What is the most appropriate tense to use when writing a diary?

Question

English is my second language. I am quite confused on what tense to write a diary.

Answer 1

yeah first person always. A diary is a piece of informal writing about oneself. It's what one would think or feel. A diary is always first person. Well unless you want to be creative but lets not get into that!

Answer 2

Diaries are usually written first person and past tense.

"I ran into Sue today when I was at the bookstore."

But it's not unusual for people to lapse into present tense.

"I am having a great time here at camp!"

There really isn't a strict format for writing a diary or journal.  Some writers become so lazy in their journals that they omit punctuation and capitalization.