Finally I seem to have gotten to the whole point of starting this blog,that being to write a memoir of my time growing up in Moncton New Brunswick and beyond,perhaps.There seemed to be a lot of preliminary work,like setting out the context for the memoir,and reminding myself of the kinds of people who populated my life at the time.To that end,I'm sure I've not remembered them all,but I needed to write it down as a reference for myself.I know it may all seem odd to a reader,but this blog is as much about the process of memoir writing as it is about the memoir itself.And this is the first memoir I've ever tried to write.

A few notes to my readers are in order.First,what is to follow is my memory of my life,and it may well be that my memory is not perfect.It would have been better I believe to have recorded my life as it happened from my earliest years,but that did not happen.I try to be true to what I'm writing,but to be sure,I have to call upon imperfect memory and draw inferences that may not be completely correct.It's important to realize that a memoir is,at least in this case largely an interpretation of events and memories.

As for the actual recording of my life,I am doing that too,but that is a very different activity.Likely you will still get to read some of that so you need to realize that I am actively recording now,while I also record the past.But the "now"and the "then" are two very different activities.I do them separately and keep them far apart.While I expect you will see a reasonable memoir evolve,I'm not certain you will get all of the other writing I do on a daily basis.Someday though,most of it may emerge.Keep in mind there are things that I write that I may choose to keep relatively private.

It was not my original intention to provide memoir done in two different forms,but that's what this memoir shall be.There is,of course the more or less chronological activity of recording and interpreting life events,which I always thought memoir was.But memoir is not limited only to that form.

While in Toronto,I had the privilege of meeting weekly with a wonderful group of memoir writers weekly where we practiced writing topical pieces in relation to our lives.It was an invaluable activity which I still tackle in these blog entries.Anyone in the group can suggest topics which we then draw out of a coffee can and write for about ten minutes.The only real difference in the way I do this exercise is that after I've written down what I have to say,then I put it in the blog.The exercise is supposed to take ten minutes and I would have no hope of accomplishing that using a keyboard.I've always considered these exercises as being of a "hunter/gatherer"nature,a way of collecting resources that I would likely otherwise overlook.So,I go about the exercises because I wish to remain connected to that particular community of writers.They have all been so inspiring.And in deciding how to lay out this memoir,I've made the decision to present some of those finished exercises in unedited form,as a sort of deviation from simply following the "history text"style of memoir.

For all of those still with me-Enjoy.