I was recently reading some thoughts about memoir writing from Abigail Thomas, the excellent memoirist who wrote A Three Dog Life. She writes about how she doesn't like things to be neatly put together, for stories to always make total sense. She doesn't particularly like chronology. Her life, she says, does not run in a line but rather is compiled of many "moments" scattered about.
As I work on my memoir about fatherhood, I am compelled to feel exactly the same. I see fatherhood as a series of moments, not a logical, narrative line or timeframe. Fatherhood and all the baggage - good and bad - it gives us to carry is defined by slices of time, not by a continuous, neatly packaged narrative.
That's why I like writing the pieces I have and continue to do for my memoir.
Now I just have to get an editor to agree with me!
Oh, one more thing - The Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago was a great success. Thanks to all who came out to see me and show great interest in my book - ACCIDENTAL LESSONS. I am always greatly humbled and honored.
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