Javina, one of the web's most enduring online diarists, has taken the next step with her 'ongoing online outpourings.'

Javina.Com is the new home of "eXhibition," the collective title of Javina's online journals, more than five years of writing previously spread across several different sites. The launch also marks the beginning of Quincunx, the fifteenth volume of her journal.

Javina, now a resident of Vancouver, Canada, first made her mark on the web in early 1997 with "An Ongoing Online Outpouring." Along with journals dating back to May 1994, the site documented her experiences as a "sex trade worker," abuse survivor, and transition into "the 'real' work force."

Her site received some notice in the mainstream press, the exposure prompting her to draft a Prostitution FAQ, which is even today frequently linked and cited.

By the time she ended "Outpouring" in June (having fallen in love and made plans to move to Canada), she had touched many lives, and several in the journaling community said a heartfelt farewell.

Of course, Javina never really left, cycling through many often secret and short-lived journal volumes, some published on the web, some only via e-mail. Now nearly all of this material is archived and available at Javina.Com.

Along with her new site, Javina has also introduced a notify list.

Valentine's Day draws near, and journalers on both sides of the doting divide are ready.

California diarist Elizabeth Badurina, online journals host for women's website Bella-Online, is gathering diarists' most romantic entries for a Valentine's Day special.

" your most romantic entries here and win a real-live prize," Badurina writes. "All winners will be linked and excerpted, first place gets a little something in the mail."

Meanwhile, Boston diarist Patrick Cleary is hard at work on V.D. - Searching for a Cure.

"I'm going to contact the webloggers about putting together a 'romance gone bad' weblog for the site, and try and get some more stories about love gone wrong and bad dates from readers," Cleary said.

Not surprisingly, both projects will be unveiled on Feb. 14.

A new mailing list has surfaced for escribitionists looking for more practical talk on the genre.

Textibitionists is dedicated to "the discussion of the mechanics of online journal and diary writing, potential topics, the mechanics of writing and the underlying structure of the websites."

The list was founded by 29-year-old Wisconsin diarist Jason Packer. Founded Jan. 27, the list has already netted 28 subscribers and many diarists have begun sharing tips and tricks on writing well and often.

To distinguish Textibitionists from other, more social journal lists, Packer noted: "This will be a semi-moderated list, with flamewars crushed by the iron-fisted rule of the moderator."

To join, send an e-mail to .

Once a month, diarists can take a step back and tell their stories from a different perspective, and as a group become better, or at least happier, writers.

That's the concept behind Third Person, a new journal collaboration unveiled this week by 38-year-old Fiona, who resides in Ireland. She said she was originally going to experiment alone, but decided others might also appreciate the chance to develop their literary voice.

"There has often been speculation about the quality of online journal writing versus fiction or other journalistic forms," she wrote. "I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see if the two might cross over in some way."

Five diarists have signed up so far, and twoFiona herself and 22-year-old Indiana author Cathave already submitted their first third-person entries.

One writer's dim view of the practice of online journalkeeping has set off a tempest in the teapot that is the diary community.

It all started with a recent Diarist.Net interview with author James Valvis. In the latest edition of EnterView, editor Mike Leung picked Valvis' brain about writing, journaling, and llamas. It was his opinions on the links between first two topics that turned some heads.

Valvis opined that keeping a diary is essentially a pointless, if not counterproductive, practice.

"I would advise any young or beginner writer not to keep a journal online or any other kind of online writing. If you really want an indication of how you're doing as a writer, send your work out to the editors," he wrote.

The response to those views prompted Valvis to post a full essay better explaining his point of view. In it he addressed the most common reasons people cite for keeping online journals, concluding, "none of these are good reasons ... and all of them are a waste of time."

"I'm not trying to stop you from being a writer, just a bad one," he wrote. "I not only think it's not helpful, I believe it's hurtful to your process and a waste of your valuable time and talent."

"If I thought for one minute that keeping a diary-like journal was the way to go, I would be singing its praises," Valvis said. "Unfortunately, I don't."

Valvis' essay ruffled many feathers, netting many private and public rebuttals and even a porn-themed parody. But California diarist Chuck Atkins, 37, took it a step further.

"I propose a writing challenge," Atkins wrote Jan. 28. "Each of us [will] write a story inspired by the same subject matter, the results to be posted anonymously and judged by our readers." Atkins suggested a number of detailed ground rules for the contest, covering everything from blind review to judging.

"When Jim posted his anti-journal essay, he had to know it was going to reap negative reactions," Atkins wrote.

The challenge caused quite a stir on the DIARY-L mailing list, with diarists chiming in on both sides of the issue. A number of disgusted subscribers, however, simply characterized the whole thing as a "pissing contest."

Atkins eventually reported the contest dropped, saying he and Valvis couldn't agree on the terms of the contest. Valvis filed his own summation as well. Challenge or not, however, it's unlikely the last shot in the writing versus journaling feud will be fired anytime soon.

If you check "other" as your religion on nosy surveys, then Believe is for you.

California diarist Jolene Baldwin, 26, started the 'burb  a list of journals that share something in common  for journalers whose belief system may not even be a system at all.

"Believe is for those of us that have a strong sense of spirituality, yet don't claim to be any specific religion," she said. "In other words, you believe in something, you just might not know what it is yet."

But the 'burb is also open to those that do have a name for their faith, Baldwin stressed. Recovering Christians, Angelic Messengers, Wiccans, Heathens, and Lightworkers are all welcome. "No one will be excluded," she said.

"Unless, of course, you use some description like 'evil demon spawn sent to Earth to kill Jolene,'" Baldwin added. "I might just reject you then."

The many faces of love  light and dark, romantic and familial  will be explored by Again, a new collaborative site for escribitionists.

"It will be updated daily, and should demonstrate the flip sides of love and life," said Joi, a diarist from Dallas, Texas, who set up the site. "Anyone can submit anything they want, poetry, short prose, snippets of a song, a piece of dialog to illustrate their point, or even a piece of artwork."

Again is divided into two parts: 'Lost' and 'Found.'

"'Lost' will be geared more towards the melodramatic, the end of a relationship... whereas 'Found' should focus on the sweetness, the romance, the newness, anything," Joi explained.

As her first collaborative effort, Joi said she knows it will have its challenges.

"The problem is getting people to submit things, getting enough submissions to update daily," she said. "I don't know how to make people do that."

Two new mailing lists give diarists more space to chat about things near and dear.

The Journal Weddings mailing list, started by 27-year-old Illinois diarist and future bride Karen, is for escribitionists preparing to tie the knot.

Talk of wedding dates, budgets, decorations and more are welcome. Other brides-to-be include Carol, 24, of New York, and Kathy Kelley, 26, of California.

An engagement ring isn't necessary to join, however. Already on hand for encouragement and advice is 27-year-old North Carolina diarist Renee, who has had two weddings and planned five others.

Jet City Journals is a mailing list for diarists in and around Seattle, Washington.

"Think of this as a local version of Diary-L," wrote founder William R. Dickson, 31, who is running the list on his own server. "Anything goes, but it's only for those of us in the local area (or, I suppose, with a strong interest in the local area)."

Jet City Journals  which uses the GNU Mailman mailing list software  is as much a resource for the journaling community as it is a testbed for Dickson's programming prowess.

"I asked about this a while ago, and got virtually no response on it, but I got a nifty new listserver running last night and had to do something with it, so I set up the list anyway," he said.

Four young women have banded together to prove that not all diarists in their demographic are the same.

Parallel Deviations is the brainchild of 19-year-old Illinois journaler Piper Dane. Her partners are 22-year-old Cat of Indianapolis, Indiana, 20-year-old Joi of Dallas, Texas, and Meghan of Tiffin, Ohio.

"It frustrated me that because of my age, my journal immediately got lumped into a group, one considered inferior by some," explained Dane. "There may be some similarities, of course, but similarities can be found between other journalers as well."

"I'm proud of my writing and I knew there were other journalers out there who felt the same," she said.

Presently, Parallel Deviations simply takes readers directly to the most recent entries of its four participants. But there are plans to add another dimension to the project.

"We would like to put together a few collaborations in the near future, where the four of us write on the same subject, to further illustrate both our similarities and our differences," Dane said.

Nominations are now being accepted for the third annual Whitman Awards, one of the most prominent and long-running award programs focused on the genre of online journals and diaries.

Journalers must nominate themselves, and do so before March 10, 2000. The ten winners will be announced March 20. The top honoree will receive the new Calamus Medal and a $50 Amazon.Com gift certificate, and two others will receive Editor's Choice medals and $25 gift certificates.

"To be eligible, web diarists and journalists must have published a regularly updated site for at least six months of the past year," notes Savoy editor G.K. Nelson.

Savoy's first Whitman Awards, handed out in 1997, named fourteen diarists for "fresh, innovative presentation of writing."

At the time, there were fewer than 200 online journals listed in the Open Pages webring. Today, the Diary Registry lists more than 2,200 sites. But Savoy magazine  "where words are food for thought"  remains committed to recognize excellence in the narrative tradition on the web.

The 1998 Whitman Award winners were picked by an independent panel of five cyberjournalers. Savoy then picked and reviewed three others as Editor's Choice Award winners for "consistently excellent narrative."

This third round takes cues from both of the previous two rounds. Although the Whitman Awards will again accepting nominations from the general public, "the selections will be made completely in-house, by our editorial staff," writes Savoy editor G.K. Nelson.

Christmas came a little early to two online journalers this year, the present of presents delivered by stork.

Longtime diarist Maggy Donea McCuller (moments.org) gave birth to Maxine Marie on Dec. 14.

Maggy McCuller, 28, began her online diary as "Heavy Water" in 1995. The Virginia journaler, a web designer by trade, is now a well-known author in the "personal storytelling" genre. She married her husband, Patrick, last September.

The thoroughly wired couple has set up an entire website dedicated to their new daughter at maxmcculler.com. E-mail are being read aloud to her and archived in her baby book.

Soon after, Detroit diarist Rob Rummel-Hudson (The Book of Rob), 32, and his wife Julie celebrated the birth of their daughter, Schuyler Noelle. She was born shortly after noon on Dec. 21, weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces.

News of the Rummel-Hudson's bundle of joy broke on Connecticut diarist Dana's page.

nonsequitur.net, the online journal of Los Angeles diarist Amanda, was hacked on the morning of Monday, Dec. 13. Her splash page was reportedly deleted and replaced by a note signed "Splat and Erec Shin."

A reader reported the hack to the DIARY-L mailing list, and friends Ana' and Elizabeth Badurina notified Amanda personally. Everything was set right before the day ended, but the incident caused some to wonder if pranksters were targeting escribitionists.

"I think that the same person hacked Amanda and I, because we had the exact thing happen," wrote Ohio journaler Meghan.

"Go change your passwords," she urged. "Go change everything  I'm not sure how much good it will do, but ... there are games afoot."

Diarist Magnus Itland of Norway responded with a few computer security tips, and recommended a visit to Steve Gibson's ShieldsUP site, which includes a thorough overview of Windows security issues and illustrates them with some scary snoop tricks.

Upstart free diary host Diaryland was featured in the most recent issue of Salon.com, a leading web magazine.

"What distinguishes Diaryland from most other free home-page services is the way it is custom-built for handling journal entries," writes Salon.com's Todd Levin in the Salon Technology article.

The piece includes an interview with Diaryland founder and programmer Andrew Smales. Since DNN first chatted with Smales after the site's launch in September, the number of users has exploded from about 50 to over 4,000.

"On any given day, one can browse the members directory and read entries that range from the exhaustingly banal to the revelatory to the unabashedly ugly," Levin writes. "Plunging into Diaryland can be a lot like reaching into your closet in the dark: You might not get exactly what you want, but it's probably close enough."

Notably, while working on the Salon.com article, Levin started his own online diary at Diaryland.

Journaler and author Nancy Hayfield Birnes of Perforated Lines is opening her doors to fellow escribitionists for a special Christmas Party this Sunday, Dec. 26.

"There will be a fully loaded Christmas tree, grog, and of course, Johnnie Mathis on the old turntable," Birnes wrote in a post to the journaling mailing lists. A gift exchange and entry readings are among the optional activities planned.

Any online diarist that will be in Southern California is invited to for information and directions to her home in Venice.

The party comes two weeks after 18 online diarists converged near Berkeley for Northern California: The Gathering. Los Angeles diarist Rachel and her beau Matthew hosted the shindig. "I delighted in meeting so many other people who share my passion," she writes. "None of my friends and family are supportive of this venture ... so I am pleased to have found a community which is supportive."

Catherine DeCuir, About.Com Guide to Journals, was there, and the gathering inspired her to write a feature about Northern California Diarists.

A group of more than two dozen diarsts are working to establish another award program for online journals, this one representing the views of the average reader.

The Readers' Choice Awards aims to complement existing awards that are given by other groups. The Whitman Awards are picked by a select panel and Savoy Magazine editors, for example, while the Diarist Awards are picked exclusively by other online journalers.

The group, organized by by Los Angeles journaler Rachel, aims to make sure the voices of everyday readers are heard as well.

The Reader's Choice Awards have stirred a little controversy, with some critics wondering if the community is going to suffer from award overload. Four diarists have sounded off on the project in the latest edition of Metajournals, and Austin, Texas diarist Greg Bueno has already dreamed up the Diarist.Suck Awards as a spoof of the whole affair.

Nonetheless, work is ongoing on the Readers' Choice mailing list in the hopes of unveiling the new program on January 1, 2000. The first round in the planned quarterly awards will recognize reader favorites regardless of when they were written.

The journaling community was stunned when the young son of Tennessee journaler Al Schroeder died suddenly two days after Thanksgiving.

Jamie Schroeder, 13, died Nov. 26 after a blood clot developed in his lungs. He was laid to rest a few days later.

Al Schroeder has kept his online journal, Nova Notes, for three years. Much of his writings are devoted to chronicling the lives of his three sons  Jamie, 10-year-old Brian, and 7-year-old Eric  and wife Barb. Jamie was autistic, as is Eric. The joys and challenges of raising autistic children has been a constant theme in Nova Notes.

Schroeder, 46, won a Whitman Award in 1998 and two Diarist Awards  including a Legacy Award for lifetime contributions to the journaling community. Up until recently he moderated the [journals] mailing list and he is still an active participant.

There was a great outpouring of grief and support from fellow escribitionists following the sad announcement. Catherine Jamieson of Naked Eye is spearheading An Act of Kindness, a project dedicated to Jamie Schroeders memory that has already inspired over 100 participants.

Through all this  and apart from a first-ever guest entry by his brother Dave  Schroeder has barely missed a beat, documenting daily epiphanies and even releasing the twelfth installment of Lives On-Line, his monthly "linkzine" highlighting outstanding entries in other authors' journals.

In lieu of flowers, cards, or gifts, the Schroeder family welcomes donations in Jamie's memory to your local autism society, or to:

The West End Youth Fundc/o West End Church of Christ3534 West End Ave.Nashville, TN 37205

The HTML is still flying following a party of online journalers held in Southern California, and gatherings in Chicago and Austin are coming up.

This past Saturday, eight diarists converged on the home of Nancy Birnes for an informal reading co-organized by Meg. Of course, Birnes provides a detailed rundown of the evening in her journal, replete with photos and links. But that's just one perspective.

All of the other participants have also weighed in with their own post-party entries, including Beth and her husband Chuck Atkins, Diane Patterson, Mahrya, Meg, Miriam Nadel, Tamar and Ri.

Meanwhile, diarists in two other cities are planning their own shindigs.

The Austin Diarists Get-Together is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 6. Cyberjournal enthusiasts from around central Texas will meet at Texpresso located on Anderson Lane in the Village Shopping Center for a few readings and lots of socializing. Anyone is welcome to attend.

"You don't have to have a journal, you don't have to read Texas journals all the time," said Jette, who organized the event with Matt Sturges.

Details are still forthcoming for a gathering in Chicago, scheduled for Saturday, October 23.

"The location and time have not been determined yet, but are coming soon," Nanette said in a recent announcement on DIARY-L. "If you're interested in attending or helping to plan this event, please join the Chicago Journals list."

Two journalers sensitive to issues below the equator have started antipodean-l, a mailing list for Australian and New Zealand journal writers.

According to list founders Georgina and Kathryn, the list is intended to supplement other discussion lists such as DIARY-L and [journals] not to replace them.

"The predominant American membership of [those] lists can make it difficult for Antipodean journalers to feel they can raise the issues that affect them, especially in regard to politics and culture," Georgina said. "There are some people who will doubtless take this as a slight, but it is not intended to be."

Membership in antipodean-l is currently limited to diarists in Australia and New Zealand, or diarists from those countries living elsewhere. To be approved, a request must be sent directly to and .

Look out, New England. ScowlZine is here.

Created by longtime tandem diarists Avery and Janet Glasser, ScowlZine tackles life, love and cheap eats (among other things) in the American Northeast. The bi-weekly electronic magazine sports a staff of nine writers some veteran web diarists and some completely new faces.

For more than a year, Avery and Janet Glasser filled their online journal, Scowl, Nu?, with reflections and commentary on life in San Francisco. When the couple moved back to Connecticut in May, its focus moved as well. Now the town of Hartford was under the Glasser's magnifying glass.

Their reviews of local restaurants and essays on local life created quite a stir in the neighborhood, according to Avery Glasser, and soon people were volunteering to contribute their own pieces. Thus, ScowlZine was born. The unofficial motto? "Sometimes hostile, sometimes sarcastic, but always honest."

The debut issue, launched Sept. 27, tackles local attractions and restaurants, politics, parenting, beer and wine, and (of course) sex. The next issue is due out Oct. 11.

A cyberjournal enthusiast from Canada has launched DiaryLand, an ambitious and free web-based diary community.

Like other journal hosts, DiaryLand allows users to create and update their online journals using only their web browser. But DiaryLand ups the ante, with custom URLs, different page templates (although the capability to edit raw HTML is there), message boards, and e-mail aliases.

The site's creator is known only as Andrew, a "20-something" diarist from Ontario, Canada.

"The whole idea of DiaryLand came from my own pure laziness," Andrew said. "I hate editing HTML, FTPing files, updating links and all that... I wrote a program to do it for me on one of my old daily pages and I guess because I just love free web-based services I thought I'd make one out of it."

Andrew said he's been planning DiaryLand since December of last year, but that it's taken him months to learn everything needed to get the site to do everything he wanted to do. He also said he doesn't mind providing for the space and service out of his own pocket.

"I look at what I'm paying as tuition sort of, because I'm really learning so much from doing this it's stupid," Andrew said.

Although DiaryLand went live with barely a whisper of promotion on Sept. 27, there are already more than a dozen "public" journals hosted there.