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I bought somebody's diary from 1980 on ebay and now I'm making an art project about it. Every day I'll be sharing a post on instagram relating to that day's entry. I'm excited to see how it progresses and I'd really like to make a pilgrimage to some of the places mentioned in it (primarily the tiny village of Broadwindsor) to do some social history research. I don't have a full name of the diary's original owner and despite much research so far I haven't been able to find them. I'm hoping that further along in this one year project I'll be able to get to the bottom of it and see how our lives overlap throughout the next year
Jan 3, 2025
Related Recs
I’ve had this infamous volume Incest: From a Journal of Love: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, for years; I honestly just bought it because of the provocative title and because I had heard of her but was unfamiliar with her or her work (sub-rec: finally reading the books you actually own that have been sitting on the shelf).
The concept of the narratives we create about our own lives has been on my mind lately as I write a narrative of my own; I was reminded of Nin when thinking about what Gore Vidal wrote (and didn’t write!) about her in his memoir, Palimpsest.
After reading interviews with her + and articles about her life and her approach to publishing her journals (linked)—and seeing myself in her ways of coping, processing, and engaging with the world—I’m very excited to interrupt my own languorous navel-gazing reflection during my protracted period of post-holiday down-time and delve into hers/become too intimately acquainted with her delusional girl persona. The title pretty much exactly shows what to expect here, so it’s probably going to be an uncomfortable, gut-wrenching and painful read, to say the least, but it should be illuminating… pray for my stomach and my heart but it’s a great place to start
Jan 9, 2025
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Miss Anaïs Nin really serves it to us hot in her published journals. doesn‘t hold back. I’m reading one now that I think her estate waited to publish after everyone involved was dead and honey I see why. I need to know what her sign was but I refuse to learn until I finish this book. I wish I could read the journals of people I know
Jan 25, 2024
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been using diary since day one feeling lost
May 1, 2024
Top Recs from @caskeyc
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1. Don't set an alarm and wake up naturally. Snooze for however long you want to, it's okay
2. Have breakfast. For me it's toast. Have it with butter/jam/honey and a lot of water and coffee and juice.
3. Listen to an album in full and do some puzzles until it ends. I like to stick a record on and do the nyt games (connections, then wordle, then the mini, then I'm ready for a crossword)
4. Shower and use all your best stuff. Smell great. Make your hair feel soft.
5. Wear an outfit you don't get to wear that often. I tend to wear the same thing over and over at work so I wear something a bit more fun and less practical.
6. Go outside. I live near a road with secondhand shops that are great browsing but quite tempting on a budget. To beat the temptation just look in the windows and then walk round the streets or to a green space if it's a nice day. Walk as fast or as slow as you like. Try and spot cats that might let you stroke them. See how each place you go smells different. Walk down streets that you've not been down before just because.
7. Come home and decide how much energy you have. If you have energy do an activity (I would write, play an instrument, do some art, read, play a game) if you don't then watch something from your watchlist. Saturdays feel like a good day to watch something new.
8. Cook yourself a meal. Start before you're hungry and spend ages on it. Use every pot. Listen to music. Sing whilst you wash the dishes.
9. Play! Video games, board games, internet games, card games, phone games, rearrange your plushies, embrace your inner child. Play with ideas, experiment with felt tip pens, write a limerick. Get silly with it.
10. Talk to your friends. Invite them over, call somebody up, text that person back you didn't have time to. I like to spend a good day off by myself then have a great time talking to people after I've recharged.
11. Have so much fun getting to do whatever you want you fall asleep at whatever time. Monday - Friday is about appeasing your body clock, Saturdays are for filthy pleasures like falling asleep at 3am because you were too busy flirting or reading or watching videos.
Apr 16, 2024
Re: my last rec I'm kinda realizing reading this might have changed my life actually
Apr 16, 2024