Art vs. Writing vs. Film - A Story in 250 Words…
I was born to a mother who is obsessed with the justice system and a dad who worked for a telephone company. Most of my childhood years were spent up North but I also resided in the South sometimes – to which I hated at first until I befriended a girl from New York, named Karina. I wasn’t your typical kid riding bicycles and going to playgrounds. I spent a lot of time writing stories, drawing pictures and assembling books – or at least, that’s what I called them.
I used to play “school” with my cousins in the library at one of my grandparents’ houses and assumed that my future lied in Fine Arts of some sort until my senior year in high school when I realized that all of the great artists -- painters, sculptors, etc. – that they teach us about are all dead. That didn’t sit well with me – I wanted my money before I kick the bucket.
In the meantime, I had been documenting the days at my high school with a video camera and following my uncle around as he recorded family gatherings. So when it came time to decide what I was going to do after graduation, I went to school to study film and video. Ironically these days, writing puts food on my table while I try to figure out how to carve out a filmmaking career. I haven’t lived long enough to have a “life story,” so this is where I’m at so far.
I'm currently reading an autobiographical book written by a monk who performed in a punk-rock band, and am curious to know...what is the last memoir YOU read?
Reader Comments (6)
The last one I read was Let's Pretend This Never Happened, which is HILARIOUS.
Alison,
Funny you mentioned that book...I was going to read it a while ago but the taxidermy thing had me passing on it. Maybe I'll change my mind if I ever get the balls to get over that minor factor, lol. Thanks for reading this post :)
I have to admit to not being a big fan of biographies. The closest I've recently come to reading such a thing (in recent memory) has to be the non-fiction account of the longest professional baseball game ever played. It's entitled "Bottom Of The 33rd" by Dan Barry. *Very* interesting read. Darn book wouldn't let me put it down.
Our lives do unfold. The last memoir writing I read was by Frederick Buechner
Herman,
To be more interesting than you'd first expect is a treat...looks like Barry's book over delivered on the very draw that made you pick it up :)
We're complete opposites when it comes to books...I'm more likely to read biographies than any fiction -- that is, unless it's one of the ones YOU wrote in a flash! I like the reality of non-fiction over the fantasies of fiction, probably because the former is easier for laymen to relate to than anything else.
Wayne,
I don't know who Frederick Buechner is....will have to look him up but the hope is to have something worth noting by the time our lives have unfolded for good. Thanks for visiting and joining the discussion on memoirs and the story of one's life!
I do enjoy memoirs... can't remember the last great one I read... maybe one of Donald Trump's books? Haha.
And it's so funny but I was thinking about this today -- about how people admire Ernest Hemingway's writing, but no one really wants to BE him and even while he was alive, people were like, "Um, what's up with him?" Yes, I think the greatness we seek is greatness in the time we live, rather than after we're gone... isn't success meant to be enjoyed?