Back to the drawing board

Next weekend is wall-to-wall workshops organized and sponsored by Ottawa Independent Writers, a day on editing and a day on memoir-writing. I probably don't need to learn much more about editing, I might already know more than the expert who is leading the discussion, but I'm sure that I will learn something new. I plan to attend with the expectation of learning enough new things to make the day worth while.  The day on memoir writing is a different matter. As regular readers of this blog know, I've posted quite a lot of abridged excerpts of memoirs that I began to write a quarter of a century ago. I've written my life story in chronological order, but lately I've had second thoughts about such a conventional, stereotyped approach. Instead in my most recent revision I've begun with the life-changing event, the day I met my beloved Janet Wendy. I'm not yet happy about my composition. I've tried out several attempts in posts on this blog, and several others that have remained private. I'm sure I'll get it right eventually but I don't feel that I'm quite there yet. It's great fun trying though, so I'll keep trying, and probably I'll post on this blog some of my future attempts to get it right.  There have been several other life-changing events or episodes in my family's life story, and it may make sense to write at some length about each of these, then fill in briefly, sketchily, the spaces in between. That's what I hope to get some guidance on next weekend.  No doubt I'll return to this topic with further remarks after next weekend.