I do as well, gem, and I was one of those women who kept journals for years. But I was in an abusive first marriage where my husband found and read my journals. He was convinced that I was sleeping around on him. Considering the fact that he was often gone for weeks at a time, I had plenty of time to find someone new and almost did sleep with someone else (but that's another story). And I did have a one-night stand on the day I filed for divorce (my husband was in jail, so I wouldn't have been caught by him).

All of this stemmed from his family. His mother was 18 and pregnant with him when she married his father (who was 25). By the time she was 25 she had three small children. She also had a drug addict for a husband. Then she started having affairs. My husband's parents divorced when he was 13 and he chose to live with his father, while his younger brother and sister lived with their mother. So all they heard was what an SOB their father was, while all my husband heard was what a slut their mother was. So he grew up being told that women aren't to be trusted, that they'll sleep around any chance they get, etc. So my husband was convinced that I would do the same. So he started reading my journals, even though I didn't put stuff down like that in them. I remember once that I walked inside the house and caught him reading my journal. There was something in it that he didn't like and he threw it at me.

I keep wanting to keep a journal again. I love reading published journals, much more so than autobiographies or memoirs (though my favorite book I've ever read is a memoir). I have blank books and I'll start writing for awhile and then I'll stop. I'm not sure exactly what is holding me back. I have stacks and stacks of books on my side of the bed, which is part of my personal library. Master never goes through them, unless there is a reference book there that He needs (W/we are both writers, so I keep reference books there as well). He will usually ask me to get whatever book He needs (I think He does this because He's afraid that if He pulls out one of the books all the stacks will come crashing down. It's happened before!). So I could very easily keep my journals there and He wouldn't bother them. In fact, my journals ARE there. I know Master would not read them. He's a person who values others' privacy. But I still can't seem to get myself motivated to begin journaling again. And I really want to.