Diary entry for my book?

by David Castanho
26th November 2013

I have had an idea about the book I am working on and have decided that for some of my chapters I will have a diary entry at the beginning. This is the first diary entry to my book, so could you read through it and tell me what you think.

Dear Diary - 15th March 3014

It’s become worse,

Ever since mum had lost her job and the house two years ago, she has fallen deeper and deeper into a state of depression. I’m scared for her. Everything seems to have escalated since my fourteenth birthday. Aunt Silvia still hasn’t come to visit us even though she speaks to mum regularly on the phone, she doesn’t speak to me though. I remember them arguing out in the kitchen, I just wish I paid more attention. Aunt Silvia is the only link that I have to my dad, with her auburn hair like a leaf in autumn and her deep green eyes. I can see that I follow that side of the family. She never seems to change and I wish my skin was like hers clear and young, as I’m a bit darker like my mum. I wonder sometimes what he looks like... my dad, but it’s a sore subject and one that we barely talk about. I feel curious about him now that I’m sixteen but I also hate him, as mum never moved on. She always says he watches over me from afar but it makes him sound dead like some sort of creepy ghost. The thought that some stranger watching a sixteen year old girl sounds bad to me. In our day and age you can get arrested for that. Other than the usual girly stuff I think there is something wrong with me. I find myself more irritable and angry. Bickering with Stephen the other day and it got really intense. Normally I can just switch off and ten minutes later we’re fine but I found myself wanting him and needing him in a way that I never had before. I wonder if he knows how I feel. We’ve been friends since we were six years old. He’s my best friend. I first met Steven when my mum and I could afford a house in the village. We had our own stall where my mum would sell her delicious cakes (my favourite was her buttercup cakes). He lived in a farm outside of village and still does, so he would have to cut through the woods to get here. Every day he would come out to the stall and buy a cake or two for him and his parents. Since that day we always hung out climbing trees and wasting the day away at parks. Whenever Kaila and her friends are in the park we would just go lay down on a field somewhere and try and make shapes out of the passing clouds. We have been through so much together and always look out for each other. I had developed a fear over elevators when I was ten. Steven and I were shopping at one of the markets in the village when I had to use an elevator to get to the next floor. When we were inside, the elevator had broken down and we were in there for over an hour but it felt like a whole day. I kept thinking that the elevator was suddenly going to drop and I would fall to my death, obviously it didn’t. Anyway Steven kept me calm and reinsured me. I see other girls all over him but I just don’t understand how they could possible like him.... look at his clothes. Baggy jeans, scruffy beanie hat and that stupid shirt he wears with the hood. He’s not exactly god’s gift but I know why I like him. I know him; I get him just like he gets me. He’s fed up with me moaning he says I should go to the dentist but I’ve never been before. Mum has always been afraid of the dentist and every time I’ve asked she’s refused to take me. I tried on my own once but they told me I need parental consent.

Alaska Camebridge x

Replies

Thank you Neeraj for your comment, it means a lot :)

Profile picture for user davidcas_28105
David
Castanho
1430 points
Developing your craft
Fiction
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Speculative Fiction
David Castanho
27/11/2013

Well, I don't want to be much negative or too scrupulous , but the only thing that is missing from this diary entry is the personal feelings. When you read someone's diary, you get to know his life inwards, from the writer's point of view. You aren't left with any option but to use the writer's eyes. And in this diary entry you are writing about your mother, so you should have the best choice of words - so emotional that it seems to be true!

I would like to differ from the opinions of Adrian and Reene, I don't feel that this diary entry is a long one.. I believe that sometimes, you are full of emotions and diary entry is the only medium through which some vent out their anger, ferocity ,sadness and of course happiness.

Good luck and I do look forward to reading more of your works. They are from a different plane, being your choice of words, writing style and flow of thoughts different from me!

---

Neeraj

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Neeraj
V Murali
330 points
Practical publishing
Film, Music, Theatre, TV and Radio
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Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
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Neeraj V Murali
27/11/2013

Okay thank you for your help I will take what you said into consideration and put it to work.

Profile picture for user davidcas_28105
David
Castanho
1430 points
Developing your craft
Fiction
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Speculative Fiction
David Castanho
27/11/2013