Do you have a diary hidden away somewhere at risk of being chucked out or just deteriorating due to lack of attention? Dr Vivienne Plumb is a devotee of diaries. She's also a poet, fiction writer, novelist and playwright, who's promoting the establishment of a New Zealand Diary Project to rescue and collect, archive and preserve diaries written by any New Zealander. Vivienne's about to open a photo diary exhibition of pictures she took throughout 1998. Lynn Freeman asks her what's the fascination of other people's diaries? The 1998 Photo Diary Exhibition opens at Thistle Hall in Wellington on Tuesday, April 20, and there's a diary workshop there on Saturday, April 24.