One week left to Camp NaNoWriMo. One week left to write my chicken memoir, the vehicle by which I will achieve fame, fortune, and the adoration of millions.
No, thousands. No, hundreds. Well, maybe twenty people, including my spouse, my childhood friend in Brooklyn, a couple of people at work and, if I'm lucky, my sister-in-law. (My sister in law even traveled to Arkansas, back in my chicken days, to visit my spouse and me. Now, that's a sister-in-law!)
Some people had their salad days. I had my chicken days. And, my salad days, too, but I digress.
I was idealistic once. And then, life beat it out of me. Not totally, because I still believe in the sustainable lifestyle. But trying not to freeze in a leaky cabin in Northwest Arkansas heated by a wood stove made from a 55 gallon drum during a Blue Norther, is not my idea of sustainable living. It shouldn't be yours, either.
What I would really like to do is write a funny memoir, but then I don't know how I would deal with the sad stuff. There was some sad stuff. Sad stuff comes to us all.
So, right now, because Camp NaNoWriMo (like the official NaNoWriMo 50,000 word novel in 30 days competition in November) is about nonstop writing with no editing, I have 6,985 words worth of "I did this, I did that, and,if you are interested, here's how to raise chickens and definitely how NOT to build a leaky cabin." If you want to read about potsy and Spauldeen balls, and Black Austrolorp chickens, this will be your book. If I keep up the memoir writing after Camp is over, that is.
Now, all I need to do is follow through.
Have you ever written your memoir?
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
7 comments:
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What a clever and entertaining post. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI have not written my memoirs. I have keep journals. I'm am so busy living my life, I don't ever see writing about it. Who knows, perhaps a family member will come along one day after I am gone and write my memoirs. With the feedback I have had on events on my life, it may be worth writing.
ReplyDeleteRachel recently wrote The Rippln Buzz
I'm going to want to read yours when you're done, so make it 21 copies! Yes, I've written one, and I'm looking for an agent. The follow-through I find hard is sending out queries to agents, but maybe some day it'll get published...
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rachel,
DeleteI'd definitely buy a copy! And Alana, I wouldn't worry about your trying to "make it funny." Write the book that is within you--there will undoubtedly be funny bits, but if you can write about the hard parts in your voice with no self pity, I just know it will be an excellent read! I LIKE your voice, and everybody knows that life is a mix of funny, sad, and downright discouraging. It sounds like a great book, leaky roof and all. Do it! (Oh, and to answer your question, I started a childhood memoir during NaNoWriMo a year ago and ended up with a 100,000+ very-rough draft and I've done nothing with it since. Perhaps after UBC is over . . .
Yep I wrote one too, it was going to be turned into a TV drama, I backed out - decided the writing was part of my healing path ... I may write it again in a different way :)
ReplyDeleteCher
My ideal would be to let the reader cry with you. You don't need to overlook the sad things that happen. They make the story all the more enjoyable. What about Lassie, of Black Beauty? How would they be without the sorrow? Please, share everything you've experienced. If it makes you cry while writing, all the more realistic. We all enjoy a good cry. They, you can finish by saying how you recovered, became stronger and triumphed by winning a prize.
ReplyDeleteA witty and delightfully off the wall post this, thanks. Better still, my life has been such a weird one up to now - I've owned a Porche and have had stacks of money but I've also been down and out and lived insane stuff like Bukowski would have been proud of - that a few friends have said I should write a book about it. Perhaps I will, thanks to this article. Or maybe start a blog on it. Hmmm, decisions decisions....
ReplyDeleteOh, and what the hell are "Black Austrolorp Chickens"? The mind boggles. Good evening to one and all.