Before she was the author of books

and the victim of plagiarism, she kept a diary. megan mccafferty: (retro)blogger chronicles the real-life experiences of the writer of teen novels as a teenager herself. It was her work that teen author Kaavya Viswanathan 'inadvertently' lifted for her book, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life". The publisher has pulled the Harvard student's book and cancelled a second book deal. Rather than discuss a lot of what's going on currently, McCafferty transcribes her old diary for fans to relate to. It's a neat concept, and given the subject matter of her books, very appropriate.

Here I am, having chronicled my daily life for nearly five years, a startling post accrual that's nearing 3,000, and one of my biggest regrets is that I could never do this on paper when I was younger. I never poured out teen angst into a diary, because I was too OCD to forgive myself if I made mistakes or missed a few days. That's the beauty of blogging...if you don't like it, change it. No ripping out sheets of paper, no trying to fill blank pages semi-legibly, etc. I could never do for myself and could never do it for school either. Yet journalling is a powerful thing. And one thing I've learnt about it is that it doesn't have to be perfect. Be messy. Be as curt or as loquacious as you want. Just write. Because unless you're a rare individual with a nearly perfect memory, you're never going to remember the little things that have made such a big impact in your combined experience.

If I ever have a child, I'm going to advocate journalling from the moment she or he can write...writing on paper, writing on a blog...whichever works. To go back and visit childhood and the past is a wonderful gift, and I believe it also spurs writing in general. I'm a much better writer now than when I first started this, I think, because it's the one disciplined thing I do regularly and as often as possible. If I could meditate like I blog, I'd be a master by now.

I don't go back and look at the past with this blog as often as I should. Sometimes I go back to the same time last year or a few years ago and see how things have changed and what has stayed the same. I think I can say my sense of humour comes out throughout, although sometimes I'm nearly giddy and others I'm terribly depressed.

And through it all, not only is this blog a comfort to me, but it makes me feel good that there are other people reading it, who might actually be interested in what happens next. Thank you all.