In this article the author--a full-time high school mathematics teacher and concurrent doctoral candidate in Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology at Georgia State University--will make a case for the use of an autoethnographic methodological tool he is calling "narrative mining." He will begin by briefly summarizing his experiences attempting to write and publish autoethnography; a short story by Argentine mystery writer Jorge Luis Borges will serve as a frame to provide three examples of barriers the author believes lie between a writer and any attempt at self-knowledge. A partial solution to these barriers is proposed in the form of an examination of the personal stories a writer has told over time. An example is then shown, and a call made for a deeper look into the possible spaces opened up in a continued examination of the personal story