Writing Diaries every day. Who does it? What should we do with them!

[PeckhamRose]

Me.

Today started my 41st. Started writing a diary every day when I was little.

Reason: I was very sick as a kid and wanted to leave a record of my life in case I did not survive.

Dramatic, emotional, but true.

So thanks VERY much NHS but what the flip do I do with forty A5 size page a day diaries?!

[Ladymuck]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

> ...what the flip do I do

> with forty A5 size page a day diaries?!

Do what Kenneth Williams did...hang on to them...so they can be published after your death and we can then see what you got up to...hee hee

Or you could burn them and place the ashes around fruit trees and/or rose bushes...they'll love it!

[PeckhamRose]

No, because the ashes would be carbon which is no use to flowers.

I think.

In my Will they're going to a friend of mine who promises never to split them up.

I like the idea of them going into a secure fire proof time capsule.

After I'd dead natch!

[computedshorty]

?

[daizie]

I'd hazard a guess that PeckhamRose and comutedshorty's lives are/have been very interesting, share it whichever way you can . Dont keep it to yourself, i love reading it :)

[Bony Fido]

Seems that you are all contributing to a diary that is valuable and interesting indeed - the communal diary of East Dulwich.

[katie1997]

PeckhamRose thats wonderful you have kept a diary, so lovely to hear that some people still do. I used to use them but sadly gave up about 15 years ago..don't know why. I now wish I had kept those earlier diaries.

If kept long enough...diaries are a great historical record...even if you think what you have written is insignificant, it will be fascinating to people who cannot imagine the times you were writing in.

Keep hold of these treasures, they are very precious indeed.

[PeckhamRose]

"The point of writing a diary is to record things as they happen"

Oh christ I did not realise there were rules! I broke those day one. I record my thoughts and feelings and some days if little happens the page is filled with thoughts. When something big happens I often just write a sentence to say what happened as my memory will suffice.

"to try to use a page just because it is there, is not interesting unless something did happen that was worth recording."

According to who?!

"I have never kept one, many that I have seen record only the details of that persons health," So what?

"When a Diary is started there must be thought as to who would want to read it, if you have a certain person in mind then perhaps you might write it as that person would be interested in the content." I was a small child when I started so there was no thought as to who would read it. (where do you get all this stuff from computedshorty?!) I have NEVER written a single day's entry with thoughts that someone might read it. Every day is written honestly and openly to how I feel. I have no descendents either, and I am sure if I did they'd be the last folk I'd want to read them!

[computedshorty]

?

[monica]

I kept diaries in my teens, they are all at home in Italy now, so when I go home I read them and remind myself of the emotions and confusion of growing up. I have started to keep a diary again, and it does help me reflect on a lot of things.

[daizie]

I am impressed by anyone who is creative enough to write a diary of any kind. I did try a few times when I was much younger . My entries went something like this: Got up . Had weetabix . Went to the shops . Came home . Watched TV. Got the hump . Went to bed .

People have said to me that I should write a book .

[SteveT]

P Rose wrote:- No, because the ashes would be carbon which is no use to flowers. I think.

It is also known as potash, and many growing green stuffs, love it.

[PeckhamRose]

Ah thanks for that SteveT.

That's where my diaries would be of SOME use then!

No way will I put any diary entries in here. I finished writing 31 Dec then put the book in the cupboard with all the otherds and then start the new one. Even I never read them. You think I'm gonna let YOU read them? I broke your rules on how they should be written and you don't even write one. Ha!

And even writing "Got up had breakfast had weetabix got the hump" etc is an entry!

Indeed the discipline now needed (not so when little) to write every day is useful but when I was a teenager it helped me try to understand what I was going rhrough. I never did though. But I wrote everything down. Ooooh yes. All those boys are in there... All those who spurned me, all those boyfriends of later years who treated me bad. All in there. Names and everything. But then everything bad and stupid I did is in there too.

Potash it is then SteveT!

[monica]

daizie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I am impressed by anyone who is creative enough to

> write a diary of any kind. I did try a few times

> when I was much younger . My entries went

> something like this: Got up . Had weetabix . Went

> to the shops . Came home . Watched TV. Got the

> hump . Went to bed .

> People have said to me that I should write a book

>

.Lol Daizie, great place to start thoughB)

[womanofdulwich]

I kept a diary when i was a teenager ay school and going to uni for 5 years ( 16-21). I found it last year and could not believe how miserable life was sometimes- all that angst that you can completely forget. Found it quite helpful having a teenager myself. Funny thing is, some thoughts worries are the same 30 years later, and some seem so childish - you do forget. I kept a diary - of sorts- the first few years of motherhood as I could not believe how hard it was and it helped enormously with a second child to look back and see the records of the first and remember what happened. I certainly would not want anyone to read either of them.

[PeckhamRose]

Likewise. I would not want anyone reading them.

Writing them makes me acutely aware of being 'me'.

It's hard to explain but having written one for such a long time, I now can't imagine life not doing so.

It's like I am uploading my experiences and thoughts to the hard drive, but the memory stays because it was thought about enough to have been explained and written down.

Just noted there's a TV show about diary writing on telly next week, but it's about famous people's diaries; I suppose about people who wrote with view to publishing. I write with no such view!

[Sido]

...i think first of all you write it for yourself...

i was once starting to write one but then i felt very awkward in reading it again (it was like having to fight a battle twice)..i felt unhappy with it and found out myself that i actually enjoyed writing it but hated to read it again...so it was wrong for me to do it at all...

[Keef]

I've never kept a diary on a regular basis, but at times in my life I have written down what is happening, and what is on my mind, as it has helped me to get my head around things.

[Atila Reincarnate]

Having read the Kenneth Williams diaries, there is no way on earth I would want to keep a diary. His were so full of gloom and despondency it put me off for life!!

[betsy555]

im 43 and have kept a diary since i was 16 , i feel very frustrated cos i have been housebound since a knee op ,and have no 2010 diary so have not been able to start this year . not that i would have anything interesting to write ......but i too dont really know what to do with mine , i think timecapsule is a great idea . but to be honest they would have to wade through a load of boringstuff with a few juicy bits :)))

[Roll Deep]

The only diary I ever have read, and ever will read.

http://www.saltwoodcastle.com/Picture7.jpg

[PeckhamRose]

I notice computershorty has deleted his posts on this subject which I quoted and responded to. Don't know why!

But I won't bother mentioning it tonight on paper!

[Roll Deep]

Better in Pixelated format, eh?