I posted my current thoughts on *The Glass Castle* to Goodreads. As a model for writing a memoir/biography, I think there may be some useful ideas: the focus on a relatively short time period (the author’s childhood) and the first person perspective (which leaves out all of the unknowns: Dad’s adventures, the siblings’ whereabouts, etc.). But Walls’ next book, Half-Broke Horses, may offer more ideas. In this book, she explores her grandmother’s upbringing, using 1st person and a more fictionalized approach.

Yesterday, I re-read Grandma G’s autobiographical essay for freshman comp and some of her travel journal, written during her trip to Europe in 1962. I forgot how much information is contained in that ab essay grandma wrote: her dad dying of TB, her mother’s subsequent institutionalization in a sanatorium, Elvira’s death from TB a couple of years later, and the girls’ move to the city. Viola had not yet been killed. Maybe I should write about my Grandma G’s life? I think I saved the letters she wrote me…perhaps I could gather enough material to write about her.

Then I read a couple of letters mom wrote to her in 1963–one not long after Kennedy was assassinated. I love how her letters capture the day-to-day activities; they truly chronicle the life she and dad led. So there’s certainly plenty of material to work with there. Hm. I suppose I should start with something. There’s a thought!