I received an email from a friend:
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I just finished the book “My Sister, The Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaite, and there was a reference to Homework for Life! Very cool!
Chapter 3: The Notebook
“I closed the notebook. It is small. Smaller than the palm of my hand. I watched a TEDx video once where the man said that carrying around a notebook and penning one happy moment each day had changed his life. That is why I bought the notebook. On the first page, I wrote, “I saw a white owl through my bedroom window”. The notebook has been mostly empty since.
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It’s not a great description of Homework for Life, but it’s undoubtedly my TEDx Talk that she is referencing.
I’d recommend that this fictional character return to my Homework for Life talk or read about it in one of my books. It’s truly life-changing. Tens of thousands of people around the world now do Homework for Life, and I hear from one or more of them almost daily.
Still, it’s crazy to think that my exercise in storytelling, memory, and living well has permeated culture so thoroughly that it has made its way into a novel.
Of course, I forwarded the email to Elysha.
Her response:
“I read that book years ago and don’t remember that.”
I knew she would say that. If she were doing Homework for Life, she would be more likely to remember.
Later that evening, she would tell me she thinks she remembers now and might have even mentioned it to me at the time, which is, of course, a lame attempt to cover her ass.
