A few days ago, I posted a short narrative from my upcoming memoir. This was the first piece I wrote when I started the project over a year ago, and I see it as a cornerstone of the larger work. But I posted it early for a couple of reasons: how would readers from various…
Category: Writing
High School Graduation (May 1977)
My father brought a handgun to my high school graduation, and he threatened to kill my mother’s boyfriend if he attended the ceremony. Earlier that spring, my mother had left us, as she was having an affair with her best friend’s husband. By May of that year, she wanted to bring her boyfriend– the friend’s…
Why Write a Memoir
“Memoir isn’t the summary of a life; it’s a window into a life, very much like a photograph in its selective composition. It may look like a casual and even random calling up of bygone events. It’s not; it’s a deliberate construction.” –William Zinsser For the past year, I’ve been writing a memoir. …
Memoir (an introduction)
My life has been a challenge. Sometimes it’s been a challenge of my own making. Other times, others had power to direct my life in ways that I did not choose. I’m writing a memoir about these choices. Overall, though, my memoir is not particularly focused on the parts that still hurt, but the text…