I Got Mine: Confessions of a Midlist Writer is the memoir of Nichols's extraordinary life, as seen through the lens of his writing. Everything that went into making him a writer and eventually found an outlet in his work--his education, family, wives, children, friends, enemies, politics, and place--is told from the point of view of his daily practice of writing.Beginning with his first novel, The Sterile Cuckoo, published in 1965 when he was just twenty-four, Nichols shares his highs and lows: his ambivalent relationship with money; his growing disenchantment with the hypocrisy of capitalism; and his love-hate relationship with Hollywood--including the years-long struggle of working with director Robert Redford on the film of The Milagro Beanfield War, which was filmed around Truchas and featured many of Nichols's northern New Mexico neighbors.Throughout I Got Mine Nichols spins a shining thread connecting his lifelong engagement with progressive political causes, his passionate interest in and identification with ordinary people, and his deep connection to the land.
