Who Writes About Themselves?
By Kari Carlisle Having recently finished reading someone’s memoir, the genre is on my mind. Though memoirs, biographies and autobiographies (MBA’s) are not usually my favorite reads, I have read one from time to time. While I am no expert on MBA’s, I do recognize the amazing power they can have.
To clarify for those who may be ignorant at the differences, a memoir is the reflection on a time or circumstance in one’s life, and a biography or autobiography is the recounting of a person’s entire life as told by that person (autobiography) or by a third party (biography). Effective MBA’s draw the reader into the writer’s circumstances, relationships, emotions and realizations.
Everyone has a story to tell. There’s a TV show called The Story Trek . Host Todd Hansen travels the country, knocking on doors, looking for people who are willing to tell their story on TV. What I love about the show is that Hansen is expert at drawing out of the person the “real” story, the deep parts of their past that, I suspect, they had kept hidden, even from themselves. I’ve often wondered what story Hansen would manage to finagle from me…
Which has gotten me thinking, what kind of a person writes an MBA? Hansen knocks on a lot of doors before finding that one person who agrees to talk with him. Sometimes biographies are written without permission from the subject (unauthorized biographies) and sometimes are written posthumously. But I’m talking about MBA’s that reveal people’s deep thoughts and sometimes secrets with a great deal of candor.
Some MBA’s are about famous people, and readers perhaps love these for giving them a glimpse into the life of a celebrity, actor, or athlete and an opportunity to live vicariously through someone else. Some MBA’s are about politicians or business gurus, and I suppose these are read by people eager for clues into achieving their own successful careers.
And some MBA’s are written by or about normal, everyday people. What makes these people extraordinary is their ability to reflect on their lives and communicate to the reader their lessons learned. It’s this extraordinary ability to expose oneself that gifts to the reader a sense of knowing that person, and in the process the reader examines his/her own life, understanding, learning and growing as a human being.
The memoir I just finished is The Dog Stays in the Picture by Susan Morse. While it’s less about the dog of the title than about the author’s circumstances and relationships as she deals with an empty nest, the book will appeal to a large audience, though mainly female. The author does such an effective job of conveying her emotional state throughout, I feel like she has become my friend, and I would feel silly referring to her as Ms. Morse, or just Morse, as I would in any formal book review. But this is not a review, so I am compelled to call her Susan.
In reality I don’t know Susan, but I feel like I do, and I admire her candor and indeed want to be her friend. Though childless myself, I still found myself connecting to Susan emotionally through all her crises and discoveries. I cried and laughed and practically peed my pants. To me, this is an effective memoir. I pee my pants – you done good.
I did meet Susan recently, so I can’t say that our meeting did not contribute to the feeling of knowing her. If you should ever read this blog post, Susan, I’m Samantha’s mom – the one living on the Navajo Reservation and managing Hubbell Trading Post. You graciously took this picture of Sam and me:
Sorry for the side note, folks. Back to my thoughts on MBA’s…
I’ve read ineffective MBA’s, and those fade from my memory quickly. But back to my question – who writes these? Who is willing – and able – to allow untold numbers of strangers into their personal lives?
I have a theory (did you see that coming?). It is a fact of life that we all suffer some trauma in life, or least some major drama. Often these circumstances will shape who we are as people, as individuals, and as a result our perspectives shift. These are life-changing events that can lead us to want to change the world or some aspect of it. Sometimes we are led to use what we have learned through these events to make the world a better place. In a small number of these cases, the tool of choice is to write about it. Someone just said to me this morning, it’s a legacy to pass on the written story of your life. I like that.
Will I ever write an MBA? I have thought about writing a memoir. I’ve had my share of life-changing events and think I might have a thing or two to say to the world. While I would love to write one, I’m not sure I’ve reached a level of honesty with myself yet. Or maybe it’s just not healthy for me to dwell on the traumas that plague my amygdala. Maybe that’s why MBA’s aren’t a favorite genre of mine. Effective ones lead us, nay, force us to self-reflection and self-realization. Personally, I like living in fantasy-land. Besides, do you really want to read about the story of a crazy woman who dresses her dog like a ballerina?
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www.readmota.com
To clarify for those who may be ignorant at the differences, a memoir is the reflection on a time or circumstance in one’s life, and a biography or autobiography is the recounting of a person’s entire life as told by that person (autobiography) or by a third party (biography). Effective MBA’s draw the reader into the writer’s circumstances, relationships, emotions and realizations.
Everyone has a story to tell. There’s a TV show called The Story Trek . Host Todd Hansen travels the country, knocking on doors, looking for people who are willing to tell their story on TV. What I love about the show is that Hansen is expert at drawing out of the person the “real” story, the deep parts of their past that, I suspect, they had kept hidden, even from themselves. I’ve often wondered what story Hansen would manage to finagle from me…
Which has gotten me thinking, what kind of a person writes an MBA? Hansen knocks on a lot of doors before finding that one person who agrees to talk with him. Sometimes biographies are written without permission from the subject (unauthorized biographies) and sometimes are written posthumously. But I’m talking about MBA’s that reveal people’s deep thoughts and sometimes secrets with a great deal of candor.
Some MBA’s are about famous people, and readers perhaps love these for giving them a glimpse into the life of a celebrity, actor, or athlete and an opportunity to live vicariously through someone else. Some MBA’s are about politicians or business gurus, and I suppose these are read by people eager for clues into achieving their own successful careers.
And some MBA’s are written by or about normal, everyday people. What makes these people extraordinary is their ability to reflect on their lives and communicate to the reader their lessons learned. It’s this extraordinary ability to expose oneself that gifts to the reader a sense of knowing that person, and in the process the reader examines his/her own life, understanding, learning and growing as a human being.
The memoir I just finished is The Dog Stays in the Picture by Susan Morse. While it’s less about the dog of the title than about the author’s circumstances and relationships as she deals with an empty nest, the book will appeal to a large audience, though mainly female. The author does such an effective job of conveying her emotional state throughout, I feel like she has become my friend, and I would feel silly referring to her as Ms. Morse, or just Morse, as I would in any formal book review. But this is not a review, so I am compelled to call her Susan.
In reality I don’t know Susan, but I feel like I do, and I admire her candor and indeed want to be her friend. Though childless myself, I still found myself connecting to Susan emotionally through all her crises and discoveries. I cried and laughed and practically peed my pants. To me, this is an effective memoir. I pee my pants – you done good.
I did meet Susan recently, so I can’t say that our meeting did not contribute to the feeling of knowing her. If you should ever read this blog post, Susan, I’m Samantha’s mom – the one living on the Navajo Reservation and managing Hubbell Trading Post. You graciously took this picture of Sam and me:
Sorry for the side note, folks. Back to my thoughts on MBA’s…
I’ve read ineffective MBA’s, and those fade from my memory quickly. But back to my question – who writes these? Who is willing – and able – to allow untold numbers of strangers into their personal lives?
I have a theory (did you see that coming?). It is a fact of life that we all suffer some trauma in life, or least some major drama. Often these circumstances will shape who we are as people, as individuals, and as a result our perspectives shift. These are life-changing events that can lead us to want to change the world or some aspect of it. Sometimes we are led to use what we have learned through these events to make the world a better place. In a small number of these cases, the tool of choice is to write about it. Someone just said to me this morning, it’s a legacy to pass on the written story of your life. I like that.
Will I ever write an MBA? I have thought about writing a memoir. I’ve had my share of life-changing events and think I might have a thing or two to say to the world. While I would love to write one, I’m not sure I’ve reached a level of honesty with myself yet. Or maybe it’s just not healthy for me to dwell on the traumas that plague my amygdala. Maybe that’s why MBA’s aren’t a favorite genre of mine. Effective ones lead us, nay, force us to self-reflection and self-realization. Personally, I like living in fantasy-land. Besides, do you really want to read about the story of a crazy woman who dresses her dog like a ballerina?
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www.readmota.com
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