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On Writing (and editing) a memoir

7/22/2017

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My New Book, Spin the World Around, is available now on Amazon

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​At the end of my trip around the world through 24 countries, I found myself with a 750,000-word draft “travel book.” It was gargantuan. After months of editing, I realized I needed to split it into two books, and of course, continue editing. The first book was a guide for someone to travel deeply and cheaply entitled How to Spin the World Around. Now, I present a nonfiction narrative entitled Spin the World Around, in which the protagonist (me) essentially discovers the methodology of travel later outlined in the first book.

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​The experience of writing a memoir has been a time-consuming process, and it taught me about how we can play with time. Just the other day, I was cleaning out my garage and I found a journal in a filing cabinet. I opened it to an entry I had written when I was in high school, and it was about the desire to travel the world for adventure. “I’m not afraid of death,” was one of the lines written in the journal entry. I hadn’t read this entry probably in decades, but I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the same line written in my high school journal was later said during a key moment by a person I met years later in this book I’m about to release – about my world travel adventure. Be careful what you wish for; I’m glad that’s behind me. Then, I realize that this book I’m about to release actually ended about 3 years ago, and the protagonist was not only growing and changing over the course of the book, but once the book ended, I continued to grow and and change. I realize and accept that I am no longer the person I was in this book, just as a river is ever-changing and never the same moment to moment. That said, capturing the river in a given moment with a photograph or a story is a worthwhile creative endeavor. Learning to look back at our past selves with compassion is also worth it.

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​A certain amount of time was needed between the completion of the events and the manifesting of storyline omniscience. This allowed me to write a nonfiction narrative instead of just regurgitate a slew of chronological journal entries. Editing became key, as well as generating a story arc and developing a writing style. I worked with several editors and learned something from each of them. Before I even split to two books, I was encouraged to focus on action-based parts from the first editor. “More Action! Action! Action!” she’d write in the margins. The second editor was actually a writer who I paid up front through a proxy, but they never got back to me after they got paid. One guy offered to edit, but after reading the first chapter, he claimed to already know how it ended, so I knew I was in for another re-write.  The editor I ended up crediting on the title page spent the most time with me and made the most impact on the writing style. The entire process helped make me a better writer… and editor. The good editors would generate writing assignments for more writing to be further edited. This process could go on for infinity, but eventually I needed to let it go. I encourage everyone to write their own memoir, if only to learn about oneself through creating it and become a better writer (and editor). In the mean time, I hope you enjoy my story and find my message valuable.

​With that, I present to you – Spin the World Around. Available now.

1 Comment

The Discomfort of Questioning Authority

11/19/2015

0 Comments

 
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People get uncomfortable when called out on their stuff. I know I do, anyway. Sometimes, an individual gets called out, and sometimes it’s a group or culture. For example, I often post intense political or scientific ideas on Facebook, such as alternative views on reality that are not currently accepted by the mainstream. Most “Facebook debates” are framed into a dichotomy. Someone is either on the popular side of the argument or the unpopular side. Nevertheless, as much as we might try, it can be nearly impossible to find truth between only two choices. To take the evolution versus creation debate, I believe there is evolution, but there is also an unseen creative consciousness beyond entropy that shapes it. Since this theory doesn’t fit into the black/white dichotomy between Darwinian evolution and biblical creation, people get uncomfortable.


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  • Blog
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      • Around the World >
        • Korea
        • Philippines
        • Hong Kong
        • Singapore
        • Retrospective
      • Europe >
        • London Disrupt 2014
        • London 1998 >
          • The Search for Drugs
          • The Ethics of Cities
          • The history of the London Underground
          • A Poem
        • Italy Corsica Amsterdam France
        • Paris in the Spring
      • North America >
        • Yucatan, Mexico
        • Jamiroquai in Mexico
        • Ayahuasca in Costa Rica
        • Fear and Laughter in the Pacific Northwest
        • Burning Flipside >
          • Flipside 2007
          • Flipside 2008
          • Dr Tikis Script
        • Super Bowl XL
      • Morocco 2003
      • Australia 2010
    • Technical Writings >
      • NIME 2013
      • ITT Tech Courses I Taught >
        • Java I
        • Java II
        • Software Application Programming
        • Scripting and Web Authoring
      • Software Development Methodologies
      • Home Wine and Beer Making
    • Book Reviews >
      • The Miracle of Right Thought
      • The Source Field Investigations
      • The God Conspiracy
      • Chinese Health and Healing
    • Show Reviews >
      • Phish
      • Bonnaroo >
        • Bonnaroo I
        • Bonnaroo II
      • Skerik Syncopated Taint
      • Cleveland, Ohio >
        • Galactic 2006 Cleveland
        • Ernie Krivda
        • Medeski Martin and Wood >
          • MMW 2003
          • MMW 8-2005 Cleveland
      • Toast Tour 2009
    • College Musings >
      • Ethics Papers
      • The Story of Cybil and Charlotte
      • Full Circle or Straight Line
  • Music History
  • Infinite Creator