Manchester
A private journal for Manchester's working writers.
From the Northern Quarter to Chorlton, an offline notebook that doesn't ask for an account.
Manchester has a long memory and a sharp tongue. Worth writing down. Worth keeping private.
The Eternal Journal is a single HTML file you can keep on the laptop you carry between rehearsals, shifts, and the night bus home.
There is no streak, no public profile, no "share to Twitter." Whatever you put in stays in, until you decide otherwise.
The Typewriter Experience
The cursor stays. The text moves.
In Write mode, your cursor remains exactly at the centre of the screen. The page rises up to meet it. Past words fade into soft shadow at the edges, leaving the present sentence in clear focus. Switch to Read mode and the entry flattens into an evenly lit document — the fade is for writing; the flat light is for returning.
Radical Privacy & Encryption
AES-256-GCM, in your browser, with a key only you derive.
- ·PBKDF2 key derivation at 600,000 iterations — the OWASP 2024 recommendation. Existing journals upgrade transparently on first unlock.
- ·No accounts, no telemetry, no analytics, no cookies, no third-party scripts.
- ·IndexedDB storage with a localStorage fallback. Encrypted before it touches the disk.
- ·The file is not minified. You can read the source. We'd rather you trust it than us.
What It Does Not Do
- ✕No word counts chasing you across the screen.
- ✕No formatting toolbar wrestling your thoughts into neatness.
- ✕No cloud sync. No distant servers. Your words stay yours.
- ✕No social sharing. Your vulnerability is not content.
- ✕No AI assistant finishing your sentences.
- ✕No streak counters. No guilt. No gamification.
- ✕No subscriptions. No mood trackers. No noise.
Licensing & Gift Copy
One purchase covers up to three of your personal devices. It also includes a second untouched copy of the file — meant to be given to one person you trust. Lifetime updates. 30-day, no-questions refund. If you run a clinic, school, or workplace and want a copy for everyone, ask us about a site licence.
Questions
Can I use it for song lyrics or band notes?
Yes. Plain text, no formatting toolbar, no autocorrect arguing with your line breaks. Many musicians keep one journal per project.
Does it work on a Chromebook?
Yes. The journal is a single HTML file the browser opens locally — Chromebooks handle it fine.
Will it sync between my home and rehearsal-room laptop?
Not automatically — by design, there is no sync server. You can copy the encrypted file between machines manually via USB or a private cloud folder; the file stays encrypted in transit.
More in By Location
See all →A private journal designed for British writers and readers.
No data leaves your machine. No cross-border transfer questions. No subject access requests to file — there's nothing to access.
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London is louder than most places. Your inner life shouldn't have to be.
A private journal for the long Edinburgh winter.
Dark afternoons, warm interiors, and a passphrase only you know.
A private journal for the West End and everywhere east of it.
Quiet writing software for a city that doesn't owe anyone an explanation.
A journal that is GDPR-friendly by architecture, not paperwork.
We don't collect personal data. We can't transfer what we don't have. There is no DPA to sign because there is no processing.
A private journal made by a small studio in Amsterdam.
European by design, local-first by principle, sold once and kept forever.
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An encrypted journal where the passphrase never leaves your device.
AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2 key derivation at 600,000 iterations — the OWASP 2024 recommendation. Done in your browser, not on a server.
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A journal that doesn't track you. At all. Ever.
No analytics. No cookies. No third-party scripts. No "anonymous usage data." If you view the file source, you'll see for yourself.
Comparisons
The Eternal Journal vs Day One.
Both are journals. They're built on opposite assumptions about where your writing should live.
The cursor will be there when you return.
Centered. Blinking. Patient.
Start Writing