Lynette Bishop Snell

This book floated through my book club several years ago as a potential “must read,” however I never took the time to incorporate it into my library, filed under “have read.”  After looking at it again for the first time in many, many years, I am wondering if it is one that I should reconsider.

In this autobiographical “memoir” which, as I understand, is a term that should be loosely applied, the author, Dave Eggers, recounts his life of raising his much-younger sibling, Toph, after both parents die of cancer-related illnesses within a month of each other.  Eggers depicts his journey as he navigates his way through parenthood at an age when most of his peers are just beginning to experience freedom and true independence for the first time.  I do believe I will download it on my Kindle, now that I have refreshed my memory about the story and what it holds.  After all, it was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, so it has to have some promise, right?

The point of my bringing this up is that a very dear friend, and fellow author, offered up a suggestion regarding my recent return to the blogosphere.  Her words, (and I quote them here, because no one can make a point with more eloquence than my friend), were as follows:

I do have one small suggestion that you have either overlooked or are choosing not to entertain for whatever reason. What about that heartbreaking work of staggering genius inside of you that is dying to come out? If you focused on that, your blog posts about haters could be aimed at critique partners, agents, and publishers.

Hmmmm.  I was just trying to express what I had been experiencing lately, but she does have a point.  She knows me about as well as anyone else in my life, considering I’ve known her for longer than I have known my own husband (only about two weeks longer, but two weeks is fourteen days!).

So what is my “heartbreaking work of staggering genius” that is trapped inside, desperately trying to break free?  I have so many ideas that roll through my head daily, but it certainly makes me stop and put more thought into it.

I began this exercise of writing on my blog for multiple reasons, not the least of which was simply to start writing again.  But, as is usually the case with her, she makes me stop and think.  And, like I said…she knows me.  I mean, really knows me.  And after close to 20 years of friendship, I do believe I must take her advice to heart.

So who knows where this will lead, but in the meantime…

Thanks, Rita.  I would not be where I am today without you.  Wanna go get some lunch at Chevy’s and talk it over?