Memoir Update — Rough Outline

This is how I usually start writing a story. Post-it notes on cardboard. To be fair, the process has been a little different than it would be with a work of fiction, but that kind of makes it fun, too. In this case, a chronological outline that at least pins down a lot of the high points, as I remember them.

For the past week or so, I’ve been scouring old journals, notes, tracking down old emails to confirm dates, and in general, have been racking my mind. But memory is a fickle thing. Isn’t it funny how, if you’re not thinking about something, it’ll just kind of stumble into your head? Meanwhile, if you try to sit down, and say, “OK, brain. What sort of wacky wild stuff has taken place over the last several years?” You end up with a lot more blanks than you think you should have. All part of the process, I suppose.

This memoir is going to be divided into three parts. I think that’s a pretty safe bet.

Part one is going to be early life. Background, growing up, family, career, things like that. Basically, everything that leads up to that one fateful night in October 2014 when this whole part of my journey began. I don’t imagine this part is going to be horribly lengthy, but a little background for context can’t hurt.

Part two is going to cover, roughly, everything that took place between the years 2015 to 2018. Some of that stuff I’ve written about here already, and aside from alluding to things I’ve already mentioned, i’m going to steer as far away from repeating myself as possible. There are some juicy stories that deserve a mention in the formalized memoir, but for the most part, I would love for this book to be things I haven’t really talked a lot about already. In that case, part two, this massive transitional period in my life, is probably going to end up being the bulk of the book. (It’s the part that I’ve spent the most time outlining above, because frankly, it’s probably the most interesting!)

Part three is going to take place roughly between 2018 and the present day, with some notes of looking forward. 2018, after all, is when I reached out into all this social media stuff, and when some of you started getting to know me. Think of that as the rebirth portion of the book.

The next step is going to be to expand on each of these high points, and to come up with a brief, but concise summary of what all I want to talk about concerning each of them. How they’re going to transition together, and how everything is going to flow.

Then, the actual fun begins. Outlining, for me, is a necessary evil. I enjoy the actual writing part whole lot more, but doing this, and getting the board set up, does go along way to making the actual writing process more enjoyable.

In the meanwhile… I’d like to ask you guys at this tier level a favor. Now, I know you don’t know my specific life experiences, outside of what I’ve already written about here. And since this is a memoir, I’m not gonna be writing anything that’s just artistic license. But, I don’t know: maybe there’s a certain TYPE of experience you’d like to hear about. One that, if mentioned, might trigger a “oh hey, you know what? That reminds me of...” kind of memory. if that’s the case, please feel free to post a comment here, or just shoot me a direct message. I’d certainly appreciate it, especially at this point in the process when everything is still clicking into place.