fighting our ways, our way/not out but through

I'm getting to some of the more difficult stories now.  It's harder to tell them in general, because some of them I've been telling a certain way for the past year, or (spoiler alert) ten years in some cases.  It's hard to remember how I felt when I didn't know how I felt, when I hadn't decided what I thought things meant, how the story should be told.

Not to mention it's a chronological nightmare, a complete time fuck.

And of course it's also some of the harder material, now that I've exhausted topics like sharks and air conditioning.  The first time we met, and the end.

Can I put "more sharks" somewhere in the break up fights?

So it's hard to tell, and I start to cop out and think, why am I being so selfish in the first place?

I thought at first that this was my story, that I was bizarre and it was entertaining to try to describe that bizarreness to the rest of the (to all appearances sane) world.  But the more I've shared True Stories, the more I've learned that a lot of other people go through the same bizarreness.

In just the past couple weeks, some of my (to all appearances sane) nearest and dearest have said things that have reminded me what this story is really about (corny, yes), and how much more it could be (double corn?), so I'm going to ride the comments below for the rest of the week, or however long it takes me to get the beginning and the end out onto the page.

"Currently going insane with my own relationship craziness and anxieties. Love your script for making me feel less alone in that."

And this one's paraphrased, but I swear she used the very Amelia-y word "date-like."

"I feel like I'm having my own true stories right now.  He asked to see me again in a very date-like way, and I thought aaaagh and I thought why is that so aaaaagh?"

So I'm stepping out on a ledge here, but I'm taking all ya'll bitches with me.

 The True Story, or Vicious & Multiple & Untrue After All will premiere as part of First Person Arts RAW at the First Person Arts Festival (November 8-17, 2012).