Creative Writing: My Autobiography Of My Grandpa's Memories

From late June to early August of 2013, I found myself taking yet another six-week crash course at Florida Atlantic University. The course in question was Creative Writing I. At the time, it seemed like a serious gamble. My experience as a writer had come through doing ‘academic’ writing, and, to say the least, I never considered myself someone with a creative mind. I didn’t know where to begin, and it felt as if I’d ensnared myself in another trap. Later on, a spark got ignited in my brain leading me to remember how my Grandpa’s dad was a former professional fighter in the bantamweight division. Said spark would compel me towards asking my Grandpa about his dad’s boxing adventures and other endeavors. The notes I took during this discussion

I was going to talk about his military career, along with various exploits, plus other funny stuff (because I had heard ‘rumors’ in the family), and it’d be just the best memoir ever made. Why? Because said memoir was about my Grandpa, of course. But the process is not as easy as someone might think. Memoirs often start with more of a ‘sigh’ than a ‘boom,’ and the same can get said for their conclusions as well. Some memoirs end after having given their readers complete answers and total resolution, while some leave us at a point where some topics get left incomplete or still in progress, and others just leave us dangling in true

Here’s what I discovered. These stories actually are never-ending, if you allow them to take you in many directions. What started out for me as a want to write about my Grandpa ended up morphing into something of far superior significance. No sooner would I learn certain things than questions would arise to take me in tangential directions, and though the process wasn’t always easy I’m glad they did in the end! I ended up embarking on a journey seeing me not only learn more about my Grandpa but also learn more about myself and other members of my family as well. These are things I wouldn’t have ended up knowing had I not chosen to write this memoir, and I’m grateful this knowledge is not going to get ‘lost’ in our family’s ‘annals of time.’ They are stories I can share with my children and which with any luck they will with theirs. I’ll have to edit out some of the cusses, but it’s okay.
I’ve already shared a lot of things in this memoir, but here are some other things I didn’t exactly manage to ‘fit in’ I would like for you to know about, in no particular order. I thought about ordering them, but decided to scrap the