"The Heartbreak Diet" began it's first incarnation as, what I like to call, the "Journal-O-Pain". After I found out about my husband's betrayal, I began to compulsively write, write, write. At that time, still ignorant of California's no-fault system, I imagined that the journals would be useful fodder in a divorce agreement! I planned to document his deceptions, and "prove" how he had destroyed our marriage with concrete dates (!) and evidence (!).
I can't really look at the Journal-O-Pain anymore. It's a repetitve and boring testimony to my denial and hurt that has neither legal, nor entertainment value! Which brings me to the topic of blogging. My publicist and editor encouraged me a couple of months ago to start blogging. Sure I thought... why not? But I have been dragging my heels. What will make this blog any more interesting then the Journal-O-Pain? I'm sceptical about blogging as a valid use of my time. Maybe it's my age, my demographic, that I'm too busy to read other people's blogs. How anyone has the time to do so is a mystery to me. I can barely get through my weekly New Yorker.... Besides, I am not that interesting! My personal life revolves around my kids. Perhaps if I was living in Madacascar, or Rome, I would have something interesting to report about. A friend at the coffee shop suggested that I simply make up stuff-- oh such as how Brad and Angelina were over for dinner, and we chatted about how we would campaign for Barack this fall. Hmmmm. Making stuff up isn't me. I'm too sincere and well-meaning. Ugh. Plus I am not simply not imaginative enough to make stuff up. It's no wonder that I wrote a memoir. And one that, again and again, my friends validated as being "so honest". I think I will have to go back and discuss this art form-- a graphic memoir-- as a topic for the Hearbreak Diet blog. Perhaps it won't be silly or dull to work through how a book gets made from disparate elements. How one chooses details to write and illustrate about, and why one elimiates others. What choices go into revealing details about one's life, and how (as opposed to blogging) these details are crafted into a story.
Sound like a plan?
2 comments:
Sounds like a plan to me! I had fun reading this post though and learning about your 'Journal of Pain'- it's so good to keep that stuff in the moment but so hard to look back at it later. Keep blogging! It can be short and sweet too! -christina
if you're 30 or over, no matter who you are or how many books you've written, blogging seems...somehow...like someplace you shouldn't be. But, having blogged now for over a year (on christina's initial push!) and gotten my sister into it, as well as other friends and authors, I highly recommend it! I think you'll get a lot out of it. I've already enjoyed reading each and every post on your blog...
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