Memoir Mondays

Did you know there’s an app called Memoir? You can find it on iTunes. The verbiage says it “transforms your photos, the places you go, and your social media into memories that can be relived when they’re most interesting to you.”

I have a hard enough time managing my photos on my computer, and I almost never print them out anymore. But it’s a nifty idea—storing your photos in a visual set of stories. It may have even worked well as a storyboard of sorts when I was planning out my own memoir.

Then I read that Cary Elwes (aka Westley) is writing a Princess Bride memoir. I was a big fan of the movie back in the day. But I don’t know how I feel about someone being able to publish something that (dare I say it?) seems a bit trite in comparison with the memoirs I’ve read by fellow writers. Works about overcoming adversity or rediscovering an old love after twenty years (wink, wink to Samantha). We struggle to bring our compelling stories to the pages (or to e-readers) while a celebrity dashes off words about a long-ago movie. Maybe it’s awesome. I don’t know, I haven’t read it.

But unfortunately, memoirs (and many books, for that matter) come down to marketability. How much money can an agent, publisher, you-fill-in-the-name make on a book? Often the quest for the almighty dollar means sacrificing quality or inspiration or beauty in writing. 

I enjoy a good memoir and loath a bad one.

What are your thoughts? Would you use the memoir app? Do you read memoirs? Are you interested in reading Cary’s upcoming book?