In this third episode of Bad Diaries Podcast, we talk about the origin of BAD in Bad Diaries, and how, in our diaries, we can allow the badness – and  the goodness – of our unedited lives to show. Jen coins the term ba-goodness, and we commit to making bad good (and making good bad).

We bring other people’s diaries to this episode of the podcast, raiding our bookshelves for a random selection of Not At All Bad But Really Very Good Diaries to discuss. Some are diaries that we love and have re-read a bazillion times. Others we’ve only dipped into, or haven’t quite got round to reading (no shame!), despite best intentions.

There’s some very heavy fan-grrrling on Helen Garner, and lots of love for Sylvia Plath, Katherine Mansfield and Derek Jarman (and Tracy’s decades-long obsession with his cottage and garden). Sarah Laing, in The Covid-19 Diaries, reminds us of The Bubble, but we can’t remember whether or not (or why) The Pillow Book was sexy. Different note-making and page-marking styles are revealed (Jen’s a corner-folder, top and bottom; Tracy’s appalled), we ponder crossings-out and missing facts in our diaries, and we talk about gaps and guilty pleasures (again, no shame) on our bookshelves.

As we often do, we talk about this (writing) life. We get into professional competition (and jealousy), writing relationships (spouses and parents and sibs, oh my), and the importance of sisters (and how sisters freak Tracy out).

Find full show notes for this episode on the Bad Diaries Salon website baddiariessalon.com, or get in touch via Instagram or Facebook – we're @baddiariessalon everywhere.

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Bad Diaries Podcast is recorded and produced in Naarm Melbourne, Australia, on the lands of the Kulin Nation; and in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, on the iwi lands of Taranaki Whānui, and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. We pay our respects to Mana Whenua, and to Elders past, present and emerging, of these lands.