Word After Word

From her new book Thinking About Memoir:

“But life doesn’t arrange itself conveniently into chapters–not mine anyway. And I didn’t want to write a novel. My life didn’t feel like a novel. It felt like a million moments. I didn’t want to make anything fit together. I didn’t want to make anything up. I didn’t want it to make sense the way I understand a novel to make a kind of sense. I didn’t want anywhere to hide. I didn’t want to be able to duck. I wanted the shock of truth. I wanted moments that felt like body blows. I wanted moments of pure hilarity, connected to nothing that came before or after. I wanted it to feel like the way I’ve lived my life. And I wanted to tell the truth. My truth doesn’t travel in a straight line, it zigzags, detours, doubles back. Most truths I have to learn over and over again.

Related posts:

1. Love Obsession Grace and the Art of Spring Cleaning
2. Scott Russell Sanders Reading at Murray State
3. More on the Duende (from Nick Cave via A. Cepeda) or Why Every Love Song Must Be Sad
4. I LOVE SCHOOL!
5. Marty’s Acknowledgements