What should I do with the diary I've kept for 50 years? I've been keeping a journal since I was 16 and I'm now 65. I have more than 80 notebooks in a big box. I don't want my children embarrassed by  _ when I die. But I can't bring myself, yet, to burn the case. My journals are still part of me. Might my grandchildren, with a bit more distance, be interested? Or is there some way I could turn them into something creative? I'm thinking about art instead of a book.   * _ 5 March 2012, 11:22 p.m. Please don't burn them! What a wonderful source of memories for you--or if you feel you'd rather not keep them, possibly what a wonderful resource for others! Why not contact something like the Mass Observation Project at the University of Sussex? Then they will remain as a record of everyday life throughout your lifetime, and if your grandchildren are interested they'll know where to find them.   * _ 6 March 2012, 8:30 a.m. Please don't burn them! If possible, transcribe  them, or have them transcribed, into a computer medium before your words are lost because the paper has decayed. I recently had an opportunity to read a similar diary of the WWII record of an ordinary soldier. It was attractive in the way it differed from the official record. I suppose to some degree it all depends on what you have recorded, but many social historians and similar people would find such a complete personal record of a life led during the second half of the 20thcentury to be very valuable. Please don't stop writing now just because you are 65! What does the journal owner probably hope to happen to his journals?
His children will put them together with him after his death. His grandchildren will continue to write following his habit. They can be published by famous publishing houses. They can be filmed or changed into a TV play.