Memoir Analysis #2: Bill Bryson

2 Replies

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Thunderbolt-Kid-Memoir

One way to determine if a memoir is ready for publication is to compare it to others that have already been proven successful. Continuing to aim very high, the second author and book selected for analysis is the 2006 book The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. Here are a few quick observations:

  • this New York Times Bestseller is a “mix of exquisite detail and inspired exaggeration (which) all add up to the Truth with a capital T that rhymes with G that stands for out-loud guffaws” as reported by Scott Simon for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday,
  • it has approximately 81k words spread over 15 chapters, and
  • “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is steeped in … the sweet, simple pleasures of an all-American boyhood. Even the world-weariest of souls will be charmed.” Parade

While Bryson and Sedaris may be contemporaries in time and country, their memoirs are worlds apart and inspired by worlds that no longer exist.

Six more successful memoirs will be reviewed in the weeks to come. Please let me know what your thoughts are on memoirs in general and what makes them worth reading for you.

Slow but sure, Patrick Cole

Memoir Analysis #1 – David Sedaris

Leave a reply

http://www.amazon.com/David-Sedaris-Book-Set-Corduroy

My goal is to publish a memoir by this time next year: December 29, 2025. I wrote and edited a first draft this year so I’m publicly acknowledging that I need at least a year to complete this publishing goal. More drafts, more editing, more polishing are necessary before it will ever see a bookshelf.

One way to determine if my memoir is ready for publication is to compare it to others that have already been proven successful. Clearly, I’m aiming very high by selecting David Sedaris as one standard for comparison. Based on a recommendation, I chose his 2004 book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim for review. Here are a few observations for starters:

  • this #1 National Bestseller is “hilarious, elegant and …. Sedaris is a complete master of the form” as Chris Lehmann reported for Washington Post Book World,
  • it has approximately 77k words spread over 22 chapters, and
  • “Sedaris’s perennial themes are not simply played for self-deprecating laughs in this volume, but are made to yield a more Chekhovian brand of comedy” as reported by Michiko Kakutani for the New York Times.

I know, it’s audacious of me to compare my memoir to one of Sedaris’s many successes. But why not aim high?

I will be reviewing seven other successful memoirs in the weeks to come. In the meantime, please let me know what recommendations you have for writing a successful memoir.

Slow but sure, Patrick Cole

Our Thoughts Don’t Make It True

1 Reply

Am I separate from the gloating MAGA hat wearer?

Check out today’s post from the Center for Action and Contemplation: The Pain of Separateness (cac.org/daily-meditations/the-pain-of-separateness/)

Highlights include:

  1. “When we’re separate, everything becomes about protecting and defending ourselves. It can consume our lives.” 
  2. “Whenever we do anything unloving, at that moment, we’re out of union.”
  3. “Whatever separates us from one another—nationality, religion, ethnicity, economics, language—are all just accidentals that will all pass away.”
  4. “Every time we do something with respect, with love, with sympathy, with compassion, with caring, with service, we are operating in union.” 

Some Things Are Deeply Felt … Like Election Results

Leave a reply

Wearing my heart on my sleeve, I’ve become a human porcupine, the pain too intense to hide ….

Tibetan-American poet and writer, Lekey Leidecker, helps us recognize the anxiety we now experience. Provocative phrases such as those below are from her recent Tricycle article, Some Things Are Felt Through the Body:

  • “This rage never really left. For far too long, the story has been the same.”
  • “Seized by mounting anxiety, rising dread, rushed to distraction, and the cycle repeated itself”
  • “Bad feelings were not internal failures, they were indicators. I cannot cut the threat down any further. I confront it at its true size.”

Check out this heartfelt article at tricycle.org/article/lekey-leidecker-body/

How to Find Inner Peace – the Buddhist Way Excerpts

Leave a reply

Statue of Buddha at Magnolia Grove Monastery – picture taken by Patrick Cole

Spirituality + Health online magazine has shared another helpful article written by Victor M. Parachin. Highlights can be found below. For the full article see: https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/authors/victor-m-parachin-m-div-c-y-t

How to Find Inner Peace—the Buddhist Way

“Buddhism identifies inner peace as a sense of emotional, mental, and spiritual harmony, even as life’s challenges arise. When inner peace is present, there are strong feelings of serenity, balance, tranquility, and calmness. Here are some Buddhist methods of attaining inner peace:

  • Limit Desires
  • Practice CPR Meditation – calm, peaceful and relaxed
  • Don’t Gossip
  • Accept Help
  • Lighten Your Life, and
  • Cultivate Countermeasures

The Dalai Lama notes that whenever negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, worry, or fear emerge, “We need some countermeasures to oppose them. For example, if we are too hot, we reduce the temperature, or if we want to remove darkness, there’s no other way than bringing light.”

When you’re feeling impoverished, practice gratitude; when you’re feeling sad, smile at every person you encounter; when you’re experiencing guilt, be extra kind to others; when you’re feeling discouraged, recall and savor what is good and right in your life.”

Don’t Cling, Condemn or Forget and Remember to Vote

Leave a reply

In 20 days, another American election will take place. As always, there’s a lot of free-floating angst in our culture. How might we prepare for whatever outcomes arise?

Tricycle magazine offers a great article today on how best to deal with greed, hatred and delusion. It’s a summary of the twelve links of Dependent Origination written by Joseph Goldstein.

Remember to vote and check out these helpful and nonpartisan links below:

Dependent Origination: The Twelve Links Explained

Teachers, Saviors and Personal Choice

Leave a reply

My first father-in-law taught me how to fly fish. He never used the quote, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” He did, however, patiently offer suggestions and examples of how to do something if I was really interested in learning. No pressure, no expectations, just answering questions and role-modeling techniques. Maybe he was communicating nonverbally, “Come follow me, or don’t, it’s your choice.”

Two articles crossed my path today. Perhaps they will be as provocative for you as they were for me.

They are:

“Maimonides, a renowned philosopher and scholar, once wisely said, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ This timeless quote encapsulates the profound notion that providing immediate help to someone may alleviate their immediate needs but teaching them the skills to become self-sufficient will empower them for a lifetime.”  http://www.socratic-method.com/quote-meanings-and-interpretations/maimonides-give-a-man-a-fish-and-you-feed-him-for-a-day-teach-a-man-to-fish-and-you-feed-him-for-a-lifetime

“When one is deluded, one thinks teachers take you, but when one has awakened, one realizes that one crosses over by oneself.” tricycle.org/article/nelson-foster-chan-buddhism/

Crossing Over