Memoir Writing

Over the years I've played with the idea of writing my memoirs. (Gads, that sounds pretentious.) I know memoirs are hard to sell. I know that every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks they have something important to share about their lives, but most of them don't. Still, the idea persists.

As you may have gleaned from "Remembering is the Hardest Part" below, I'm a TBI survivor. (Traumatic Brain Injury for the uninitiated.) While there are a great deal of TBI survivors roaming the world, not many of them have the ability to write their own stories, so I would at least be able to provide some insight. (Of course, a quick search at Amazon brought up a couple TBI memoirs written from the POV of the survivor. Not that I thought I was the only one... Just that it's rare.)

The question in my mind is whether I should put forth the effort to write the whole sordid story down, or whether I should just stick to writing fiction. It's not like a burning need to tell my story; just a wish to help others who have gone through the process. A voice for those who cannot talk, if you will. Somewhere in there, there's also a need to throw a big spotlight on some of the things they are doing wrong with TBI patients, so maybe others won't have to go through some of the crap I had to put up with.

Anyhoo, it's just a thought. I'm between books right now, and trying to determine what the next project is going to be. I have several novel ideas floating around, and this one non-fiction.

My college English professor (may he rest in peace) always warned us not to write a story we were too close to. Too close and you lose your objectivity. I may be too close to this one, even after 12 years, to present the most objective view of the events. Maybe someday.