Why I Care About My Memoir (and you might too) Part 1

Writing a memoir can be a total ego trip or an ego-deflating experience.  Often a memoir is centered on a particular event in a person's life that gives meaning to a path taken. If we're honest, we're forced to review our mistakes as well as the times we got it right. 

The event in my life was divorcing my husband after twenty-five years of marriage at the age of fifty. Our marriage had been dysfunctional for several years prior, but I persisted in trying to fix it even though evidence suggested it was beyond repair. My journals written during that time detail my struggles. I had many reasons for staying, including my Christian faith, but my journals also reveal a fear of being able to take care of myself. I've always thought of myself as a good and strong woman, but I obviously had my weaknesses. In writing the memoir, I was forced to face the fact that I was not always kind, responding in unproductive ways to my husband's crazy-making behavior. 

The upside of these revelations is that I can share them as one flawed person to another. Those of us who've been in marriages with difficult spouses haven't always been our best selves. If we dare to be honest, we acknowledge we've been hurt; we've accrued damage, and we have room for improvement. 

Can you relate?

Blessings,
​Linda