Tell me about somebody's journal. Provide me with a link, and a compelling reason why I should read their work. No self-promotion allowed - say something nice about somebody else.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Answers

I'll go first (because I'm pushy like that), and I'll steal this link from Anna of Lucidity.

His name is David, he writes Maestrojournal, and you should read it because it will remind you of when you were younger, and falling in love for the first time, and still at university, and stuff like that. And because David actually welcomes feedback on his relationship, which is manna from heaven for an old married woman like me.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Rick McGinnis' Diary Thing. Why? I don't know, but if you haven't been there before you'll kick yourself. His suppository story actually made me laugh out loud, and I don't do that very often on the Internet.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Sorry, that was a duff link ... this is Maestrojournal

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Oh cool, Jackie, I was going to come here and pimp David when I saw the topic ... he's a good writer, and yes, he's not averse to taking direction from a _bossy_ old married woman like me. Heee.

My other "unknown" read is Peta of see-saw, an Australian woman with two young children and the resultant stresses an a nice line in web design.

Lovely words in The Silken Tent.

Night!

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Erica Jackson - she has all sorts of blogs and journals and personal bits and sites, and they are all good.

Om Mani Padre Hum Her journal cracks me up - especially the latest entry. Sassy!

Leslie Harpold's personal site has some amazing writing.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

I second Kristin's recommendation's of Erica's site. Her conversational style lends itself well to the cool things she writes about, from pop culture to her extensive travels to her dreams. Plus, her design is always transforming, so it's impossible for a reader to get bored. PLUS, Erica herself is just a plain nice person who always comes through with great techie advice when ignorant sluts like me come begging for it.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Well, okay it's actually a blog, but since she writes a lot of personal stuff there, it's journal-like and so i say it counts! Go read Kristin's site just because it's rockin'.

And another that few people have heard of is Staring at the Sun. She's not very into the whole community thing, so she's quite low-key, but she's my Canadian buddy and i love her and she makes me laugh.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

In case you didn't know, it is actually a law that Sherry and I blog each other, or otherwise provide links to each other's site every day.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

I was looking through my bookmarks in order to contribute to this topic, and I realized that most of the people I read are also on Beth's links page, or they post here, so you all probably already know of them! So here's who I came up with. Normally, I don't really read teen journals because, well, it's a time of my life I don't really want to revisit. But these two are so articulate and interesting, that I have to share.

• I Wasn't Built To Get Up At This Time is written by Tim, a nearly 16-year-old boy who lives in England. If you've ever read Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic graphic novels, he's Tim Hunter, minus the magic. He's funny, and a great writer, plus I love the details about life in England. So go read it.
• Digital Ink is moer well-known, and Katie's been nominated for Diarist.net awards and such, but I really love her stuff and wanted to pimp her here. She reminds me so much of myself at her age, and she's about to go to college, and I just can't wait to see what happens. I have a really hard time not sending her advice, because it's like being able to revise my own life. But she's always very nice when I can't hold back any longer and do send her some advice.

So those are my two. Enjoy.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Here's a journal and a blog:

Thought Experiment is one of my favorite journals of all time. She's funny and insightful and a brilliant writer. She finally got nominated for a diarist.net award.

Misterpants is a pretty famous blog/journal. He has the craziest links of all time, and has pretty nifty observations on life in Japan (where he just finished a year's stay).

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

As far as unknown journallers go, Lara of Fiction in the Space Between has got to be my favorite, because of the creative way she looks at things. It's like she's writing actual fiction sometimes.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Jan's journal is great. She's normal, has a great sense of humour, and it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who thinks like this. Also, she's a very good writer.

http://www.jetcity.com/~bookworm/

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

The arrogance and naivite expressed in this journal is almost unbelievable. Not for the faint of heart:

Intelligent Man

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

Maybe I'm biased, because I just dig stripper stories, but Josh's Creepsville is funny and strange and so antidisestablishmentarianistic that you just have to dig it.

Also, he has the coolest tattoos in the world.

Another I've been reading lately is It Came From the Porch which is the journal/site/cam/funky thing of a guy and his girl and the most gorgeous cats you're ever going to see.

(Look at that. Another one of my biases being stripped naked before you: itty bitty kitties. I've got problems.)

'nough bout me. Trey is funny and clever and tells good guitar stories, too. Josh is funny and clever and tells good stripper stories. You have to dig the funnyclever boys.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

I enjoy Funny the World. Bev writes very honestly about her life and her emotions. I almost always find something I can relate to there.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2000

gotta love Dave Grenier's weblog. http://davidgrenier.weblogger.com

he and i have the same political interests and slightly the same taste in movies (love "Big Lebowski" and "Princess Bride" but not too big a fan of "Babe", Dave.)

also, go to his political zine: http://www.retrogression.com

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

The "Intelligent Man" site looks like a joke to me. Come to think of it, the design reminds me rather of the Gus.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

Yeah, and the IP address that the Intelligent Man was using to post to Diary-L last week reminded me almost exactly of the Gus.

People are a little slow on the uptake.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

Right now I'm plowing through Sticky Fingers. This woman is GOOD. Writes plays, lives in Australia, great sense of humor and tight storytelling and writing.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

I wholeheartedly recommend Evaporation by Steve Amaya. He's a warm, smart, compassionate man with a dry sense of humor and an elegant writing style. You might have heard about his and Chuck Atkin's Mojave Phone Booth site (nominated for this year's Cool Site of the Year Award). He's a finalist at the Diary.net Awards for Outstanding Entry this quarter, too. He went on hiatus for August, as he does every year, but his archives are online and he'll be back soon.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

An American Boy by Gustave. It's the funniest journal I've ever read.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

I think you should check out Amber's journal, she's a good friend of mine, and I never get to email her, she does a pretty good job of saying what she means in hers, and although it hasn't been around for ages, she seems to do decently in writing in it. I'm anxious for college to start for her to see how well she portrays the struggles of that. Anyway, it's at bambier.diaryland.com

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2000

For the person who digs stripper stories - and anyone who digs a really interesting journal, try "Feminist Stripper: a journal" at www.geocities.com/alysabethc/journal.html.

It's not a porn site and it's not a bunch of lewd 'Penthouse Forum'- type anecdotes as some may assume from the title. It's actually one of the better journals on the 'net - and it's almost as long as a book. Good reading.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

Are we still allowed to post in this topic? I'm going ahead anyway.

I like Mrow, because Eva is cool and funny and occasionally hangs out with me on the weekend.

I also have been grooving on Insomniaville lately. It's a new find for me, and I've been reading through all the archives and stuff.

And of course the lovely Kristin, who is a great writer and a looker to boot.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

A friend of 35 years, the person who showed me the internet before it was the internet, and the smartest person I've ever known after my wife: Mark Zimmerman

Jim

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

A (relatively) new find for me is Ambivalent Attitudes. It's a nice combination of day-by-day / deep thoughts, and Drew a has a wry and unique perspective as he talks about life in New York City as a gay English librarian currently visiting Florida, chronicled in an entry called "By the southernmost point of the continental USA I sat down and wept." And he watches Survivor. What more can you ask?

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

Help, I need an English major!!!!!

Talking about my friend Mark, I wrote: "and the smartest person I've ever known after my wife: Mark Zimmerman"

NO NO NO NO. Mark's not after my wife at all. He's got a perfectly wonderful wife of his own!!!!! He is the smartest person I've ever know EXCEPT FOR my own wife.

DOOOOH!

Jim

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

White Noise Central - smart English boys visit America and more.

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

She's a new journaller, but I've known her for years. She lives in Boston and does movie type things.

Try Slickery. Start at the beginning.

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

Hey, here's one I got from Jen (who you all read already, right?)

Feminist Stripper. Which is a really well written, entertaining journal from a woman who happens to be a stripper... which, of course, gives her a lot of interesting stories to tell.

If you've never had friends in that line of work, it might shatter some of your preconceptions about the field, but more importantly (to me), it's a great read.

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2001