most and its best-scored day, shows you patterns you would never notice day by day.

Try it with Episome

Episome turns this idea into an app: daily episodes with a title, a genre, scores and a cast; an archive where every day is a coloured square; seasons that end every ninety days with a recap; and shared journals for the episodes you live with other people. It is coming soon to the app stores.