Age - How old are you now? When you started your online diary?
28 now, 26 then.
Marital Status?
Married.
Occupation - What kind of work do you do?
Happily, voluntarily, unemployed, or as a friend says, "Say you're a
kept woman, it sounds better than 'housewife'." Trained as
a photographer, self-trained as a web designer, have also worked in
retail, management, and the computer game industry, among other
random things. And I still don't know what I want to be when I grow
up. (Besides a starship captain or space pirate, that is.)
Hobbies - What do you like to do,
besides keep this diary?
I read voraciously, mostly science fiction and also a lot of
mystery/espionage. I'm addicted to computer games. I love water
gardening.
Location - Where are you from? Where are
you now?
I grew up in Indiana, went to college in Southern California, lived
awhile in Colorado and Illinois, and now live in Wisconsin.
Why did you start writing your diary online?
I was fascinated with the media. The digital medium let me do more with
images and do away with my sloppy handwriting. As long as I was making
the html pages, I figured, "why not post them, too?"
Do you communicate with readers of your
diary?
Yes, and I love it.
How much email feedback to you recieve
from your diary? Is it mainly positive or negative?
A fair amount. I wish I was better at responding in a timely fashion,
but I tend to bite off more than I can chew with my various projects and
often have to rely on the journal to be my side of the conversation. I feel
really bad about that. And I wish I got more email from readers,
despite being a bad "pen pal" sometimes. I love hearing from people.
Have you met any new friends because of
the diary?
Yes, some of my best friends, as a matter of fact.
Has your motivation changed over time?
Grown. The positive attention charmed me, and became an added
motivation, but didn't replace the original motivation of just doing
this for myself. It's also
become a way of keeping in touch with friends, remembering things since
it's easier to look them up with the hypertext format of an online
journal's archives. So
more reasons to love doing it have been piled on top, but it's still
mostly just for me.
How has the diary changed your life?
It keeps me paying attention to the little things on a regular basis,
makes me more introspective more often. I find perfect moments hidden
in my journal when I go back through
it, funny memories, neat pictures, tidbits I get to savor again. That
means a lot to me. The self-portrait project which has went pretty much
hand-in-hand with the journal
has helped me get over some insecurities about my looks. The whole
project has probably helped me a fair amount with my shyness. The
positive feedback I get makes me feel more
confident and boosts my self-esteem. I'm reaching here.... Haven't
been gunned down by any stalkers yet, so all I really have to report are
small things.
Do your friends and family know you keep this
journal/read it? If
so have
you had any really negative experiences as a result?
If not why?
My family knows, has read some and liked it, but they don't surf much so
I don't think any of them really read it except my Aunt Avalon.
My friends know about it, some read it. None of my friends have ever
said they didn't like it, but they wouldn't, would they? Some of them
have said that they really love it.
I've had no negative experieces with friends/family over my journal, but
a lot of my family members aren't online, so perhaps I've just been
lucky.
How has the diary benefited you? Your friends? Or total strangers?
Me: It keeps me creative, saves memories for me to savor later, makes
me more introspective, gives me something to look back at and say, "hey,
that's pretty neat and I did that!" That's
a nice feeling.
Friends: It's a way to keep in touch, and if they enjoy reading it, then that's something minor but nice. Like a nice letter with a pretty card.
Strangers: Some have told me that it's brightened their day or shared something with them that's made them happier/more thoughtful/whatever. That's rare, but it makes me feel just incredible when someone writes to tell me that my journal has been like a gift to them. At first I think, "how could I have done something that meant that much to them?" Then I remember what a gift some other journals have been to me, and it seems more possible that I could have done something that neat. And that's an amazing feeling. So I could lump that onto my "what's it done for me" answer.
