My first impression of …In Quiet Desperation: low key. This journal is a standard three column template Blogspot site. There’s not much going on with the design to help form a first impression. It’s a quiet design. Maybe that’s the point.
Josh [the author of …In Quiet Desperation] is a theatric writer. And it makes sense – he’s a theatre major. The grammar and spelling is a little off from time to time, but overall the writing is good. The journal is almost purely about Josh’s daily existence. Every now and again, there is some reference to current events or news of some type, but mostly it’s Josh doing school work, watching movies, and talking about the performances of his friends on stage.
The template design doesn’t say much. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. It’s functional. Most of the problems I have with the template are matters of my personal preference, but could be fixed easily. The links to archived entries open in a new window, which [for me] gets really annoying. In addition, the journal has a super tiny font for the body and that makes it very difficult to read.
I heartily recommend that Josh add an About Me page or add a 100 Things page. Even having read his entire journal, I don’t feel like I got a real sense of who he is. Josh refers to stories he’s written, but the reader never gets to read the stories. A section that links to Josh’s short stories would be a great addition to …In Quiet Desperation, especially since he was referred to as “a genius” after someone read one of them.
…In Quiet Desperation is not a journal I would visit every day, but it’s worth a read.
. . . In Quiet Desperation