What's in a memoir?

I decided to take the past couple of years of my life, and pitch those years to a publisher in the form of a memoir.

Because I'm old school, I believe that writing itself is a form of art. Nearly 80% of my scripts, short stories, personal memories and thoughts have been handwritten. What can I say? I'm old school. But try scanning all of that, copying it, then printing it into book form. I'm pretty sure you'd end up with the messiest scrapbook. 

With that noted, much of my time in the past week has been spent digging up the notebooks I've recorded in daily since 2006.  Then I've been transferring those handwritten memories into digital memories, onto my laptop. When I visited my mother's house in Oklahoma last week, I felt like an archeologist in her garage as I went through the infamous 50-gallon tupperware container as well as other sites within the house, to uncover the ancient notebook scrolls from the past eras of my life.

Overwhelming? Intense? I thought so too.

Examining the history of my life this way has proven to be an educational yet fun, bittersweet experience. In a way, after unearthing and reading the content I've kept, its feels like I've been preparing for this project all my life. With confidence and over half of the content already written, I'm determined to get the experiences organized to create a piece of art that will serve as a reminder to me, who I am and why. Kind of like an aboriginal map of the migratory paths I've taken to survive. I want to keep it as honest as possible, sharing everything, from embarrassing encounters, vulnerable times, desperate times, happy moments, and everything in between.


I'm not looking to get rich, but I want to find a central, cozy place to store these relics. Those memories from the past two years were the most life changing for me, and I feel they deserve more than banishment to the garage until I migrate again. Who knows? Maybe we can learn something from this? Or not. We will, at the very least, be able to laugh at all the irony. Hopefully after sharing this memoir with others, we can laugh at it, together.


Let's begin
With the past in front
And all the things
You really don't care about now
It'd be exactly where I'm at.
--Ween/Exactly Where I'm At