I’ve often
wondered how this business of ‘Dear Diary’ ever started. I know some very
important people decided to put ink to paper their very impressive
thoughts, and somewhere down the track felt they had to share those thoughts
with the rest of the world.
And then along come authors of fiction who write the whole novel as a diary. One that comes to mind is ‘Pamela’ by Samuel Richardson. The main character is writing literally as the action takes place.
There’s a knock on the door. ‘Help!’ writes Pamela in her diary, ‘A team of mercenaries are breaking the door. Soon they’ll find and capture me. And, after throwing me over their shoulder will take me who knows where?’
Then she hides the diary in her voluminous clothes and waits for the inevitable.
I have to admit, that didn’t happen exactly as I wrote it, but that’s how Pamela manages to keep you interested in her adventures. She’s writing it as it happens.
But diaries have a longer history than used by fiction writers to keep the readers on their toes.
It seems they go as far back as the construction of the Pyramids. Needless to say, such a diary was more a catalogue of what was needed, and how it was transported etc.
One of the earlier personal diaries as we know it, was written by Marcus Aurelius. A Roman Emperor, who, in his Meditations shares his ideas on how to live your life. And even more personal is the Japanese diary known as PillowBooks. Written by a lady it’s all about the happenings at the royal court, which presumably includes pillow talk.
As we come closer and closer to 2024, we find all sorts of diaries waiting for us at Newsagents and other stores. The diaries are varied to help you concentrate on what is important in your life.
The obvious one is the personal diary, where you enter your personal thoughts, your daily tasks, and whatever else catches your fancy.
Then there’s the specific diary dealing with a specific aspect of your life. One is the Gratitude diary, where you concentrate on all the things you are grateful for in your life.
Others include health diary, food diary, hobby diary, travel diary, dream diary, secret diary, cooking diary, bucket-list diary, exercise diary, love diary (keep this one a secret, you don’t won’t your current lover to find out about the other lover), book diary, and last but by no means least work diary.
I’m getting ready to select mine, what about you?
