I recently read another
blog article about whether a Memoir is truth or fiction. Since I just finished my Memoir this made me think about my book. While in the beginning stages of writing my book I often wondered how clearly I could remember exactly what had taken place so many years ago. While some memories are more etched with vivid images and recollections of specific conversations, others are more blurred. But the truth of the matter is that the most important aspect of my book, the fact that I totally and accurately remember my feelings during the period of time that I write about, and that my point in writing is to put those feelings down on paper so that I can move forward and completely leave those things in my past and to that extent, my book is a book of memories the way I recall them and nothing more. The book covers a 2 year period after my divorce from my first husband in 1996. Although my memories are vivid, there are often experiences that I write about which were perhaps during periods of heavy alcohol consumption and we all know that memories like that are often completely different than reality. My story is none-the-less real as those memories are the only memories that I have of the moments. I have also changed the names of the characters more to protect the guilty than the innocent and having done that it only made sense to change my own name in the book as well. While I’m anxious about the opinions of others who lived through some of that time with me, the bottom line is that this book is a book of MY memories and if they differ from the memories of others… well then write your own book!
