Wednesday, October 14, 2009

"Putting together a memoir/societal critique"

Initially I assumed I'd put all 16 years into one book. But, upon further examination, I don't think it's a good idea. In part inspired by the Pelzer memoirs; I've decided that I'm going to split them into 3 books. Not only will this potentially generate more income, but I think it makes alot of sense on many levels. Most books are about 250 to 300 pages. How could one possibly take 16 years of daily journal entries and compile it into one book.

I wish I had someone I could discuss this stuff with but not yet. There is a woman who considers herself the mother of all Baltimore memoir writers who offered to help me at no cost a few years ago. I will look her up today.

Another thing I learned, (I just re-read Laura Rothenberg's memoir) is that you are supposed to divide each chapter into about the same amount of pages. Laura definitely broke that mold, but I won't follow her lead there. Some of her chapters were 10 pages and others were 70 pages. She is one of the few who did her memoir journal style. "Breathing for a Living"

So, here is the plan for now.

Book 1 represents 1/94 through 5/99

Book 2 represents 6/99 through 6/2004

Book 3 represents 6/2004 through 5/2009. This seems like a logical place to break since this is when I got out of that deadly "La pew apts"

Coming up today, I give you another glimpse into my books in the making.

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