stories worth sharing
a memory, a new book, a note-to-self (and you, if you want it) :)
When I am 26, I work in full-time on the ninth floor of an office building in the city. Going to work feels like walking into a box and then another box, another and another and another, until I am in my cubicle and I turn on the box that is my computer. One lunchtime, I’m in the staff kitchen and writing in my notebook.
“What are you working on?” one of the IT guys, just a few years older than me, asks as he walks by.
I could have said I was journalling or writing a short story, but I tell him the truth.
“I’m writing a memoir,” I answer.
He laughs, perhaps louder than he meant to. “How old are you again?”
“26.”
“What memoirs could you possibly have to write?”
This is probably one of the most unhelpful things anyone has ever said to me. While I’m sure he didn’t mean it to have the impact it did (this moment aside, he was a lovely person to work with), this comment stopped me from writing that book almost immediately. It has hovered in the back corner of my mind ever since.
It comes to mind again, over a decade later, as I edit my latest book which is - you guessed it - a memoir. I’ve been writing about the camino I walked last year. What began as a series of notes that I thought might come together in a personal essay, has grown into a book-length manuscript encapsulating so much more than that two-week adventure.
It was a profound experience for me, as was the story I was trying to write back then (which was a combination of family history and an exploration of my identity as a Chinese-Australian young woman). I tell myself - in spite of that unforgiving inner critic most of us have - that if this story is profound for me it might be so for someone else. I think these experiences are worth sharing. At least, they are worth making available to anyone who might resonate with them; anyone who might need just these words in order to feel less alone. I would even go so far as to say, if we feel up to being that level of vulnerable (and of course it’s ok not to be), that there is a responsibility there. This story might be about my personal experience, but it is also not about me. It is about the journey. We are all on a journey, and perhaps mine will be helpful as you navigate yours. There is only one way to find out.
A Field of Stars: Finding my way along the Camino de Santiago will be available very soon!
In the meantime, let me say this: no matter how old you are, or what experiences you have had and are having, your lived experience is a goldfield of stories. They are worth exploring for yourself, and if you feel called, they are absolutely worth sharing.
I would love to hear about them.
Thanks for being here as I share mine,
Amy
I can’t wait to read it!! 🫶🏼
How exciting, Amy! I’d love to read it!