What do I mean by a memoir going “meta”? When the book itself is part of the story, and when the process of bringing the book to publication is also the story. (Teaser: I’m going to ask you to vote on a part of my upcoming memoir’s cover.)
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A self-portrait of my photographer daughter Marisa. Click on this photo to see more of her work.
Committed: A Memoir of the Artist’s Road tells the story of a frustrated creative who has abandoned his muse. As the reader accompanies the narrator’s journey across the United States while he interviews creatives of all stripes, the reader sees the narrator struggling with the hidden reasons he no longer creates. One of the interview subjects early on in the book suggests that the narrator write a book about his trip. Because the book is written in the present tense, the reader knows something the narrator doesn’t; a book will in fact be written.
In that section of the book the narrator is accompanied by his daughter Marisa, at the time a sullen fifteen-year-old girl with artistic aspirations as a photographer and emotional issues related to family conflict. As it happens, Marisa is the artist I have recruited to take the author photo for the book cover for Committed. Thus a “meta” element I refer to here, namely that the reader knows when meeting Marisa in the book that her photography will one day appear on a dust jacket.
Now I’d like to invite you to vote on the photo we’ll use for the book. There are three pre-final proofs (no touch-up work) to choose from on my Facebook author page. Let me know what you think!
Filed under: Art, Committed: A Memoir, Creativity, Facebook, Memoir, Publishing Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
