I was stuck, paralyzed, smack dab between the 2nd and 3rd draft of my memoir. I happened upon On Writing via a relatively lukewarm endorsement on some writing forum.

I'm not a fan of the horror genre. My sister (a lifelong SK fan) took special pleasure in watching me squirm my way through Carrie and nearly suffer a nervous breakdown over The Shining. I tried to read SK books, but even the short stories about smoking cessation gave me the willies. I needed to sleep, so I gave up trying.

But the Stephen King that plays in a band, and lives in Maine, always seemed more approachable, less pretentious than some other big name authors. I needed advice, and I was fairly certain that King would take on the subject with the wry humor for which he is so famous.

What a gift! Amidst my new found fear of adverbs, I discovered a guide that was to the point, spot on with my writing experiences thus far, and chock full of good advice. The bonus was arriving at this conclusion via a meandering tour of all of the books that I had made my sister place face down, so that the front covers would not haunt my dreams.

What was even more surprising to me was finding King's approach to writing, and his definition of horror, relevant to my own story. I blog about memoirs, and as King recounted the catastrophes of everyday people happening upon Pandora's Box, I realized that in many cases the two genres have much in common.

After all, it's not the initial horrible event (in my case being shot while in the midst of an adolescent prank) but the cascade of calamities that follow that create the terror. How is it that we so haplessly unleash such unbridled fury? King explains that ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary positions, if the kindling is piled just right.

Mr. King if you read this post, please accept my sincere gratitude. I am inspired and anxious the crank out the final draft. I just might have a horror story of my own to tell.