New website, new blog - writing and the lessons I've learned.
I am working on a book proposal for a memoir about my parents' life together these days. It's an arduous process mainly because it forces me to focus on what is important in the story and who may want to read it. The memoir is completed, has been for several months.
In the course of writing the book proposal, I had an epiphany: what I thought the book was about is not what it is in reality. Just like we tell ourselves the stories we think are true, in the writing, I discovered truths about myself hidden under my parents' story.
Originally, I wanted to put my parents together on the page because I have never known a time when they were married. My dad died before I was born and my mom kept his memory and her love for him alive by retelling stories of their marriage.
I have discovered through identifying myself as an observant narrator that I am the one who changed over time, not my mother or father. The narrator in A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Wheelwright, tells the story. He is the observer of characters and events that culminate in a tragic end.
As I wrote this, my dad became a living, breathing individual with thinning hair at the back of his head, a slim waist, a belly laugh and more. And I became less of a tragic figure who warranted sympathy from people that I shared this fact of my life with, people who looked at me with such a sense of mystery.
The book proposal is taking shape: overview, target audience, affiliations, comparative titles, marketing plan and my biography. Each nuanced edit brings me closer to the reason I've written and rewritten this story with such fascination.
In the coming weeks and months, I'll update my progress with hopes for a published memoir to go with the novel project I've started. There is so much to consider in the writing process, and I have lots to share about that as well. So, stay tuned...