Keeping a Diary... For over 17 years, I've been keeping a diary. Not one of those leather bound affairs or, like a teenage girl, a petite journal with a lock and key. Instead, my diary is this weekly column. And, unlike many diaries that are never intended to see the full light of day, my thoughts and recollections are shared in print every week. When I tally the actual number of columns, it now exceeds 900.