Surprising Positive Aspects of Writing One's Own Thoughts As Someone Else

The story behind my fake journal is that my character friend phones me to have me tell her a single (real) memory which she writes in the journal. This in itself supplies a useful structure. My friend is being so nice that I don't want to let her down. We've agreed that one memory a day is sufficient which creates a reasonably short time frame and avoids my feeling I haven't done enough. But what has turned out to be most interesting and helpful is the following effect on my writing.

I've been imagining that in talking with my character I tell her as much or as little as I feel like about the day's memory and she is, of course, able to ask questions if something isn't clear. (Possibly she jots notes when I'm talking; I don't know.) Anyway, she writes each day's journal entry after the phone call which means she summarizes what I've said and doesn't feel the need to go into excruciating detail (after all she doesn't know all the other thoughts this memory might bring up) or to add unecessary explanations.

Two other aspects of the story have also been helpful. One is that the fake journal isn't intended to be a finished project but, rather, notes for a "memory book" to be made later. The other is that sometimes my character chooses to do a bit of internet research to get some background information about something I've mentioned and that keeps me from being concerned about surfing instead of writing. However, what's been most surprising and valuable is the ease of writing as though summarizing what someone else has told me and about which I have little or no additional information.