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My life is mine and mine to keep

And I share only with whom I want

My thoughts are – however deep

Good or evil as my mind is wont

Such it is too when these things I write

They are my secret words I muse

As diary scrawls on parchment white

And beware the curse if others misuse.

Jean Claude Rombussiere (circa 1774)

The Sword Bows to the Pen

Translated from the French

Some people write diaries for historical reasons – to record something for future generations. Samuel Pepys’ diary was such a one, providing eye witness accounts during the Restoration Period. He wrote of the Great Plague. Others write them for their own satisfaction and – often – with no intention of sharing the entries with anyone else. Hence diaries with locks on them.

At the time of writing these diarists had no idea that their private scrawls (I repeat Rombussiere’s word here deliberately) could lead to all sorts of mayhem – even death. Or murder. But without them, where would this particular author be.

One could be forgiven for thinking I too, Nora Christie, am a diarist - but I am more of a journal writer. Diarists preferably write each day – like it or not. That’s my problem of course. There’s no denying I like writing – otherwise I would have picked another vocation. Did I choose to be a writer, or did it just happen? There’s a point of view that says ...

Enough.

No tangents.

I think that keeping a diary seems immaterial – and certainly less exciting – after I’ve been writing for most of the day. So I let it slide. Oh, I keep journal entries, but they’re thoughts for characters, plot points, where I feel it necessary to revise something (later), topics for possible future stories, descriptions or mind sketches of places and locations, moods, feelings, dialogue, a set of words that seem special but need something (again in the future) to be relevant, or possible opening and closing lines.

So I now I put pen to diary paper (figuratively) to write about other diaries and the chain of events that their authors could never have conceived of, at their writing. I pluck my character of Sarah Grey from the Lieutenant’s diary and bring other characters along with her.

And perhaps I will use Rombussiere’s words somewhere in the manuscript.