Dear Diary...What I Didn't Write! by Marianne Stephens

I never kept a diary as a teenager. Why? My life was normal, had friends, went places, etc. But I also was very religious - Catholic upbringing - so had no real love interests to keep secret.

My innermost thoughts were about my future. Going to college and becoming a teacher. That's all I wanted to become. I liked certain boys, but they were not interested in me, other than as friends.

My diary entries would have been routine and nothing to shout about.

Now, my first real boyfriend (when I was a senior in high school), could have provided some interesting entries, had I chosen to write about him and our "relationship". He was in the Navy. A cousin of a friend. We saw each other a few times and he took me to my prom. We held hands and danced. Sat on the beach and talked. Nice guy.

But I was so nerdy, Had never been kissed. That is, until my navy guy kissed me. First REAL kiss, eyes closed and everything. I was so surprised at my reaction. The "Oh, it happened. I liked it. Do I need to go to confession?"

 

First kisses are so memorable. I felt this female "urge" to want more. And, backed off since I was sure I'd sinned somehow by feeling as I did.

Some people write everything in their diaries, confessing to each crush, romantic encounter, naughty desires. I didn't do that. I kept all those in my head.

Hmm. Maybe that's what fueled my writing? Past memories stored in my brain that I never revealed in a diary? If I had written them down, would I have forgotten them?

Uh, no. My navy guy and our kiss will forever be planted in my memory. So, maybe I didn't need that diary after all. While I can still remember my past, I'll have him and our kiss in my mind. Diaries may be thrown out, but memories that are super important will always stay with you.

I write with the Naughty Literati. We write anthologies and our 6th one will release in September. Naughty Reunions will have my story in it: Back in Your Arms.
Visit http://naughtyliterati.com for details about all our anthologies!

http://www.mariannestephens.net
photos:Flickr: Ray MazcLean and JLStricklin's photostreams

Dear Diary -- Maybe Not!

As a girl, the only diary I kept was in my head. Not that I had terrible thoughts to hide. My mother didn’t believe children should have secrets, so when my younger brother started a diary at the age of ten, she forced it open, read it, and punished him for his private musings. I learned young that it was much better to relegate my memories and desires to memory. 

Famous people, on the other hand, run the risk of diaries from their earlier years someday being made public, sold to the highest bidder, or made into a movie. Here are some of the most famous diaries in our times:

President Harry Truman – 1945. He wrote that ‘we’ have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. Weeks later, the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

General George S Patton – 1944. He believed battle fatigue was cowardice, and slapped weary soldiers in the face when he visited them in the hospital.

Ernest Hemmingway – 1908. At nine years of age he prophetically wrote, “I intend to travel and write.”

Josef Goebbels – 1925. In his diary he described Hitler at their first meeting as having big blue eyes like stars. “I am in heaven” he said, and the following year wrote in his diary, “Adolf Hitler, I love you.”

Kurt Cobain – 1992. He revealed that he felt incredibly guilty for having abandoned his original fan base.

Virginia Woolf – 1941. She told her diary, “and then there was nothing,” the day before her suicide.

Anne Frank – 1944. This young Jewish girl in Nazi Germany described her life while she and her family hid from the Nazis in the hopes of avoiding the concentration camps.

Lewis Carroll (true name Charles Dodgson). This famous author, who wrote The Adventures of Alice In Wonderland, kept many diaries, some of which disappeared. Pages were mysteriously removed, possibly to protect the privacy of the young Alice Liddell, whom he is said to have proposed to when she was 11 years old. Whispers of pedophilia surrounded him for many years.

Samuel Pepys – He wrote detailed historical accounts of events in London, England in the 1660s in shorthand in his diary, including the Great Plague and the Great Fire.

Some of the most scandalous diaries were written by: 

Anaïs Nin – who wrote of her sexual fantasies of friends and loves vividly;

Catherine Millet, curator and Art press editor-in-chief wrote her memoir of her sexual exploits;

The Marquis de Sade, whose sexual scandals led to exile;

Anne Lister, a wealthy British land owner who was a lesbian. She married a woman in the 19^th Century;

Lord Byron, whose diaries were so steamy his publisher burned them.

How about you? Did you pour your heart out to your diary, or did you hold back some information you would not have wanted anyone else to ever read?

GEMMA JULIANA is a multi-published author who lives in an enchanted cottage in north Texas with her handsome hero, teen son and a comical dog. She loves making new friends and hearing from readers. Exotic coffee and chocolate fuel her creativity.

 

Visit Gemma’s website: http://www.gemmajuliana.com.

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Dear Diary...sometimes it's best to forget #TinaDonahue

This month at RB4U the  theme is Dear Diary...

I recall the first diary I got. It was pink - of course - and had fairies like Tinkerbell all over it. Lots of glitter too. What thrilled me the most though was the lock and key. Finally, I had something that no one could look at, totally secret, and all my own.

Like a fiend, I wrote every day for a couple of months, then I began to struggle to find things to say. It seemed nothing ever changed in my life, and I didn't know how to solve the stuff that mattered to me.

Finally, I gave up on my diary.  I reasoned it was too much work. There were other things to do - homework, dancing, modeling, beauty contests. Yeah, I was one of those kids like the ones in Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms.

Years later when I found the diary and read the passages, I was struck by how much I lost out on in my childhood. Simple good times with friends. Having a BFF I could trust. Going to camp, playing sports, goofing around, the usual things kids do. All foreign to me. I knew how to perform and to behave around adults. With kids, I was at a loss. Because of all the stuff I was in, I was bullied mercilessly at school. A lot of that ended up in my diary. When I read the passages, I felt the hurt all over again. As I child, I had wanted to hide from everyone, terrified of the constant criticism, yet I was spending all my free time performing, which of course, invites even more criticism. A can't win situation. The turmoil in my family was bad too. Constant arguments. You know those type of people. They're the ones on shows like Dr. Phil. Wow, did I want to run away and live where no one knew me.

Maybe I stopped writing in the diary because it hurt too much. Once you're past certain points in your life, they're best forgotten.

I survived, of course, but I ache for any child who's going through the same thing I had. I want them to be able to be kids.

Forgetting the past and moving on is the theme of my newest romance Wicked Seduction, book two of my Wicked Desires series.

Series blurb: South Florida just got a helluva lot steamier… During the day, the staff at Wicked Brand makes ink dreams a reality for their appreciative clients. After hours, this naughty crew engages in sensual delights as wild as the designs they’re selling. Their motto? Nothing forbidden. Nothing held back.

Amazon - EC

Blurb:

She’s survived abuse…he’ll teach her to trust passion and love.

Marnie’s getting her life together after escaping a violent relationship, a repeat of her parents’ past. Bearing scars on her arm and leg, she comes to Wicked Brand hoping tattoos will cover the damage and allow her to feel pretty.

Tor can work magic with his stunning 3-D designs and wants nothing more than to see Marnie smile. She’s a rare combination of sweet yet wickedly sensual. The kind of woman a man can’t easily resist. 

He doesn’t try. Their sessions at the parlor turn into evenings of steamy delight as they feed their carnal hunger and growing intimacy, playing shameless games that leave them breathless and wanting more.

Paradise for Marnie—Tor cherishes and excites rather than harms, unlike her ex-boyfriend.

When he finds her, he’s ready to do his worst.

Think again. This time, Marnie’s no longer alone.

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