My evil friend, as I was telling a story yesterday, suggested I should write a memoir. I argued that I get too stuck on all the bad stuff, which she said was the point of reading memoir, but another friend suggested the slightly different angle of humorous, self-deprecating episodic memoir in the vein of Jenny Lawson or David Sedaris.
That’s much more up my alley, and I found myself actually thinking about it as I lay in bed last night, despite already having as many projects as I can write in the next ten years already.
Since I’m a glutton for punishment, I thought I’d make notes about some of the possible stories that sprung to mind.
* marks outdoor adventures. ** marks travel stories. Bold are the best stories.
- The illegal swim**
- Eat that vein*
- The Sandblaster and dune buggy rollover*
- Backpacking in Canada in November*
- Wanna Dive*
- Mediterranean cruise on a ship with no sail*
- Frozen water bottle at Joshua Tree*
- Weirdo at horse camp*
- Kansas City road trip**
- Kahurangi backpacking*
- Water heater explosion
- Band camp
- Egypt**
- They call me Strings*
- Camping next to the katana wielding felons*
- Two a.m. siren in a New Zealand beach town**
- “We’re so fucking lost” backpacking trip*
- Inviting ourselves to camp of the howlers*
- Woman popping out of the river into our campsite*
- Bear doing the lakeside tour in Yosemite*
- Photography camp
- Poetry camp
- Winning a nerd-off contest
- One Teva Down*
- Hiking Mt Tam in a day*
- North Cascades bear cam*
- Fiji vacation**
- 4th of July at type 2 waterfront
- Olympic National Park in July*
- 30th bday backpack*
- Hiking in to Goldmyer*
- Long weekend in New Zealand*
- South Island road trip*
- Northern tip of New Zealand**
- Kaikoura marae and the dolphin dive**
- Halloween hotel and the brunch meltdown**
Phases in my life I could probably turn into a story:
- Band Mom
- Cats from hell
- National Park internships*
- Pen pal competition / “the friend tree”
- Montana “study abroad”*
- Roommate opposites: OC and the Jesus battle
- Living in the crew girls’ attic
- Cross country and Coach
- Middle school excursions with Hannah
- Mud Magnet*
Some possible kind of title themes I could stew on more:
- Stupid ways I could have died in the woods, and other fun excursions
- Why do I like backpacking again? And other fun adventures
- Woman vs Wild: misadventures in the not-so-great outdoors
- Outdoorsy: a suburban girl with adventurous aspirations
- Unprepared: tales of mutual suffering in the not-so-great outdoors
