How psyched was I to open my gmail inbox and see an email from "AugustenB"?! I had emailed my new obsession, Augusten Burroughs, to tell him how great I think he is and also to ask him how he deals with the inevitable criticism that is inherent in any writer's line of work, let alone a memoirist's. I asked if he ever used to worry about it and, if so, how he overcame it. I never expected to hear back from him--although of course my fantasy was that he would read my email and realize we are psychic twins separated at birth and we would become best friends. The same fantasy I used to have about Oprah until I met her and realized we were not actually soulmates.
So I open my inbox the other day and gasped when I saw "AugustenB" in the "From" column. My fantasy had come true and Augusten had actually written me back! Ok, so the email was actually from his assistant, but still, isn't an email from Augusten's personal assistant almost as good as an email from Augusten himself? Here is what is said:
maggie-
first off, thanks for writing. i know augusten appreciates it.
i can't speak directly for him, but i do know that you can NEVER be a memoirist if you care what people think! augusten had a NEED to write about his life, and if he worried about what people were going to think, the writing would be stifled, and probably a lot less successful.
hope this helps and that you possibly get to meet augusten next year when he tours with his new book.
cheers,
stewart (augusten's assistant)
I love it how he says that Augusten had a NEED to write about his life and couldn't be bothered with what people might say about him or his writing. That is exactly why I am obsessed with him--first of all, because it is very evident in his writing that he had a "need" to write it and that need is what makes him such a magnificent writer. Secondly, I am obsessed with him because I love it that he doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks about him, his life, his writing, etc--in spite of any negatives he is the one who, in the end, is a NYT best-selling author, sought-after speaker at various ivy-league colleges and just an overall genius and cultural icon. He is the embodiment of my life philosophy; namely, just wish for something hard enough and it will come true and no need to conform to "requirements" like advanced degrees or abiding by sociatal norms about what's ok to talk about and what's not.
Anyway, you can bet your ASS I will be meeting him next year when he tours with his new book.
2 comments:
Wow - I should try writing my hero, although I'm not sure I have one.
Not to burst your love bubble or anything, but didn't A.B. make all that shit up in his book Running with Scissors? I really liked that book, but I remember there was a lot of controversy around it. I mean, his life was pretty damn crazy, but then again, a messed up childhood leads to creativity, right?
NO! That wasn't him! That was the dude who wrote the book about rehab--A Million Little Pieces? Or did Augusten do it too? It doesn't say it's a nonfiction book or anything, does it?
Even if he made up every word I am still obsessed with him!! Hey, if the dude can write a book that sells a million copies or whatever and let him quit his day job and become a famous writer, I say props to him for working the system.
But I think it's the other guy you're talking about--the guy who wrote the book about rehab and told about how he had to have his teeth pulled with no pain killer or anything. I don't care if he made every word up--that book rocked and if he could make up something as gruesome as that tooth-pulling part, again, I say, dude you go!
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