Memoir
Strangely enough, one reason why I've been blogging less frequently is because I've been writing more outside the blog as I work on other projects. One of those projects is to try and shape the material from the blog, and additional material, into a memoir.
Someone from my writing class asked me recently why I want to write a memoir. It's a good question. I want to write a memoir because I want to talk about the importance of marriage to Heather and me. I don't want to beat people over the head with politics, but I do want to personalise the argument by discussing a very specific situation--our situation. Ultimately, though, people write because they think they have a story that needs telling. My aim is to tell a story, and to tell it well. Since i am only in the early stages of the telling, I am not forcing my subject matter, either. I am writing about all sorts of things: the wedding, the trip, our life together, my childhood, my family. I think the story will find its own shape as the most demanding, lively voices assert themselves. I have a basic structure at this point, and that is all.
I've been reading lots of interesting memoirs lately. By far the best, though, is Alison Smith's Name All the Animals, a brilliant book about grief, families, sexuality, and love. This information has nothing much to do with the rest of this post, I'm just vigorously evangelical when I find something that I like.
I've been thinking about the importance of reading in my life. Apart from sleeping, I spend more time reading than doing anything else, and it's been like this for as long as I can remember. For me, writing became a natural extension of reading. At first, it never occurred to me that I could really be a writer. I wrote, but I wasn't a writer. To call yourself a writer required massive amounts of talent or nerve, and I didn't imagine I had either. I feared being called a wanker. Now, I couldn't care less.
I love books, I love writing. I've got a story to tell and I'm gonna tell it.
Someone from my writing class asked me recently why I want to write a memoir. It's a good question. I want to write a memoir because I want to talk about the importance of marriage to Heather and me. I don't want to beat people over the head with politics, but I do want to personalise the argument by discussing a very specific situation--our situation. Ultimately, though, people write because they think they have a story that needs telling. My aim is to tell a story, and to tell it well. Since i am only in the early stages of the telling, I am not forcing my subject matter, either. I am writing about all sorts of things: the wedding, the trip, our life together, my childhood, my family. I think the story will find its own shape as the most demanding, lively voices assert themselves. I have a basic structure at this point, and that is all.
I've been reading lots of interesting memoirs lately. By far the best, though, is Alison Smith's Name All the Animals, a brilliant book about grief, families, sexuality, and love. This information has nothing much to do with the rest of this post, I'm just vigorously evangelical when I find something that I like.
I've been thinking about the importance of reading in my life. Apart from sleeping, I spend more time reading than doing anything else, and it's been like this for as long as I can remember. For me, writing became a natural extension of reading. At first, it never occurred to me that I could really be a writer. I wrote, but I wasn't a writer. To call yourself a writer required massive amounts of talent or nerve, and I didn't imagine I had either. I feared being called a wanker. Now, I couldn't care less.
I love books, I love writing. I've got a story to tell and I'm gonna tell it.
posted by Michelle | 4:51 pm
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