If my daughter is freaked out by the fact that I never had steak until my first date with my husband, what will she think if she reads about Jacksonville? Much less the uglier aspects? This conversation occurred last night. I'm still writing but getting more nervous about it as I go. I really don't know what to do now.
Maybe test the waters with part of your story in the form of a personal essay which is basically a mini memoir. Don't try and tell your whole story or even the best part. Just take a part of this and work with that for starters. If you can get that published, it will help you in terms of finding an agent and a publisher. It's also a way to test the waters with people in your life who seem to know very little about your life story. If you need help finding places to submit a personal essay, you can message me. I'd be happy to help out.
That's the weird thing. I'd be perfectly happy if it were out there and she never saw it. I have no interest in becoming famous or whatever. I don't even want money from it. Hubs is one thing. He has to know there are only so many ways a young teenage girl survives on the road. He's not stupid. But that's why back when and hasn't mattered in decades. Why hasn't he asked about the gory details? Probably the same reason I've never asked about the gory details of his romantic relationships prior to our meeting--I don't want to know. My kids? I've never been shy talking about sex and all that goes with it. Each got repeated warnings in high school and upon leaving home, always from me. Hubs doesn't want to go near that but he does with the boys. Me? Not the least bit shy. In fact my son=in-law found out about that when he and my daughter moved in temporarily and I had to discuss their marital relationships and my youngest. Thought the poor kid was going to faint. I know my mother and her family have said stuff about me to the kids and maybe as adults they've put two and two together but I doubt it. Who wants to think about their mother like that? This thing is becoming a nightmare and I don't need any more of those. <sigh>
That's a good idea. Do you know of a site that details the format, word count, etc. for that sort of essay?
Frankly, it sounds to me like you're trying to find an excuse not to do it. That being the case, perhaps you should not, because you'll only find reasons not to put one thing or another in it, yo the point where it either becomes a work of fiction, or plain uninteresting.
You aren't wrong. If I do this I'm going to face blowback from so many vectors it's ridiculous. The more I think about it the worse the idea seems.
@deadrats @Naomasa298 After some thought I believe I've sold myself a little short today. I was up 'till 3am last night writing about the absolute worst event of my life (and that's saying something.) It was all I could do to just translate the facts from my brain to my fingers and into my laptop. Forget style. I had to treat it like a BRD. I've never spoken of it or written about it. Not even my husband of 24+ years, whom I trust with my life, knows about it. If I weren't freaked out something would be seriously wrong with me. Who wants their absolute worst experiences and mistakes put out there for God and everyone to comment on? And mine aren't the run-of-the-mill kid/teenager stuff. Mine make adults cringe. Everyone seems to like the "came from the dirt and made a decent life" aspect. How many really want to know what the dirt is really like? If I don't tell about the dirt, the decent life isn't all that interesting. I live a normal life and have for three decades. Looking at me no one would ever guess that I have such a "checkered past." So yeah, it's easy to think, "no one needs to know about that." Until I realize that without that, the other makes no sense. If writing about that didn't give me pause something would be seriously wrong with me.
If that came across as inordinately angry I apologize. Lots of old crap rolling around the chest with this.
