Writing Memoir in Redhead Territory

MEMOIR IS TERRITORY. Writing memoir is all about walking that territory and understanding its boundaries. When you do, you’ll find that the area you need to cover can be measured by the hairs on your head, and that it can be a wild country, indeed.

That’s what I discovered when I set out to write about red hair. It’s one of my areas of expertise. One of my territories.

I always advise people to shun the one-big-book-that-begins-with-the-birth-of-a-great-great grandfather-and-ends-with-what-you-had-today-for-lunch mentality in favor of this idea of territory and areas of expertise. When you do, you’ll discover that you’ve got lots of separate ground to cover. So it was with me and my red hair, resulting in a book a few years ago entitled The Roots of Desire. And through that book I have met the most wonderful people. Most recently, this brought me in touch with the fabulous women at How to Be a Redhead dot com.

Adrienne and Stephanie Vendetti are the redhaired brains behind this great new site. Sisters, they are redheads to the core. They have it all going on, and I do not say that merely because they are running an interview with me right now, and hosting a giveaway of my book on red hair.

Though they are. It’s here.

Are you a redhead? Are you, like several men I write about in my book, a serial redhead lover?  Oh yeah, I know two men whose dating and married lives have been one long string of beautiful redheads. It’s a condition for which there is no cure, as is being a redhead. If you are one, you know just what I mean.

Read the interview and let me know if you win the book.

Want to know more about that territorial thing when writing memoir? Read this.