Coming out of the Mardi Gras weekend, I had the idea to write about seven years of partying in Sydney. The pros are that I’m not sure whether anyone has combined a narrative with an analysis of recreational drug use, and approached it with the style and voice I use: the wide-eyed innocent who explores an issue (whether it is sex like in the last book, or gay community in the previous book) in a way that tries to open up that world to both insiders and outsiders. It might get some good interest. It might be of commercial interest.
The cons are that it would definitely get criticized as promoting drug use, promoting a hedonistic lifestyle, of being shallow and focused on beauty and looks, that I would get personal criticism and scrutiny as the author, and that the efforts to illuminate that world will likely be missed by many – who will find the subject matter too strong. Also, how to disguise the real incidents, and not end up slandering anyone, and how much of my experiences to include, i.e. how much of being involved in the political side of Mardi Gras would I include.
In the meantime, my journal entries are slight. If I’d written stories as they happened, I’d have much more material, though then I would have ended up like those authors I don’t respect who seem to be going through experiences only to write about them, rather than writing about experiences which they are going through in an authentic way.