I've just watched a documentary presented by the diarist Richard Grant on keeping diaries and what that means with regards to the writer's life. Note to self: look out for the diary of Joe Orton, Kenneth Williams, Erwin James, John Diamond and Rosemary Ackland. I found the presenter to be even more interesting than the people he was interviewing. He has kept a diary since the day he witnessed his mother having sex with a man that was not his father in the front seat of the family car. Grant was a child, sleeping on the back seat. Wide awake and traumatized, he wrote in his diary that which he could never mention to friends or family.
Do You Keep A Diary ? Is It A Waste Of Time?
Is It Self Indulgent? Why Remember Awful Things ?
