So, my brain has decided to write a biography. It gave me a title, This Dysfunctional Life, and an opening sentence, “This is not a happy story.” The first chapter will explore how fucked up I am and my best understanding for how I got this way. The rest of the book will be about how this affected the things I accomplished (or didn’t) in my life. It won’t be all grim: I have had some accomplishments I am proud of, and even the occasional moment of grace. Still. Somewhere in there will likely be an argument for greater acceptance of the neurodivergent, but that’s not the reason I would write it; the simple truth is that my brain has decided that it wants to tell my story.
I’m not sure there is an audience for a sad story about a writer who remained in obscurity his entire life. On the other hand, I was sure that stories that I had written had no market, only to be proven wrong when they sold, so what do I know? If this is a project my brain is excited to work on, work on it I will.
Not necessarily immediately. For one thing, I already have two or three projects that are well along and I want to complete them first. For another thing, there are two conditions that must be met before I would want such a book to be released into the wild.
1. I won’t release such a book until my parents have passed on. In the beginning, they will come across as villains (although they redeem themselves later in my life); at this point in their lives, I see no point in reminding them of the difficulties they had to overcome.
2. I have become something of a political activist late in life. (It’s not entirely an unexpected plot twist: as a satirist, my writing has always been political.) So far, I have been fortunate enough to keep my personal/professional life and activism separate, which has kept me and my family safe from harassment from right wing assholes. Since any biography would have to include this aspect of my life, I don’t want to publish it until the barrier between my two lives has come down. (Which, since I’m beginning to be more willing to talk about my activism in public and, in any case, my latest novel in progress will be politically incendiary, could be any minute now.)
Of course, just because I don’t plan on publishing a biography doesn’t mean I cannot start writing it now. If there is one thing I have learned in my life, it’s that I should always follow where my creativity leads.