Will Rogers said "when you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do, that's Memoirs."

And herein I have the proof. Let's see.

We've got the memoirs of those who have broken with reality. A few titles. "The Shame of Me," "Behind the Smile," "A Memoir of Madness." But my favorite in this category is Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue: An American Life." If she isn't the poster girl for delusional behavior, who is?

Then we have a spate of memoirs from the folks who have lost, gained, lost, regained, struggled with, conquered or simply threw in the towel on being a chubbette. My favorite was penned by a 23 year woman. Her memoir is called Hungry. It is the heartwarming, heartbreaking, tear jerking story of how she came to accept her curves. Did I mention that she is a former size 2 model who is now a size 12 full figured model. Okay, let's look at this more critically. She's 23. She's a size 12. Maybe she should be lumped in with the above mentioned reality testing section. Isn't she inspiring? Perhaps, the new patron saint of Weight Watchers? 

The last group of "tell alls" were lumped together in the New York Times, under the heading CrunchTime Selling Tales of the Great Downturn. Otherwise known as Layoff Lit. Here we have the memoirs of a bunch of heretofore successful women who, as a result of the economy, found themselves part of the ranks of the unemployed. But, resourceful group that they are, were able to settle into their second homes, let go some of the staff, and regroup by selling their stories. For the big bucks. No unemployment lines for them. Only lines in their future will take place at Barnes & Noble for their respective book signings. 

So there you have it. Perhaps you'd like to take Mr. Rogers (Will, not Fred's) advice and critically and carefully examine your lives to see what it is that you ought to have done that you can write about as if you did it. I am.