I am currently at work on my memoir, Tippy's Nine Lives: A Family Memoir in Dog Years. It's been fun going so far. But a memoir, unlike fiction or a book of non-fiction, is tricky business . . . a no-man's-land of real life stories that may yet impact the living. As I write, I continue to ponder how my family and friends will respond to my memories of situations and events.
As I told my brother not long ago . . . I can't make this stuff up. Our lives were too zany to create out of whole cloth.
But memoirs are tightropes . . . a dangerous journey across mind and memory, trying to stay the narrow course of events, stepping lightly upon secrets and private conversations while maintaining enough humor and dignity to make the realities readable for others.
I've been wanting to write the memoir for years, and I'm so fortunate to be able to do so.
But I'm not sure about the outcomes. Once the book is published, I may discover that I am an orphan . . . abandoned by family and friends. I can only hope I tell the story truthfully.
So please stay tuned. Tippy's on the way.
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