So, my 27 year old daughter and I were just talking about the fact that my psychiatrist left and I had to get a new one (he went to train the residents who are learning - and I think he will be good for that.) I have spent the last three hours filling out forms and telling life histories and treatments and… and… and…
My daughter came up with a good title for my autobiography:
“It’s a Long Story - You Better Sit Down”
I think it’s got potential…
TJ
TJ
It’s a good title. I’m sure the trick will be translating what might be a long story into something accessible and undaunting.
There are two books I like, where the subject matter is perhaps tough. One is The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks. It is a series of observations and/or stories (I think lovingly told but I know others differ) of his patients, their diverse neurological deficits or excesses and I think it works because each story is quite short. One gets to learn enough about each patient and how they learned to cope with their condition, before moving on. It is essentially a technical book, though, intended I think to bring neurology to a wider audience or for Dr Sacks to share his learnings about neurology. It isn’t a story per se.
The second is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. This is a more difficult book – very emotionally charged – and deals with Mr Pausch’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and how he wants to share all the things he has learnt with his young children, who are perhaps both pre-school at the point he expects to pass away. Again, the structure of the book is good. It’s a potentially difficult book to read but the way in which the author sets about telling the story keeps it in steps that a complete stranger wants to follow. It is one of my favourite books of all time.
I don’t remember the basis of Michael J Fox’s Lucky Me. It may be mostly autobiography, in which case we tend to read for the Hollywood life and the normality of life pre, during or outside of Hollywood, I don’t know. I did enjoy that book, too, and again it touches into a neurological illness.
So… I love the title. The trick will be how to serve the story in bite-sized chapters that one can eat at one sitting and still want to consume more in the next dish, the next course, in the following chapter.
Wishing you the best,
Richard
I love that title!
I have to laugh…
at myself.
In 2019, I said it was a long story, you better sit down. And my story in the last three years has been even longer and even more involved…
Off the top of my head if I had to title one I would call it " I am not vein " just a spin on the the word vain obviously and for facial patients seemed apt.
Loved your title 