HI, Princess Lenora!

I'm going to reply to your 3 posts in order, just so you can follow!

First, yes, I hear what you're saying about writer's block. Actually, I wonder about that fear that prevents us from writing--wonder if another term for that is "emotional block"? I think that was true for me, at least, before I had the courage to write my first memoir. During that time I WAS writing--but I wasn't writing the book(s) I really wanted to write. I was too scared; I was still protecting my family!

So I hear you and am in awe of your epiphany, about the need to tell your story for yourself--and for the greater good! Yes! Bearing witness is crucial.

Yes, I do remember that you were working on a memoir about breast cancer. And that's so ironic what you say: that you wanted to write that memoir without mentioning the backstory at all. It's ironic to me because I've tried to do the same thing: write an essay about my CURRENT life, as if there were no childhood--certainly no incest in that childhood! As you say, "been there, done that." Well, for me, the current essay didn't work at all unless I did mention the childhood incest.

However, what I also found to be true, was that now, while writing an essay about a more adult experience, even though, yes, I have to reference my childhood, I am writing it as if through a new lens.

In this way, then, I don't feel as if I'm repeating myself. The work, in a way, has a different tone, a different voice.

I mention this only so that you might consider this, too. When you write about this adult experience, with the breast cancer, but need to refer to your past, you might be looking at the past from a different angle, exploring other parts of it. So it might, then, feel like new material.

Does that make sense?

And thank you, too, for what you say about "Fearless Confessions"! Yes, I do hope that this book will help memoir writers take possession of their own lives.

That's it! By telling our stories the way we want to, others can try to define us...but, ultimately, we get the final word. Our words, our books live on!!

Thank you!!