emelee Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Reading aloud from your own diary in front of strangers in a book circle has been trending lately. Would you ever do it? I'd almost die of embarrassment if someone read my old diaries. I have not written in ages, so I should not be embarrassed by something I wrong as a kid. But heck to the no! No one can ever read them!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I've actually never kept a diary, but if I had, I can't imagine ever reading it aloud, especially in front of anyone, much less a group! I guess it's all a part of the reality shows of every stripe. There will always be people that want to bare their souls to the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Wow, I haven't heard about this before. It's cheaper than going to therapy, I guess! It's certainly not something I would ever do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I've kept journals from time to time, usually during particularly emotional or stressful periods in my life, and there is no way I could share that information! Not just because of my own embarrassment, but because I'd be divulging details about other people without their consent, the people involved in my life at those times! And if I tried to substitute letters or numbers for names it'd just be so confusing they'd probably kick me out of the group! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I actually no longer have my old diaries. When I moved in with my hubby I got shot of them as I knew I wouldn't want him stumbling onto them by accident! He already knew all about me anway, it just would have been embarrassing for me to have him read the actual words I'd written. I can't imagine anyone wanting to read their diaries aloud in a group like that unless it were a therapy situation. I think it smacks of attention seeking, to be brutally honest, kind of a "Look at me. Poor little me. You should all listen and be nice to me because I have such drama in my life!" If you really want to talk about that kind of thing, go to your partner, or a close family member or friend, not your book group. I suppose this all stems from my utter hatred of reality TV and this seems like the "real life/no cameras" version of that. No thanks. And if it started happening at a book group I was attending, I'm afraid I'd leave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawnbirduk Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I agree Kell I have a passionate dislike of reality TV, I feel they must be rehearsed because you wouldn't want all that pain and anquish on show for public view (well I wouldn't). For the same reason I couldn't imagine reading my diary to any group, no way, although my diaries are blogs and I am usually selective although I have a private one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I too have a passionate dislike of reality TV and it is not something I would ever wish to go on, but with a diary, well in a way my blog is my diary, so it is already out there - I really then don't see a difference between reading it out loud in a reading group or strangers reading it on online. In fact when I used to run my own writing group, one of the exercises I got them to go was write their autobiography - on one page, and that had to be read to the rest of us. It was quite a powerful thing for most of us and very cathartic. On my blog I don't of course write about the really personal stuff though, at least not in any great detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawnbirduk Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I too have a passionate dislike of reality TV and it is not something I would ever wish to go on, but with a diary, well in a way my blog is my diary, so it is already out there - I really then don't see a difference between reading it out loud in a reading group or strangers reading it on online. In fact when I used to run my own writing group, one of the exercises I got them to go was write their autobiography - on one page, and that had to be read to the rest of us. It was quite a powerful thing for most of us and very cathartic. On my blog I don't of course write about the really personal stuff though, at least not in any great detail. I think the biggest difference it is anonymous online, you don't know who is reading your blog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anisia Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I don't always write in my diary, but I've kept one for many years - I can't imagine sharing what I've written with a group of people. Those are private thoughts, the point of having a diary is to write whatever I want...why would I then share with strangers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I've never kept a diary, although my wife does. I would imagine that if I was writing one knowing I'd have to read it out later would tend to make me edit what I was writing. And that pretty much defeats the object of writing the diary in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 The difference with my blog is that I don't post very personal things on it - it's all very general and there's nothing realy intimate on it. Really, readers of my blog only see a very surface gloss of me and some of my interests - nothing deep or particularly revealing. I never post anything online that I wouldn't want others to see, unlike a diary (which I no longer keep) which would be filled with very personal things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I have kept a diary on and off since I was a teenager and couldn't imagine divulging its details out loud to an audience. Partly, that's because a lot of the things that I worried about years ago, would just be cringeworthy now. In reference to blogging, the blog I write is of a specific topic (books) so it's quite general. In my opinion, the blogosphere is definitely not the sort of place to be revealing very personal details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Never! I don't keep a diary now, but did when I was a teenager. I wrote in it quite a bit, just the usually angsty teenage ramblings. I found them again when I was in my early-twenties, and was just mortified, and destroyed them. I don't see the point of reading a diary out in front of people; if you want to share something personal about yourself with them, then talk to them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I've kept a diary for the past two years now, in 2010 I mostly left it and forgot to post, but last year I did it every single day (with the odd exception when I went away for a few days, or when I went on holiday for two weeks - in which case I waited and posted when I got back). I take writing in my diary seriously as it is a chance of reflection on the days events, no matter whether they are of some significance in my life, or just a trivial detail I'd like to recall. As a result, it becomes a very personal experience, and I definitely could never read from my entries aloud to a group. I don't think I'd be embarrassed or anything, but to divulge my often random and incoherent inner-thoughts, would not feel right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I would think that if you know that you will be reading excerpts of your diary to a group then you would (consciously or unconsciously) write the entries differently, or would read them out perhaps placing the emphasis / meaning in a slightly different place to alter it's meaning. Human nature would surely make that the case. Or at least - it would for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyzenthlay Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Hahaha. You know what? I can't imagine a group of people being interested in what's in my diary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen.d Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Hahaha. You know what? I can't imagine a group of people being interested in what's in my diary. Exactly! The audience wouldn't know what/who you were talking about anyway......unless it contained your friends and family, then it would be a quite different situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The D Entity Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I had a diary when I was little. My brother and sister found it and read it. This has somewhat put me off keeping a one other then for appointments etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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