The bibliophile's lament?

I was going to be good.  I waited until the 20th to start the book.  I did the math.  80 pages a day would get me done right around the time the next book came out.  I wondered if I could really read that many pages a day since I usually read while exercising, and I don't have an hour and a half to exercise a day.  I re-figured and decided I could do it if I read a bit extra on the extended weekend here.  (Hardly a chore.)  I could definitely get it done before the next book came out.

And then, I chose not to stop.  I had a lot of things I should've been doing with this extra day off.  I had no reason not to do them.  I didn't do them anyway because it was snowing dreamily outside and what I wanted to do was read this book.  So I did. 

To punish myself for this lapse of self-control, I think I shall get myself on that strict sleeping and waking schedule I need to be on starting tomorrow morning.  And there will not be this wonderful book to read in the meantime.  And I will get all the things done on my list this week, and I will not whine about it.

I don't feel as guilty as I should because this book is wonderful and worth it.

Why writing memoir is hard

I really admire people who can pull off a successful memoir (success = skillful execution) because I don't know how they do it.  I am long-winded by nature (I think in multi-volume, epic plots and can't do much with short stories to save my life).  It is extremely difficult for me to figure out how to take, say, a 450 page spiritual autobiography and turn it into a svelte 200 page memoir. 

How do you know when to start?  How do you know what to cut? And most importantly, how do you know when to end it?

". . . You're searching, Joe,
For things that don't exist; I mean beginnings.
Ends and beginnings--there are no such things.
There are only middles."

-"In the Home Stretch" 

by Robert Frost

 

I read that and blessed dear departed Mr. Frost again.  He was amazing.  He puts things in words I've been wanting to say but can't until I stumble across a new (to me) poem.  Did he ever write a memoir?

Anyway, that quote explains the reason why it's so hard for me to write a good, succinct, complete memoir.  I don't feel like things ever end/stop in my life, and I'm not at the place yet where I can see enough of the bigger picture to see how to craft a stopping point that I am comfortable with (comfortable = no "if I leave that out, it feels dishonest" moments).  

 

I'm not sure where things begin, either, but that's a lesser concern because I feel like it's the ending I need to stick first.  All my other questions can be answered and addressed if only I know where the end is.  

 

Maybe this is some subtle form of procrastination, but I don't think so because anything that generates hundreds of pages is obviously not afraid to get work produced.  

 

Maybe this is why it's easier to write an autobiography when you are old (or have it written for you after you are dead).  Death is an ending it's hard to argue with.  However, I don't think it would solve the problem of knowing when to begin if you wanted a short work.  :)  Sigh.

Content to be in the middles, 

Tmia

When authors procrastinate

Sometimes great entertainment is born.

What would add to his coolness exponentially would be if he finished the other two books in the trilogy, and they were as good as the first.  Until they're finished and published, I can still have my dream, so I'm fine either way.  :)

Have you read any author procrastinatory posts that made your day?

Something Great Someone Else Said about Procrastination and Recommending Books

I promise I'll stop doing this soon, but I wanted to share another link.  I promise when I do it's always relevant.  Somehow.  If you put a little thought into it.

Anyway, Patrick Rothfuss wrote a post about liking/recommending books that is more than vaguely related to something I wrote back in August, and I felt like sharing it.  It's nice to know I'm not alone in my particular procrastinatory habits.  Sometimes you like something, and you can't explain why, but that isn't very helpful to people unless they share your exact reading habits.

Do you ever not talk about something you enjoyed because you're afraid someone will ask why?  Anything you inexplicably loved and want to share here since you don't have to explain why you like it at all?  :)