“What’s a weird or unique thing that’s happened in your life?” This was just one of the gems that caught my ear at a writing workshop last week. I’ve read memoirs before and found them, quite frankly, pretty boring. I was born, I did this, I did that, blah blah blah. Never once did the word “memoir” spark my interest because I’d always, mistakenly, equated it with autobiographies.
My writing mind, since this workshop, has started to stray with tiny glimpses into my past, and I’m surprised by the weird and funny stuff that’s popping up. But who besides my family would be interested in reading about my life? Although… there was the trying-to-get-pregnant period when conception of both my children came very hard. We wanted only two children so that painful period ended in the delivery room with the announcement that my second child was a boy. For some bizarre reason I didn’t believe what I was hearing and kept asking, “Are you sure? Are you sure?” After hearing it for the third time, the doc held my baby up high in the air, over my face, his tiny legs spread, and said, “SEE? it’s a boy!” I’m still amused – and smiling now – by that irrational moment in the delivery room. Like the doctor would lie or something!
All I’ve wanted to do for the past 20 years was help people “not be so wound up all the time.” I am an observer, you see. And the leg jiggling, sour moods, and super serious faces everywhere I looked were really getting to me. My mission became clear: to help people, including myself, relax more through writing books and blogging. I admit to often having an overwhelming urge to grab someone who is particularly jittery and shake them with a “CALM DOWN!!!” (So far, I’ve been able to hold myself back!)
I’ve had unexpected moments of inspiration before but usually don’t act on them before slipping back into my habitual life. This time it’s harder to ignore the “what if’s”. What if I was good at something and didn’t know it? Or, what if I really loved it!” I really don’t want to miss out on potential fun or satisfaction just because I didn’t want to try something new. Curiosity is killing…. me. Changing my writing direction is festering more than usual since this great workshop. Definitely a fork in my road and a kick in the butt.