8 Lessons from a master memoirist

HUNTERMANIA · Jan 18, 2015

Alright I'm taking shit shit straight from my FB page

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/...ons_n_6392630.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

8 Life Lessons From A Master Memoirist

^^read that fucking article, it's good.

Here are my comments (all the commentary in the [//quote] boxes are mine but all the " " are his quotes)

First of all, this is a GREAT fucking article. Read it. Below is just one of the interesting observations made.

"If you keep a detailed journal, you will impose your present moment on all your future selves, and that's what you don't want to have happen."

-I had not thought of that... I always went the opposite way, trying to express my present moment as clearly as I could. Although, I guess I use different tools. I keep a detailed journal for thoughts, but I also keep a daily log of activities.
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" When you become a more complex character, your whole story becomes more of a work of art. But you have to be able to have some objectivity towards yourself to write that. And so to write that kind of memoir, you have to arrive at a place where you are not just yourself -- you're a character in your story. That's the key. "

THIS.
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Now I have to really think about not keeping a detailed journal... but he also says that life is so circular and that's how you see that manifest - the fucking detailed thinking. You can remember events easily enough, but remembering exactly what you were thinking for more than a few moments at a time in any sort of depth is much more complex than that. I write 5 journals a day in my mind - there's no way I could even come close to capturing what I think on paper or in any word form. But I try to grab some important things. I think about that too - the bias in what I record and what I don't record. I think I record more negative things than positive things, ironically. I'm much more willing to cast myself in a negative light... because I don't try to make excuses. That's why I get mad when people don't believe me - if I'm not fucking honest then WHO IS? Please tell me someone who has told more truth than I have. It might sound crazy because sometimes it IS crazy, but that's what it is - that's me. I typically will only record something positive if it's really significant or something I think is above and beyond... but negatives can be any degree and still be significant.

This is a very interesting moment in my life. A lot has happened the past 2 years. You could look at my life externally and you would see very little change, if any at all, but I live in a totally different world today... to the point where I literally looked in the mirror and saw a different person - it was me, but it was the REAL version of me. Like, I didn't just see a person, i saw all my ideas and my character and just who I am in that image for the first time... before it always just some guy looking back at me, now it's me. So I guess we're gonna see what the real me is about? I love it, I love every second of it.... the really funny part of all of that is that that is exactly what I think. I love it. Hilarious, ridiculous, and possibly true, we will find out in due time
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and not constraining myself IN that character that I've created... because trust me, I have fully embraced some things as "me" - like... IDK, I'm having a difference of opinion right now on who I am (as a character in my story). I never believed in some 'inner' or more basic nature that people had, like, 'your inner child' type shit. But maybe there is. IDK, I'm just seeing things a lot differently and I'm not sure yet how that's going to change my narrative. Ultimately, I'm still going in the same direction, it's just a question of how the past is framed into my present and my future. The hard part of this whole business is looking for the most right answer, because you can't truly know these things, nobody knows anything, I just try to stick with the most correct answer. I don't have a pre-planned package, I just kind of came out this way.

Like the guy says, "But I do remember, I found a bunch of papers of things I'd written in high school, and this great revelation I'd had last week was already there in high school, and better expressed. There's something about the circularity of life's revelations as you go along."

So these ideas are evolving and changing a little bit, but they're the same basic ideas... LITERALLY - and it's amazing reading old shit and seeing how other people predicted their own destinies and who they were going to become, you can see it so clearly in the text of a conversation. What's clear to me when I read what I wrote is that I had this in front of me:

but all I could see was those fucking trees in the bottom left and I thought that was the whole picture. Comical.
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Ok, correction: I'm still the same person in my story, but I'm debating what is 'basic' about me, or intrinsic, if anything is. Or, if there is an intrinsic for all humans - and this is something I've pretty much resisted. I'm a relativist - create your own story. But I have to stay open to the idea... and thinking through some things: what is attributable to me, how much am I to blame for some things? Who decided so much of what my life would be for me and when did I decide to start changing that into what I wanted? And... is there really 'light' and 'darkness' - it kind of feels like there is, lol. It feels metaphysical, which is a paradox, I know, but that's been my growing intuition, but I've never accepted that completely. Maybe it's not about what is right or wrong but about what is nurturing and what isn't.
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enjoy

Shayo · Jan 18, 2015

Embracing the super ego. Interesting.

HUNTERMANIA · Jan 18, 2015

Shayo said: ↑

Embracing the super ego. Interesting.
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Who is? me or the author? and how do you mean?

Shayo · Jan 18, 2015

HUNTERMANIA said: ↑

Who is? me or the author? and how do you mean?
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The author. Just my interpretation of the journal part and finding your character within your story. I could be off but that's what I got from it.

HUNTERMANIA · Jan 18, 2015

Shayo said: ↑

The author. Just my interpretation of the journal part and finding your character within your story. I could be off but that's what I got from it.
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Word. Well, anymore commentary would be appreciated. Did you read my comments? Any thoughts? I may be wrong, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this subject matter will not get too many comments, so, lol, I'm trying to get as much as I can from you

HUNTERMANIA · Jan 18, 2015

Fistfulofsoysau said: ↑

Why is it a bad thing to impose your present self on your future self? I get the whole thing about wanting to build a narrative but to me that makes it less genuine.
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Right? That's my reasoning as well. I get the point he was making, but your point was the point I agree with more.

Shayo · Jan 18, 2015

Fistfulofsoysau said: ↑

Why is it a bad thing to impose your present self on your future self? I get the whole thing about wanting to build a narrative but to me that makes it less genuine.
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Maybe that way you are more open to character growth within the narrative.

Shayo · Jan 18, 2015

HUNTERMANIA said: ↑

Word. Well, anymore commentary would be appreciated. Did you read my comments? Any thoughts? I may be wrong, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this subject matter will not get too many comments, so, lol, I'm trying to get as much as I can from you
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I'm out and about on my phone at the moment. I've bookmarked for later though.

HUNTERMANIA · Jan 18, 2015

Fistfulofsoysau said: ↑

Just wondering...are you actually planning on writing a memoir?
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Oh, most certainly! Long before I read this article... I've known my whole life that I would write an autobiography.

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8 Lessons from a master memoirist

HUNTERMANIA Always Striving. Platinum Member

Shayo Banned Banned

HUNTERMANIA Always Striving. Platinum Member

Shayo Banned Banned

HUNTERMANIA Always Striving. Platinum Member

HUNTERMANIA Always Striving. Platinum Member

Shayo Banned Banned

Shayo Banned Banned

HUNTERMANIA Always Striving. Platinum Member

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