Diary / Journal Writers: What are your entries like?

[Belisarius]

To the mods: I don't know if this belongs in Words or not, but placing it here seemed like a safe bet.

I became a little curious about this the other day, during the course of a conversation with a friend.

She says that her entries are like this: "I woke up at 7:30 and went to work, did A, talked to B, went with C to lunch, and went to D after work." Of course, this grossly simplified, but that's what she says her entries are like.

Mine are much different. First of all, I only write in my diary--it's definitely not a journal--on relatively rare occasions, when the mood hits me. But when I write, the entries are usually really long. Also:

1.) I almost never write about extremely unpleasant events, because I usually don't want to remember or revisit those.

2.) I never write about my most secret thoughts, for fear of someone finding them someday and making unfounded assumptions. You're probably talking to the only guy who has ripped pages out of his own diary.

3.) I usually don't write about everyday events, because my days are utterly boring--it's my emotional *response* to the events of a day that matter, IMO.

4.) My entries are usually either melodramatic jeremiads dripping with weltschmerz: "Life is a never-ending cascade of horrors; how can I survive?!" (I'm exaggerating, of course. ), or lengthy internal monologues about personal hopes and anxieties, or descriptions of especially vivid and strange dreams.

So, what are your entries like?

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

I have a livejournal..usually its venting/bitching/wailing about stuff..mixed in with the occasional happy entry, and the occasional quiz/lyric/poem/pics or something else random..

I was looking through my journal today and it was sad how many of the entries are sad ones..I guess I feel more compelled to write when I need to vent than when Im happy.

 

[nephron]

I have many journals, for differnt things.

I have a slash journal, in which I put all my slash (funny that).

I have a super-angsty journal, in which I put all the stuff I think is too angsty to unload onto my friends.

I have my standard friends-read journal, which contains my general thoughts, stuff that's happened (good and bad) and a couple of quizzes, pics and stuff.

And I have my body mod journal. Which contains plans and thoughts about body mod.

 

[blahblahblah]

my BL journal deals with drug abuse and I lighten it up a bit for the BL crowd, personal journals are a bit more crazy

 

[Strawberry_lovemuffin]

My bluelight journal is about funny, mostly positive, but occasionally bitching ... random thoughts on everyday stuff. I try to entertain there, be witty, because I know people are reading it. It may make it somewhat less authentic.... not sure. I no longer write my most intimate thoughts in there because I'm afraid it will be seen by certain people in my life.

My personal (written) journal I'm more open with, and often write of my dissatisfaction with things to do with my relationship and so on... but I'm not even totally open in that because of a fear that my s/o will read it, which would be a gross breach of trust on his part, but still....

So yeah... I guess mine are all train-of-thought entries, just different levels of honesty.

ps. Although, looking back on my journals ("diaries") from when I was younger, mine were very much like your friend's: "Today I did this, then I did that, and then Sarah came over and tonight this is what I'm having for dinner...." lol.

 

[silverwheel]

4.) My entries are usually either melodramatic jeremiads dripping with weltschmerz: "Life is a never-ending cascade of horrors; how can I survive?!" (I'm exaggerating, of course. ), or lengthy internal monologues about personal hopes and anxieties, or descriptions of especially vivid and strange dreams.

That pretty much sums up the way I write. I started doing it specifically to record dreams (which I often remember vividly) - I was frustrated with the visual imagery in my poems, and then it hit me: free visual imagery from my subconscious (most) every night!

I've never really thought of it as a journal, though. Now my entries are much more like jam sessions for my poems; sometimes a poem comes with no warning, but most of mine have their roots among pages and pages of rambling that sometimes hit upon a striking image, or a neat turn of phrase.

I've dabbled in blogs, but I can never care enough about them to keep them up.

 

[starlightgemini]

When I was younger, I always TRIED to keep a diary, but it never worked out. My biggest problem being that, while I can write fast, I still think faster than I write. And its frustrating. So I'd write an entry or two... and then I'd either forget, or have too much to say, or just not be able to get it all on paper. I'm also a neat freak (with some things) and if I wanted to go back and add a sentence in the middle of somewhere, I wouldn't, because it would look sloppy, but then I'd get annoyed that the sentence was missing. Yes, I'm odd.

Since I started an online journal though, I've been much better at keeping up with it. For I think over a year, I typed in my BL journal at least once a day. And mostly about very private things. Sometimes the entry would be about nothing important at all, sometimes it would be some pictures of stuff I wanted to buy, sometimes it would be about a lot of drama. I started my journal at a time that I was going through A LOT in my life, and needed a space to vent, and the comments I received helped me immensely.

Lately though, I don't use my journal as much. Partly because I don't have much to talk about, and partly for other reasons. I may switch to just keeping a journal on my computer for myself (like in Word) that only I will read, but it will be easier to type it out

 

[spork]

I have a few different journals, each serving a different purpose and elaborating on different aspects of my life.

My BL journal is the most public journal that I have. While I do share private thoughts with my BL journal, I also consider who the readers may be and how much I want these readers to know about me. I write in this one the most and it contains pretty much anything I feel like putting in it. My entries can range from one word to 10 paragraphs or more. It all depends upon what kind of a mood I am in when I make the entry.

I write sporadically in my other journals. Some days I will have 2 or 3 entries a day, but other times I will go months without making an entry. Again, it all depends upon how I am feeling and what is going on in my life.

I used to keep journals and diaries when I was younger, but I never kept up with them. Part of this is because I would force myself to write in them every day, even when I didn't have anything to say. I used it more as an outlet to what my day to day schedule was than for my thoughts and feelings. It's easier to keep up with an online journal cause I can type faster than I can write.

I don't think there is a specific way that a journal should be kept. It should be up to the journal's owner. I've learned that journals can be very therapeutic and I've learned a lot more about what kind of person I am by keeping one.

 

[_a_A_C_c_]

weird, i just posted in my journal about why i keep a BL journal. so here is the copy and pasted version:

i use this journal for 4 main things:

1) to vent and get my anger out at people so i don't explode at them. or annoy the hell out of other people by complaining about the same things over and over again.
2) as a pen and paper journal to just ramble and sort my thoughts out. i am pretty self aware and know when i am not feeling right. writing things down helps.
3) to brag/talk about things i would normally not bring up with people. like buying a new bed or possibly being a fetish model.
4) to fufill my addiction to posting surveys. i think that is the main reason

this is not really a true representation of "who" animal_cookie is.


i was never good at a pen and paper journal, like SLG said, i think faster than i can write. luckily i can type about as fast as i think, or am able to type with out thinking. i am not sure which.

 

[Mariposa]

I keep three. All electronically- though I do keep a notebook that I type entries in that I write while out, in addition to all my miscellaneous ADD-type listmaking.

One is completely restricted from access by anyone but me and always will be. It's completely uncensored and lately I have come to realize I probably have the nucleus of a book in it. I write the good, the bad and the ugly in that one.

Another is heavily filtered but I write pretty freely in it. Friends can comment on it and I like when they do. I talk about major personal issues affecting me in it, but if I know I'm writing about someone/a situation that the readers of that particular journal are familiar with, I tend to exercise discretion and/or write in very general terms.

The third is my Bluelight journal, you can read it yourself and see what it's about. :D That one's an open book, as far as I am concerned.

 

[obsolete]

Try to remain as random as possible. Often posing questions, thoughts and other things that have been going through my head. And try not to say what i did in my day...

 

[doofqueen]

I've had a journal here for nearly two years now i think (wow has time flew ) and at first i was apprehensive about writing in it because i'm aware that anyone can read it and i'm actually used to writing in a hand written one. I have about 20 books since i was 14 (bar the last two years) filled with my experiences , thoughts and memories and how i've changed and i wish i had keapt up with that instead of the one on here. Mainly because i am more open in my hand written one but i'm far too open with the one i have here anyway but that's just me really. I don't really have anything to hide and everyone has insecurities and we are all different so rather than worriying what people will judge me on ... i just don't anymore.

I'm far too emotional, open and desriptive in my journal here i think and it's actually quite toned down.

I'm always online and don't really have time to write in my other one anymore. I've really tried but always forget and just end up writing here.

 

[Negative]

stream of conscious disjointed groupings of words that a lot of times wouldn't make near as much sense to anyone else . . . there are like five people on the planet that can read my journal and know exactly what I mean . . .

 

[IXinX]

Heh reading over the posts in this thread i can relate to most of them, except that i have been never compelled to keep a blog. I tried to get a live journal account but it was too much of a hassle getting that blasted authorization code.

I keep several diaries/journals
One is a mood diary which comes in two part. I keep this for my psychologist as a means of documenting my Bipolar moodswings but as of late it has spread into a sort of stream-consciousness text with me making sporadic entries about sporadic subjects. I have been diverging from simply putting down "12th feb :feel sad" 13th feb: feel happy" because i know my psych enjoys reading what i write. So every 6 weeks i take in a mood diary and exchange it for the previous one i left with her before.

I used to have a dream journal. They are laying around somewhere, maybe i should start writing in them again as i have relapsed into my crazy dream worlds once again and feel i must retain a record of them lest i forgot the phantasmagoric scenes.

I have visual diaries which i draw, write, paste articles/pictures and jot down random notes and thoughts in. I have been trying to separate the more diary-like entries so i can put them in my mood diary. In my visual diary i generally write my most private thoughts and dont let anyone see them (although it was a requisite to show your art lecturers, back when i was in art college).

I'm sure i have more, heheh and if not i'll make some more. For me there is nothing like having a solid topical foundation to approach a large empty journal with. It feels great to add little by little a small portion of your life into a form which may eventually be shared to the rest of the world.

Even started getting into the habit of having a discourse with myself via differing points of view or opinions....


nice thread

 

[IXinX]

oh i also have a Schedule diary which i put my lists and things to do in and carry in my bag, random entries on my computer in Word and more random entries which i then print and stick in my Mood Diary