Write Part of My Memoir in November, Day 5: Curse You, Mary Karr!
Welcome to Day 5 of my memoir challenge, one less onerous than I’d anticipated — so far. What does my surprise that this pledge hasn’t inflicted more pain say about my penchant for masochism?
Then again, maybe I met my masochism quota by buying Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir.
Over the years, I’ve cherished many memoirs, including Karr’s The Liar’s Club. But when I began writing Getting Naked for Money with Kickstarter-spurred deadline intensity, I decided to avoid the genre. I didn’t want to feel intimidated if a memoir was really good, depressed by its success if it was really bad.* What can I say? My writerly ego is a delicate flower.
I bought the Art of Memoir, then, as a kind of how to book, hoping it would help with logistics — with structure, maybe, and dialogue conventions. It’s not a memoir, I rationalized. I had nothing to worry about.
Ha.
The book may or may not address those questions. I haven’t gotten very far into it because Karr’s writing stopped me cold. I became fixated on the language, unable to see beyond it to meaning — not because it wasn’t lucid, but because I wasn’t.
I went back to my book feeling defeated, inadequate.
Then I took another look. I realized that not all of Karr’s literary wizardry, her word magic, is mysterious. She uses lots of active verbs and colloquialisms. I could do that. I dove in and ripped apart some prose, vowing to attack more when I finish a draft.
So while I’m no wiser about structure and pseudonyms, my memoir has already improved. That’s Mary Karr, instantly waking my fighting instincts, she’s that bracing. Damn her.
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*I made an exception for All Dogs to Kevin by veterinarian Jessica Vogelsang when it came out this summer because she is a friend. I knew the book would be excellent because her blog is excellent and I also knew I would be glad for her success. Hey, when my friends succeed, it reflects well on me.
It is amazing how helpful it can be to writing to read really good stuff!