“It seems strange to talk about it now — to take something so private and place it in such a public place — particularly since keeping it secret was so important when I was younger.”
Breathe in, breathe out. Personal writing – écriture verité – is very much in the air at the moment. So I’m issuing a challenge. A couple of years ago there was this site called Ember.org. It contained ‘tales of first love’. I don’t think you could find a more difficult subject to write about. However, I put together a piece and sent it in. Reading it now, it seems almost immpossibly badly written, but my heart is there (displayed for all to see online) and I suppose that’s what counts.
My challenge is this. All of you who maintain personal sites – who write about your lives – put your money where your mouth is. Write your story of first love as honestly and openly as you possibly can. And to ‘celebrate’ this challenge, I’m putting my piece up permanently on plasticbag.org in a new ‘personal’ section of the site.