Veteran journaler Carol Mathena has returned to the web with "Dear Abby Normal."

Mathena, a resident of Waverly, Ohio, started her first online journal in early 1998, and it evolved through several titles, including "Suicide Blonde" and "Stepping On The Devil's Tail." She was also active within the journaling community, volunteering with Diarist.Net and founding the The Real Eyes Burb, which groups diarists by eye color.

Launched publicly today, her new site already features a brief bio and several new entries, as well as a handful of pieces salvaged from her past sites which were otherwise wiped out by an ex-boyfriend's e-mail virus.

A self-proclaimed right-brain writer, Mathena forewarns readers that her writing style can vary widely. "What you will find here are memories, not a daily diary of my life as it happens," she writes. "Some times I am abstract, some times I am simple, and at times I am very detailed... the only predictable thing about me is that I am unpredictable."

Jan Bednarczuk and her "lover, sweetheart, and handsome hunky boy" husband Keith became parents last week.

Ezekiel Doran Bednarczuk was born to the Seattle couple at 7:23 p.m. on Jan. 21, weighing 8 pounds and measuring 20 inches long. Jan found a moment to tell the tale of his birth yesterday: Although her water broke while they were out to dinner, she stuck around to enjoy her spicy Thai food. Wrote Jan, "Hey, it was our last chance to eat out at a restaurant for awhile, right?"

They eventually made their way to the hospital, and Jan weathered more than 20 hours of labor before the decision was finally made to deliver by C-section. Some anesthesia and some tugging and pulling later, Zeke was born.

"He was crying when they pulled him out of the womb, but then Keith started singing a song to him that he'd sung to my tummy many times during the pregnancy, and Zeke quieted right down," Jan recalled. "He was just perfect, in every way."

Jan found out she was pregnant last June, and she and Keith were wed soon after. As if she wasn't busy before, Jan's journal will definitely have to take the back seat now. "I cannot promise frequent updates from here on out," she wrote, "but you all should really be used to that at this point."

A select group of journal writers with a knack for telling stories have been brought together for Chapters: An Exercise in Collaborative Storytelling.

Created and engineered by 27-year-old Illinois diarist Aaron Lowe, the site features three concurrently written works of fiction, each built by a different mix of about 17 authors who take turns contributing chapters. There are also discussion forums with sections devoted to each story where both readers and writers can comment.

The three stories currently underway at Chapters include: The Time Before, a story of office romance and intrigue at the firm of Humboldt and Breinhardt, The Perils of Interest, the story of an adventure seeking, man-conquering heroine named Catherine (for now), and No Snow in January, which finds newspaper journalist Jane Cooksey and her editor Don looking for "a little drama" in a September heat wave.

Of course, with only three or four chapters contributed so far to each story, and with many writers yet to contribute a word, the plots and characters could change and evolve considerably over time.

"In concept, this is more than just a writing project, but also a community," Lowe writes. "I hope to be adding new authors all the time. It will keep everything fresh, new, and interesting."

The third annual JournalCon the largest in-real-life gathering of online journalers, diarists and personal webloggers will be held in San Francisco this fall.

In a close vote that concluded Jan. 11, online journalers picked "The City By the Bay" as the host city for 2002. (The only other city in the running was Austin, Texas, after an early bid from Las Vegas, Nevada, was withdrawn.) The lead coordinators for the San Francisco team include Jen Wade, Beth, Carli, Monique, and Jane Ancheta all California residents.

"The organizers are thrilled that San Francisco will be the site of JournalCon 2002," reads the official site. "Our first priority is finding a definite hotel site for the conference and confirming the dates, which we hope to do in the next couple of weeks."

An official message board for discussing the event is in the works, but in the mean time, people are invited to the general JournalCon mailing list and visit the JournalCon site for news and updates.

A group of Diaryland journalers hoping to set themselves apart from the crowd have come together under the banner 12 Percent Beer.

The site, a group notify weblog, was launched a few months ago and is the brainchild of Canadian diarist Joe.

"Every time one of the diarists updates their diary, 12 Percent Beer is updated and links the new entry, as well as quotes from it," Joe writes. So far there are ten journalers participating, and the site features all entries they posted in the past week. And for those not in the journal mood, there's also a sidebar for an offbeat news feed.

"The name comes from the fact that I once convinced a couple of diarists that Canadian Beer was 12 percent alcohol," Joe explains. "The site was started to bring some attention to the good diarists on the site, for Diaryland has a reputation of being a haven for whiney teenage girls."

"I love this site," gushes member Jamie. "All the writers are the most brilliant geniuses to ever walk the planet Diaryland."