'I'm Afraid to Write About Myself!'

Daring to tell your own story is a revolutionary act.

Interior (1953) by Dorothea Tanning

Dear Polly,

I’m writing to you because I am hoping you will be able to offer some advice about how to write about one’s own life, as you have done in your own books.

I know that from within my soul, I need to write a memoir of my life thus far (I’m 26). This isn’t about publishing it (too many terrors to work through fir…