What is PUBLIC DIARY?
PUBLIC DIARY is a writing experiment from Abby Nocon.
PUBLIC DIARY is love notes, fragments, unfiltered thoughts, obsessive documentations, gossip, cosmic inquiry, tiny stories, poems, longings.
PUBLIC DIARY is writing with hesitation, writing in fluctuating states, writing for public intimacy.
Why is PUBLIC DIARY?
PUBLIC DIARY exists as a container for whatever I’m writing at the moment and to connect in conversation with the people who like to read it. It’s a place to send out words and ideas into the world despite - or as a channel for - my hesitation.
PUBLIC DIARY makes the behind the scenes the main event. Why? Because I notice few public instances of writing-in-process laid out bare, raw, open. I read/heard that Ocean Vuong wrote 184 versions of one of his poems. I want to see the notebook that holds that writing, the shitty drafts, what’s been crossed out. How did he get there? So my dear PD aims to be a model for a kind of public intimacy organized around process.
PUBLIC DIARY is named for exposing the pages where we keep our private records and the secret documentations of our experiences in time. I named it (as a joke at first) when I noticed that my way of writing anything new felt like it was coming from a 16 year old - and this was a reason not to develop it further or share it with anyone. A writing teacher said “bleed on the page” and with encouragement from some stellar poet philosopher friends, my joke became this experiment.
Why subscribe?
Subscribe for inbox surprises; to learn something new about your own creative process; to be a patron of emergent writing and future projects; to be drawn into changing formats and frequencies; to discover a writer’s ways.
You’ll get missives as they are posted - like a surprise email from a dear friend. Don’t you love those? I do. No weeklies or monthlies for now. Just arrivals.
Here’s a link to the full archive, if you want to go back in time. If you find this project interesting and want to see it developed further, please consider becoming a paid subscriber (this feature will launch soon).
Cool, but who are you?
Hi 👋 I’m Abby Nocon (she/they). I like my Hebrew name a lot - it’s Avigail Chana.
My main thing is art/tech/mysticism/futures/self-inquiry/expression. I create stories, worlds and systems that reimagine how we experience knowledge, spirituality and community. I work alongside non-linear time and ritual technologies to stimulate public imagination and create new solidarities. My creative practice is diverse and unfolding here in PUBLIC DIARY and in my writing group WITCHCORE.
You can find me in these other online portals…
I sometimes post pictures of my face here and my wildly outdated professional summary is here. I used to keep track of projects here and probably should create a new website soon.
ABBY XOXO
p.s. This took me approximately six hours to WRITE and six months to PUBLISH in January 2021. I updated it in July 2023 which took me 15 minutes.
