Saturday discussion post: diaries (93/365)

[white_hart]

I haven't kept a diary regularly since I was a teenager, when I filled a series of exercise books with angsty outpourings over a period of about four years. (I stopped when I went to university, and binned the old diaries when I came home for Christmas in my first year. Which was probably a good thing, on balance.) I often wonder if I should take it up again, though, mostly because I enjoy the act of writing and it would give me a reason to use some of my nice stationery. I'm not sure what kind of diary I want, though. Probably not angsty outpourings about my innermost feelings, any more; but recording my day-to-day life seems a bit dull (although given how much I enjoy reading my "memories" on Facebook maybe I would like looking back over previous years.

Do you keep a diary, or have you done in the past? What kind of a diary is it?

Comments

[alithea]

I kept a diary as a teen, which I binned in my early 20s as it was completely cringeworthy 😆

The thing I've kept was what I called my 'stuff books' - sort of like a scrapbook with cinema tickets and stuff stuck in it but also book quotes and music lyrics, that sort of thing. Keeping those didn't survive my PhD though, and then I started Livejournal while I was writing up my thesis, which has been a sort of diary at times.

I've tried to keep a paper diary just of little notes like walks I've done and wildlife I've seen a few times since but never kept it up for long. I might have another go this year though, it'd be nice to have a record of things I've found in the garden etc that doesn't rely on FB or Twitter. And I do have quite a few lovely notebooks!

[white_hart]

I've wondered about a walking journal, though so much of my record of walks is via my photographs that I don't know how much use a journal would be. I might try, though!