Anne Lamott's book "Bird by Bird"

If there's one book I would advise an aspiring writer to read, think about, laugh over, and reread, it would be Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. I just read one of the early chapters in the book ("Getting Started") and in that chapter Anne writes: "Start with your childhood, I tell them. Plug your nose and jump in, and write down all your memories as truthfully as you can. Flannery O'Connor said that anyone who survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of his or her life."

I have an amazing memory for my childhood years and have written many things about them. One provocative incident came to mind today and I've decided to write it down to see if it could go anywhere.

This incident happened around 4th or 5th grade at St. William's School in Euclid, circa 1958. It has just occurred to me that I'm afraid to write everything that happened--at least in a nonfiction context. There is one sensitive issue that still causes me pain, that I'm unwilling to reveal. Maybe that part of the story needs the mask that fiction provides. We'll see.[will continue]