My name is Michelle, she/her. I’m a writer. And amnesiac. In 2019, my gallbladder ruptured. The rupture caused a severe infection that cut off oxygen to my brain, leading to permanent damage. I remember the fluorescent hospital lights, the stiff sheets, and then nothing. When I opened my eyes, almost everything was gone, including my memories, my sense of place, the thread of my own story.

I was diagnosed with both retrograde and anterograde amnesia. I live between forgetting and trying to remember, always reaching for memories that slip away before I can hold them. 

So I write them. 

After surgery, when I opened my eyes, nothing made sense. I’d forgotten 99% of my entire life. I didn’t know who anybody was, including myself. 

Writing is instinct. Breathing. I don’t remember the words I wrote. Sometimes I find my own books on the shelf. Three novels. Three short stories. My name on the covers. I don’t remember the stories. But I know I’m a writer. My process is different now. I write in small bursts, piecing sentences together, never sure if I've written them before. I reread what I just wrote, sometimes again and again, editing by feel, by rhythm, trusting what sounds true. I leave notes for myself, reminders in the margins. Each draft is a new discovery.

This site is fragments. Writing. Photos. Pieces of my story. I share them to make sense of what’s left. The stories that keep going, even when my memory doesn’t.

Memory shapes every sentence. Sometimes I lose the thread halfway through. I collect notes. Fragments. Chapters. My current project: Born Without An Algorithm. A memoir. Living with a mind that won’t follow the rules. Writing. Forgetting. Writing again. 

In this book, I explore what it means to rebuild a life without a map—how identity, purpose, and connection survive when memory fades. The story weaves together moments of loss and moments of unexpected discovery, searching for meaning in the spaces between what is remembered and what is forgotten. And all the shit that's bumping around inside all of it.