“The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are very often not really what happened. And as I started to write stuff down, I started to challenge what I thought I knew about myself, my culture, my family, all of it. It was a huge, destroying process that completely took over my life. I just wasn't here, I mean I was physically present, but I wasn't here, I was back in the 1980s.” WritingMeanStoriesCultureStuffProcessChallengesHappenedHugeMy FamilyDestroying Author:Damian Barr
“I cut a lot of cringy sex stuff and a lot of stuff I thought was too personal. I think secret gardens are very special. I think we all have to have them. I think the secret of memoirs is keeping those parts of yourself off the page, which makes what you do share more valuable.” ThinkingSexStuffSecretCuttingShareSpecialPagesGardenValuableMemoirSecret Garden Author:Damian Barr
“I went through in the edits and cut tons of stuff that was "funny" because if it wasn't funny at the time, so it shouldn't be funny now. It's about having that unity of experience. You have to try and take away your hindsight knowledge of a situation.” IfsTryingStuffSituationCuttingUnityEditsHindsight Author:Damian Barr
