{550 words — 2-minute read}

For me, my memoir-plus, A MEMORY MOSAIC, is 1 million words long. No, this isn’t a tale of a sprawling, messy manuscript mercilessly sliced, diced and tied into a tight package by a brilliant editor. (Think Thomas Wolfe and Maxwell Perkins.) Nor is it one of those books noted for its colossal length. (Look up “Marienbad My Love” to fall into a rabbit hole of not just 1 million words but 17.8, dwarfing Marcel Proust’s 1.25-million-word masterpiece.)

In manuscript form, A MEMORY MOSAIC was never longer than it is now, in its final form. Physically it’s 70,000 words at most. However, as I wrote the book, as well as when I would read back over what I’d written, all of the vignettes and descriptions were a spark, an opening, an entry point, a doorway into a million words of memories, thoughts and reveries. Only a few of them did I relate in the book.

My hope is that for you also, A MEMORY MOSAIC is 1 million words long. But your book of 1 million words is very different from mine. We share only 70,000 words. And just because I am the author of this tome does not mean that my “million-word book” is any more important than yours. In fact, for you, clearly, your book of 1 million words is what matters.

So, my hope is that I inspire you to think about your own life, your own events, your own thoughts, and perhaps to inspire you, encourage you, even goad you into creating your own memoir, your own 50,000- or 70,000- or 100,000-word story and presenting it to the world. Or perhaps a 10,000-word or 5,000-word story. Or perhaps your creativity shifts elsewhere from memoir. It ignites your million words into a novel or screenplay or — if you are more visual or tactile or social — a painting, sculpture or a social or political movement.

And, now, see what’s happening! I’ve written 70,000 words. But not only have I created 1 million words in my own mind; I’ve created as many as 1 million words in yours — you, the reader. Suddenly, this book is no longer just my own, but something bigger and ever-expanding. And if you are so inclined — following my lead — you will create a “book“ that is 2 million words long — the million tied to the book of mine that you read, and the million tied to the book you write. And what if I or you are so lucky as to have 100 people read their book and write their own, or miraculously lucky and have 1,000 or 10,000 or more do the same? Think of how, in the minds of all these readers, we’ve created a domain of memory and imagination of so many millions of words and thoughts, even billions.

This is the magic of writing and passing our knowledge along — to our loved ones, to our friends, to our communities, to the world, to those who inhabit the future. This is the magic of reading and acquiring our knowledge to pass along — from our loved ones, from our friends, from our communities, from every corner of the world, from those who inhabited the past. What could be a more human enterprise?