The escritoire
The escritoire is the desk where your journals are made and kept. Each journal lies there as a glass plate, its constellation — its entries joined in the sky — etched on it. The etching is the home sky zoomed out to fit: each star on its filed day, at its height, in its own shape, squeezed only left to right and never cropped. A journal with nothing in it is unetched: a dashed ring where the figure will be.
Open it
- Hold "journals" — the book in the bottom-right corner — on any view.
- Off the sky, a tap on the book opens it too.
- On the sky, a tap shows the journals short list, which ends in "the escritoire ▸". Holding its "loose" chip opens the escritoire too.
The desk
- The title and count — "the escritoire", then "3 journals, stacked" or "the desk is bare". Under it, while "count what is off the desk" is on: "LOOSE n · RELIQUARY n · BURNING n".
- A plate — its numeral (I, II, III…), its name, its star and how many entries it holds. One tap brings it forward; the forward plate shows its gravity and "· tap again to go in". A second tap opens the journal's page. See A journal's page & its menu.
- A bare desk — one empty plate reads "write your first journal"; tap it to make one.
The desk opens on its second plate, or on the fullest one if you asked for that.
The corner buttons
| button | where | what it does |
|---|---|---|
| "add" ✛ | bottom left, the desk only | opens the add menu — below. Holding it says "add an entry, a spoken entry, or a journal" |
| "shelves" ▣ | bottom left, every shelf | tap for the next shelf; hold for a menu of the other three, each saying what it holds |
| layout | bottom right | "stacked" ▤ or "spread" ▦ — the pile, or squares three across. Changes this visit only |
| "settings" ⚙ | bottom right | tap for the shelves' settings; hold for all settings |
| "AI" and "shuttle" | top right | ask the sky and the shuttle, as on every page. After something here that can be taken back, "undo" (or "redo") sits before them — see Undo & earlier versions |
The add menu
Tap ✛. The menu rises over a dimmed desk; a tap on the dim ("never mind"), back, or ✛ again shuts it. Holding ✛ in the bottom-left corner of the sky opens the same menu with no plate forward, so "✛ an entry" reads "IN NO JOURNAL · LOOSE IN THE SKY".
| choice | its line | what it does |
|---|---|---|
| "✛ an entry" | "IN <JOURNAL NAME> · THE PLATE THAT IS OPEN", or "IN NO JOURNAL · THE DESK IS BARE" | makes a blank entry dated now, files it in that journal, and opens compose on it. A closed, put-away or locked journal says why and makes nothing. Made in no journal while "loose" is switched off on the sky, it says "loose stars are back on the sky", with "undo" |
| "✛ a spoken entry" | "SAY IT NOW · WRITE IT OUT LATER" | opens compose on the recorder. See Spoken entries & write it out |
| "✛ a journal" | "BLANK GLASS · IT LIES AT THE FOOT OF THE PILE" | makes "a new journal" at the end of the order and opens its page. See Make & name a journal |
The four shelves
Tap ▣ to go round them: the desk → loose pages → the reliquary → the burn pile → the desk.
| shelf | what lies there |
|---|---|
| "the escritoire" | the journals that are out, in their set order |
| "loose pages" | entries in no journal. See File entries in & out |
| "the reliquary" | journals and entries put away, kept whole. See The reliquary & the burn pile |
| "the burn pile" | what you deleted, waiting thirty days. See The reliquary & the burn pile |
Carry a plate
- Hold a plate and start to drag. It leaves the pile and follows your finger, and the app says "carrying “…” — let it down to set the order". The corner buttons step aside.
- The pile opens a hole where it would land. Two drop targets appear at the foot.
- Let it go:
| on | on the desk | on the reliquary | on the burn pile |
|---|---|---|---|
| ▤ | "put it away" — "INTO THE RELIQUARY · EVERY ENTRY STAYS" | "set it out" — "BACK ONTO THE DESK · AND BACK INTO THE SKY" | "pull it back" — "OUT OF THE FIRE · BACK ONTO THE DESK, WHOLE" |
| ❋ | "the burn pile" — "THIRTY DAYS · PULL IT BACK OUT ANY TIME" | "the burn pile" | — |
| the pile | takes that place: "“…” is IV now" | takes a new place in the order | — |
The target under your finger reads "let go — …" and gains a second rim. Held near the top or the foot, the desk scrolls itself.
Putting away and setting out each say what they did, with "undo"; once undone, the corner offers "redo". The burn pile's line has "undo" too.
Reorder. Letting a plate down on the pile sets the order your journals lie in. Every journal whose place changed is renumbered, so no two share a number. A new journal goes to the end. There is no undo — drag it back.
Back
Back steps down one thing at a time: the shelves menu, then the add menu, then back to the desk from another shelf, then out.
The shelves' settings
Tap ⚙ on any shelf — or settings › "the shelves".
- "the shelves":
- "spread the journals out" — off, journals lie stacked; on, squares three across. Which layout you come back to.
- "open on the fullest journal" — off, a shelf opens on its second journal; on, on whichever holds the most.
- "how big a journal's etching is · 1.0×" — 0.6× to 1.4×.
- "the escritoire" › "count what is off the desk" — on, the "LOOSE · RELIQUARY · BURNING" line shows.
- "the reliquary" › "the reliquary in the sky" — put-away journals drawn as ghosts. See Journals on the sky.
- "the burn pile" and "loose pages" — words only; nothing to set. The burn pile's thirty days are fixed.
See also.
Make & name a journal · A journal's page & its menu · The reliquary & the burn pile · Entries, stars, journals & constellations