Who Gets a Spot on the River of Memoir?

By Margaret Anne Mary Moore

“Am I in your book?”

“How much am I in the book, though?”

Encountering these questions posed by friends months and weeks before launching my debut memoir Bold, Brave, and Breathless: Reveling in Childhood’s Splendiferous Glories While Facing Disability and Loss grew exhausting.

“You realize this is like a test of the friendship, right? How often I appear in the book will tell me how greatly you value me as a friend.”

My stomach churned each time some...