Which of the quotes above fits YOU best?
Do you, or did you ever, keep a “Dear Diary”?
(If you did: Do you still have them? Read them?)
If your diary-habits changed – do you know why?
I never kept a proper diary for any length of time; and by that I mean the “Dear Diary” kind, i.e. recording feelings as well as dates and facts. The sporadic attempts I made back in my teens, I decided later in life not to keep. (Never regretted that so far, and I assure you it was no loss to the literary world.)
Somehow, I think I always preferred to have real readers in mind, rather than just writing to myself. So I wrote letters instead: The principle of “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. (In Sweden we go even farther and say “more than ten”.)
[By the way – did you know that this proverb refers back to mediaeval falconry where a bird in the hand (the falcon) was a valuable asset and certainly worth more than two in the bush (the prey). I had no idea until just now when I looked it up!]
Even my attempts at just keeping short notes in a pocket diary show a clear tendency to be a typical New Year’s resolution never lasting beyond the month of March or so. Such diaries I have for a number of years back. But whichever one I pick up, I see the same tendency: I seem to be very busy every January and then gradually my life gets emptier and emptier until next New Year! (This, of course, is a poor mirror of Reality. All it really reflects is my diary-keeping habits.)
Considering this, I have to say I’m rather surprised at myself that blogging turned out a very different experience and that I’ve been keeping this up for over three years.
I think there are three main reasons. The first is that it did not take too long until I made contact with other bloggers; and as soon as I did that, blogging became more of a social activity than like keeping a diary. (By now I know that there are more than two birds out there in the bush.)
The second is that blogging is not really like keeping a diary at all. It can be, but it does not have to. If I don’t feel like writing about personal stuff, I can write about something completely different. Or quote someone else ...
… Or just post a picture! The third thing is that my blogging came to involve and evolve my photography as well as writing. And this too as an extrovert rather than just an introvert experience.
So thank YOU whoever you may be who took time to read this!
13 comments:
That's s very pretty little diary there, is it yours? Also I am intrigued by the open diary, how did you do it? Did you overlay those quotes on the pages or did the photo come already this way? Back when I was growing up, diaries were a very romantic thing!! Young girls poured out their hearts in them, and they were small, thick, and had a lock and key. The worst thing a parent could do was read their child's diary. I, also, kept one very sporadically, but never more than a few entries a year. I think I liked the idea of it better than the actual doing. And also what was the point as there was no one to read it? I only used it a a kind of calendar to look back and find dates on when things happened.
Ginny - Yes, I have three like that, only my notes in them are not really 'dear diary' entries, but quotes and poems and such.
The second is a shot of empty pages in the same book, and I added the quotes using Picasa 3.
i tried to keep a diary when i was in high school. i would write for a week and skip a few months and write for a week and skip. never did write more than 10 times in it. i also tried a journal and just can't do it. like you Monica, the only thing i have stuck to is blogging, but I started that to post my photos because what fun is it snapping things if no one sees it but me. i love blogging and did not love the diary or the several journals i started. i do have friends that write every day in their journal and love it. just not my thing.
That is a lovely cover, I'd be tempted to keep one if it looked like that. I'm like you I've never lasted past the first month or two. I do like to keep a holiday diary which serves three purposes, as a memory, a place to put mementos and the other so I don't puzzle over what my photographs are. It also feeds my desire for pretty notebooks.
Joy, ABC Team
I keep a diary but not strictly everyday, I enjoy looking back to see what I was doing in previous years.
I kept a diary for years in the 1970s and early 1980s. Some embarrassing stuff.
Oh, the Barry quote, for sure.
ROG, ABC Wednesday team
That lovely diary is far too pretty for the rubbish I put in my diary. I've kept one for about 20 years I guess but it's more a time line than a Dear Diary thing, although I do find the odd ravings about something that irked me at the time. I always have a chuckle when I find an entry that is obviously about someone but I don't want to write the name - and I now have no idea what it was all about!
My six year old daughter writes her diary everyday.
Dolce & Gabbana
Rose, ABC Wednesday Team
I kept a diary for a few years in my teens, early twenties. I've not had the courage to look back at it though I would no doubt find it interesting to see what books I was reading then.
Like you, subsequent attempts faded out early in the year - March would have been a long year for me!
Also, like you, blogging seems more worthwhile. Having an audience and an excuse to use my photos while at the same time leaving out some of personal stuff that I don't feel like sharing.
As for the quotes - I think the J M Barry is my favourite with the first Oscar Wilde one a close second.
A lovely post, thank you.
i kept a diary as a young girl, really poured my heart into it. My older sister found it, took it to school and read it to everyone!
I keep a Book Journal now and I guess my Blog too is my diary.
So are you going to start your dairy now - I have a grateful journal that is almost 20 years old. sandie
I always knew that if I didn't keet a diary one day I would look back and wish that I had done. My 'dear diary' efforts were, however, desultory at best. I have, however, kept all my appointment diaries for many many years so I can see where I was and when which is more useful than enlightening or entertaining. As my memory is useless the first Wilde quote certainly doesn't reflect me. However I think the second Wilde quote nearest I can get to one which could fit me.
That was, by the way, a really super post!
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