I first had a diary three years ago, online I mean. Rick had not gotten here yet, was very sick and I was feeling very alone. I got a diary at Open Diary and wrote for myself. I think I sensed that if I wrote about my fears and worries of Rick's illness and other people read them, they would give me hope and support. Of course they did. I wrote shrieks of pain and tears of joy. I wrote about when he left California to come here, and after... and gradually let that diary go.
I'm not sure why I decided to start another diary. Boredom perhaps? I'm not as history oriented in this one as I was in the other, I know that. This one is more of a day to day accounting of our lives and I can't begin to think of a reason why people read it. I don't complain, I've met very nice people here.
Maybe it's the uniqueness of knowing of people around the world in places you will most likely never go. I am an oddity at work. I mention my diary and my coworkers don't understand why I would do something like this. But then maybe that's why I do this, for acceptance which I don't always get elsewhere.

Who knows.. not sure it made much sense but I gave it a try. :o)

Julie

I have asked this same question myself. I don't think anyone TRULY keeps a diary believing it will never be read. If we believed our thoughts had no value, then why would we write them down at all? Even traditional paper diaries risk being discovered and read by others, if not now, 20 years from now when they are found at the bottom of a trunk in an attic somewhere. There are so many great books that have been written in a diary-style, and perhaps all of us dream that our journals/diaries will become substantive to someone someday. I put mine online because I do want people to read my stories, my essays, my opinions, my feeble attempts at dry wit and sarcasm. I like getting positive feedback (and the feedback here is overwhelmingly positive). I may not get the same response if people I knew actually read it. Also, I have kept paper diaries in the past--diaries that I kept hidden and used for venting and ranting and completely negative things. I destroyed them all. I figured if I made my diary public, it would force me to bite me tongue and keep some of my more hurtful, critical, despairing thoughts buried. I wanted the hopeful, positive thoughts to be recorded instead, so by keeping it online, I am very aware that it could be discovered and read by someone I know, and that's okay. Also, I think I am a little unsure about sharing my thoughts and opinions with people I interact with on a daily basis--there is a fear factor there--consequences if what you have to say isn't well-received. Doing this diary thing online is kind of like test marketing--you try it out to see how it is received by people you don't know before you try it out on those that you do.

It's your fault. You told me about this place.

Like a lot of other things I've done in my life, I'm all hot to trot at first, and then I slow down. Ok-ok. When I finally get my email cleared out, I'll start writing again.

Why? Oh, for the heck of it, I guess.

Shalom

You KNOW how I got familiarized with DD but as to starting my own diary...well, I love people and learning about their spirit and really enjoy knowing there is a diverse group of them I can look forward to reading about and communicating with. I don't write consistantly and certainly don't find the time to read as many diaries and I would like. It is so easy to get hooked on interacting that one day when I was through I found I had been at the computer eight hours. It seemed like minutes and I felt a little ashamed that I had been online until dinner time!!!

I've often thought about my reasons for keeping an online diary. I've got a few, but I think they change every day. I suppose it was originally to develop my writing style towards a readership, even though at first I didn't really have one.

I enjoy the fact that I do have a readership. Is that egotistical? Dunno. Maybe? Maybe not? I'm hardly the kind of person who craves the attention of others, yet I enjoy the attention I receive here.

I suppose those who read me will do so based on nothing else but my words. That has an infinite appeal, especially for me. I am too often judged on how I appear and this place gives me freedom from that.

Can't think of other reasons at present, but as I've said to others, ask me tomorrow and the answer will probably be entirely different. Glad you're getting away. ;-)

One day I stumbled across an online diary and became fascinated with it. I loved reading about the every day things the person encountered. It gave me a peek at how different lives in another country are...and yet how much they are the same. I followed some links on that diary and ended up at dd.

I found myself going through a difficult time and I was afraid of what I was feeling. I didn't want to write in a place that my family could stumble across it. That's why I started the diary...

Why am I still here? I don't think there's one specific reason. My life has been enriched by reading other diaries. I suppose I hope that some of the things I write about will enrich the life of someone else. The optimist in my head hopes that maybe the world is a little better because we can come here and see the similarities we share. The writer in me is an egomaniac and loves to know somebody is reading.

~QE

why do i keep a diary?
i find it a satisfying form of expression, it has also really helped develop my poetry/prose

I started online not long after Louise started here, at first it was something new and different to occupy the time between classes. After a while once I was settled into the community at DDnet it became a place I could be me: without worrying about what people would think if I talked about this or that, it's also been for me a way of forcing myself to write on a regular basis even if it is navel gazing.

there my tuppence worh
Rach xx