I feel like I’ve been in another dimension for the past couple of weeks as I scramble to put the finishing touches on The Troubles. Now some of you have seen the opening couple of chapters and may be wondering, “finishing touches? What’s he talking about?”
Well, folks, what’s different is that the changes being suggested are actually quite minor in the grand scheme of things. Sure, the wording and structure may look different, but it’s mostly window dressing designed to appeal to the reader, to aid him or her on their journey through my story. The best part is that, so far, I’ve been able to work the changes very quickly. That excites me because I’m not spinning my wheels going, “Oh My God! What Am I Going To Do?” I know what to do, and with the help of some kind folks at absolutewrite.com I am blazing through the massage portion.
So what kind of changes are happening? Well, for starters people drew my attention to a point of view issue I had regarding some really fantastic heroism shown by my mom. I wanted the world to know just what kind of woman my mom was, that she risked her life and forced her way to the middle of a rampaging mob of Libyan Arabs to save an elderly Jewish couple, but the particular scene took place when I have only a vague recollection at best. I’ve known the details since a very early age but still after the event took place. What to do?
I gave my mom voice and let her tell the story. It’s a tough thing to pull off the way I did it, and I may have to make some minor adjustments for clarity, but we get a good sense of what happened.
Other changes – my brother is now featured. He was AWOL before mainly because I don’t really recall much of us together in Pooks Hill, Bethesda, at least not a lot that made it into the memoir. I could talk about the haunted house we frequented, or sledding down a hill near the townhouse, or any number of other ordinary things that wouldn’t have been much interest to many people, so why would I? Indeed!
Lastly I changed the hook into the following chapter. My old hook, about not going for gold stars ever again, is important to the overall story but isn’t really a hook. So I added, I think, a single sentence that I believe makes all the difference in the world.
Oh yeah, I also remembered *why* we left Northern Ireland in 1971, but you’ll have to read the chapter to find out.
Life is good.
