The Art of Memoir

by Mary Karr

(1) Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks; (2) other than a few instances of luck, good work only comes through revision; (3) the best revisers often have reading habits that stretch back before the current age, which lends them a sense of history and raises their standards for quality.

developing a critical self,

greatest memoirs of all time is G. H. Hardy’s A Mathematician’s Apology.