What should a journal site be?

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What do you like to see in a journal site? What do you like here? Not like?

-- jo (crazyoldlady@crazyoldlady.com), May 29, 2000

Answers

I'm not sure yet of the answer to your question, but I will contribute anyway; your journal is the first online journal I read, and I used your links to go to more and more and more journals, in a word I am totally hooked, and will probably never have a real life ever again. Your analysis is close to mine, the daily life, the details, is what grabs me. My thoughts will have to be refined, but I just wanted to jump in now to let you know that you are not writing in the void...

-- cathy (cfowley@eatclear.ie), June 07, 2000.

Hi! It's good to see another unfamiliar email address! Glad you are reading and that you took the time to comment.

I'm curious about how you happened to find my journal first since there are so many out there. And I am glad to know that it lead you to others out there. There are many wonderful journals, and sometimes I can hardly find time to write here because I am so busy and interested reading all of the others out there. It's fascinating to me.

Now that I know I am not writing into a complete void, I feel I should be more responsible about updating.

Thanks again for your input! I really appreciate it.

-- jo (jo@interaccess.com), June 14, 2000.


Jo, I found your journal through the w2w link. I keep coming back, and after reading more journals, I find it extremely interesting to see yours being born, and to observe how you are finding your voice and style. It seems from other authors that there comes a time when the knowledge that they are read changes their own view of their journal, or is it knowing who reads them? Ar first, I thought reading a journal was similar to reading a comumn in a newspaper, where the columnist might do an opinion piece one day, and a more personal piece another. And yet I would never write to the columnist to comment on her/his column, whereas I feel entitled to write to you... Are you curious about your readers, or do you wish for them to stay an anonymous mass?

-- cathy (cfowley@esatclear.ie), June 15, 2000.

At a very low point in my life, writing in a journal literally became my lifeline. I do believe I wouldn't have made it through those days without writing, writing, writing. Now, I must confess, I only do it sporadically, and usually when I desperately need a sounding board. Perhaps the kind of journaling I refer to, though, is a bit different from online journals. Really *really* private self- disclosure and the Internet are not a good fit . . . for me, anyway. In spite of that, there is a great similarity in those different kinds of journaling. Thoughts are made concrete . . . answers can be found. Don't you find that writing about something evinces answers you didn't know were there? I think there's a certain magic in writing down words that will be part of something forever, forming a relationship with a perceived audience. I envy you the freedom you've given yourself here to do that.

-- Nancy (nancy@csionline.net), June 18, 2000.

Hi folks, I'm new here. How do I find the journal? I've written journals since I was a teen, and that was a loooong time ago. I keep a regular daily journal, but it's mainly things that need doing, reminders, and books I'm reading, etc.,

However, during times of stress, I have used another journal to vent my anger, or hurt feelings, or to simply to define how I'm going to handle a situation. I also write about my garden, birds, and nature, for my personal fun and for a record.

I laughed when I read this by Cathy: "And yet I would never write to the columnist to comment on his/her column...." Go ahead and write to them Cathy, we love getting mail--bad or good. I wrote a column for 9 years and, I got all kinds of letters, cards, and phone calls, and while the majority of them were very nice, some were really preaching my funeral.

As one crazy old lady to another, I'm really happy to find this forum.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), June 30, 2000.



Welcome to all the crazy old ladies! Gilda, did you find the journal? If not, click into Crazy Old Lady at the top of this page, and then at the top of that page, click into Publisher, and voila! You'll be able to read Jo's journal, as well as the rest of her site. I'd love to hear more about your column.

-- Nancy (nancy@csionline.net), July 01, 2000.

Thanks Nancy, I found it. I started reading jo's journal and I was so pleased and surprised that her husband is a book seller. I had a book store for years, and I also wrote a column for the local newpaper about books.

jo, some of your personal history reminds me of my own. Except in my family, my dad was a pussy cat and my mother was the drill instructor. But books and antiques were her passion, and I had a vast education in the literature of the world before I started 9th grade; for that I am grateful. Someone once asked me if I was afraid of getting pregnant when I was in high school. I said no, because my mother would simply have killed me.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), July 02, 2000.


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