Category Archives: Life

Life Writing

More Writing Tips for 4th Graders
& the Best Encouragement Ever

February 9, 2012 – 9:00 am

In my last post, I related how Dirk Nowitzki and I taught 100 4th-graders how to write more betterer. Here’s part two of the Skype interview, sans Dirk.

What tips do you have for 4th grade writers?

The first one should go without saying. Listen to your teachers. Mrs. [the teacher that set up the interview] knows everything, and that’s not hyperbole [Ed. note: My teacher friend had a kid in class who pronounced hyperbole as hyper-bowl and was utterly convinced his was the right pronunciation. This was my veiled attempt at giving her further fodder to fix his phrasing.] Just like a car doesn’t work unless all of its parts are put together in the right way, writing doesn’t work unless all of its parts are put together correctly either. If you want to be a professional writer when you’re older, you have to learn how to spell correctly, and how to construct a sentence the right way, and when to use commas, and where to place apostrophes, and all of the other things you get drilled on all the time.

Use interesting or sad or funny stories from your life. If an experience made you feel something, you want to re-tell that story so that the person reading it can almost feel the same way you did when you went through it.

If you’re really serious about writing, try to write something every day, even if it’s only 100 words. You can keep a journal about the things going on in your life and how you feel about them, or you can write short stories. Or, like my nieces just did, get with your friends and come up with a book idea and have each friend write one chapter of the book.

And the best tip to become a good writer? It’s the same thing I told you at the beginning. Read. Read as much as you can. Read books that are interesting to you, but every once in awhile, try to read something that you don’t think you’d like, or by an author you’ve never heard of. Ask your friends what they’re reading. Ask your teachers to recommend books. Good writers are great readers.

So go and read. And write. Then read some more. Then write some more. Then ten or twenty years from now, send me your first book. I’d be happy to read it.

What was the favorite book you published?

[Awkward silence]. Unfortunately, I haven’t published any books yet.

… or your favorite blog?

[Slightly less awkward silence, followed by read more »

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Life Writing

How Dirk Nowitzki and I
Taught 100 4th Graders to Write Better

February 6, 2012 – 9:00 am

Last Friday morning, 100 fourth-graders interviewed me via Skype.

This encouraging experience occurred because one of their teachers also happens to be part of my homegroup at church. Her school had a technology day and the kids had been preparing for their TAKS test (if memory serves correctly). I believe this would also mark the first year they’d be tackling a written portion of a standardized test. Recalling my own trepidation when faced with such a task as a grade-schooler, I was happy to help.

My teacher friend provided me with three of the kids’ questions before the interview. However, the first kid asked the second question. Unpracticed as I am at public speaking, I momentarily lost my place in my notes, which led me to tell the kids that I write things that I think about. I’m sure they were enthralled by that piece of Madden-esque commentary on the writing life. However, I was (mostly) able to regather, and we had quite a fun time. At least I did.

For your amusement or inspiration, here are a few of my answers, with more to come later this week.

How do you decide what you’re going to write about?

If I’m writing for work or for myself, I usually write about a question that won’t leave my mind or a really interesting experience I’ve had. It’s through writing that I start to understand things about myself that I didn’t know before. It’s a way for me to wrestle with things going on in my head. The next time you’re really angry or sad or happy or something interesting has happened in your life, try writing about it. Sometimes when you write, words and thoughts and feelings come out that you didn’t even know you had.

If someone gives me a writing prompt (which happens when I write for magazines sometimes), then I think of something that’s happened in my own life that was funny or sad or weird or happy. Then I try to tell that story in an interesting way, using the fun parts of English that your teachers have been teaching you, like metaphors and onomatopoeia.

Sometimes when I get a prompt, I just start writing whatever first comes to me. It’s kind of like stretching your muscles before you start working out. A blank page can be scary sometimes, so I try to get words onto the page as soon as possible. More often than not, I’ll get past the first few paragraphs and then really get into the article. I’ll re-read the article and typically take out the first few paragraphs. Since those were only my ‘stretching’ paragraphs to get me ready for the ‘race,’ I don’t need them anymore.

How’d you decide to become a writer?

Mr. Nowitzki when we're not hanging out. (Image via Wikipedia)

I loved to read. You have to be a good reader to be a good writer. When I was your age, I read books like the Chronicles of Narnia and Encyclopedia Brown. I still love those books. All of those words and images and metaphors and stories and similes seeped into my brain so that when I started writing, I could tell what sounded good and what didn’t.

Even though I received a lot of encouragement in school for my writing, it wasn’t until I was an adult that I decided to become a writer, and the way I did that was . . . I told myself “I AM A WRITER.” Being a good writer means being confident in yourself, but not so confident that you don’t ever ask for help. All writers need to learn proper grammar and spelling, and they need to be OK with hearing what other people think about their writing.

Being a writer isn’t necessarily about being good, at least at the beginning. Writing is just like any new sport you may start. You’re not sure what the rules are and you’re going to make mistakes, but that’s the way you learn how to get better. It takes a lot of practice to get really good. If you really want to become a writer when you’re older, you have to write something every day, just like a basketball player has to practice every day to be as good as my friend Dirk.

At this point, I held up a picture of local hero Dirk Nowitzki. Much laughter ensued. (I was later told that one of the kids asked their teacher, “Does he really know Dirk?” I wish.)

Plus, I’ve always wanted to see my name on a book. It hasn’t happened yet, which means I better do as I tell you and start writing every day!

——

More to come later this week, plus some of the funny things the kids sent to me after the interview.

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Life Writing

Still Bitter After All These Years, Or How I Learned to Stop Caring About Brevity and Love Writing Verbose Headlines*

January 11, 2012 – 9:00 am

Did you participate in U.I.L. contests in Junior High or High School?

In Texas, the University Interscholastic League sponsored contests between schools covering a wide range of academic topics. In Junior High, I tied for 6th in a U.I.L. spelling contest. Unfortunately, the powers that be at that particular contest failed to notify me of the tie. I missed the ensuing spell-off, only to later find my test with “7th Place – Didn’t show up to tiebreaker” scrawled across the page. My little, proud, Junior High mind was crushed, not only at the fact that I wasn’t first place, but that I also didn’t even get the chance to compete to sustain my 6th place position.

So, years later, after stuffing my feelings by devouring as many words as I could, I attempted the journalistic competitions set forth by the U.I.L. It’s been far too many years since then, but I recall participating in Feature Writing and Headlines. I did so poorly in both of them that I can’t even recall my place in either competition. This may have been the beginning of a subtle aversion to the pursuit of writing as a legitimate means of self-sustainment.

Now, even more years later, writing (thankfully) is a part of my job. Learning to craft concise, creative, compelling copy (while attempting to avoid the adolescent allure of alliteration) is an art form I enjoy attempting to master. It’s a journey without a final destination, but if I can inch ever closer with each new day, each new writer I read, and each new voice that speaks wisdom into my life (and there are many of those at my current job and in my real-life circles), then I’ll consider it a day well-spent.

But headlines still cause me a tightening of the throat, a muddling of the mind, and a blankness of the brain. Consequently, I’m highly appreciative of posts like Matt Thompson’s 10 Questions to Help You Write Better Headlines.

While headlines have to convey much more information in a smaller amount of space versus your standard tweet or Facebook update, there are similarities to be found. The pressure of limited space leaves little room for error or vagueness, but carefully crafted content calls out for a memorable, clickable headline. As with your updates, so too with headlines. You want something that tells the truth, but begs for interaction.

Maybe the essence of any headline is this: How do you compress your meaning so that it’s an irrepressible invitation to interact?

So . . .

  • What inter-scholastic competitions did you compete in, and where did you place?
  • Or, what’s the best or worst headlines you’ve ever read?
  • Or, when you compose a tweet or Facebook update, do you linger over exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it so that someone will reply, click, or like the post?
*I’m not really that bitter any more, and I’m not allowed to write long headlines, unless it’s here on my own blog. However, I’ll still admit to adoring alliteration.

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My Top 10 Top 10 Lists of 2011

December 29, 2011 – 9:30 am

nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Inspired by the Top 10 Worst End-of-the-Year Top 10 lists list that we posted at FaithVillage, here is my own Top 10 End-of-the-Year Top 10 lists list.

10. The Best Selling Video Games of 2011
Sadly, my absolute favorite of the year, Portal 2, was ranked #10. It’s one of the smartest games in existence. I’m playing through #8, L.A. Noire, during my Christmas break, and it’s a little unnerving to have more than a few actors from Mad Men (including the game’s lead actor) appear in the game.

9. Top 10 Words of the Year
As a writer, I felt like I had to include this, but the words this year are lame. I’ll save you the trouble: The word that was most looked up online in 2011 was “pragmatic.” Additionally, “‘austerity’ also made the top 10 list in 2011 along with ambivalence, insidious, didactic, diversity, capitalism, socialism, vitriol and ‘apres moi le deluge.’

8. Top 10 Most Bizzare Tech Stories of 2011
This list exists because someone failed to tell someone else that just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do something. A self-hugging vest? An internet-enabled kissing machine? An MC Hammer search engine? At least they all have this in common: They make me say, “What the what?”

7. Top 10 Gorgeous Gadgets of 2011
Function does not have to follow form. These gadgets remind us that useful tech doesn’t have to be just a metal box.

6. 10 Most Viewed YouTube Videos of 2011
#1 makes me weep for humanity. My favorite is #2, embedded below.

read more »

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My Top 10 Visited Sites of 2011

December 26, 2011 – 11:30 am

Since we’re running a few Top 10 lists at FaithVillage this week, I’m following suit and posting a week of my own randomly chosen end-of-the-year Top 10 lists. Today, it’s the Top 10 sites I likely visited in 2011. There are no statistics to back up this list, just inclinations.

10. Grantland / ESPN

Ever since the Mavs won the championship (which I predicted), I’ve become an ardent NBA fan. Sadly, the lockout and the loss of many of the key Mavs from last year have left me with a bitter taste, thinking that the Mavs getting through the playoffs this year would be even more miraculous than last year’s epic run. If you’ve never visited Grantland and you appreciate good writing, Bill Simmons, pop culture, or Chuck Klosterman, you’re missing out on some of the best stuff on the Internet.

9. PostSecret

If you’re easily offended, this isn’t the site for you. If you’re awed by the incredible diversity of the human race—our hidden thoughts, unspoken hopes, and worst sins—this site is fascinating. People send their secrets via postcard to Frank Warren. The often simple words combine with just-as-simple art to produce compact yet compelling studies in humanity. It’s updated every Sunday, but not archived. In other words, the secrets are only up for a week at a time. However, these postcards have been collected into many different books.

8. GoodReads

I used Shelfari for ages. After using that site to catalog my library, then not finding an easy way to export that list, I jumped ship to GoodReads, a similar social network for book lovers. I’ve been happy ever since, especially with GoodReads’ iPhone app that allows me to scan book bar codes in order to add them to my digital shelf. It also helps me keep track of what I’ve read and how much work I still have left to do.

7. 101books.net

I don’t recall how I stumbled onto this humble blog with grand ambitions, but I’m glad I did. It’s fascinating reading for book lovers and English majors. Robert Bruce, unhappy with his lack of reading fiction as an adult, decided to read Time Magazine‘s Top 100 books since 1923 (the year Time was founded). He added Ulysses to the list, since it is widely considered a literary masterpiece, but was published in 1922. Bruce blogs about interesting trivia behind the books, then provides an easy-to-read and honest assessment of the time he spent in the book. I once spent a weekend poring over every post until I caught up to “real-time.”

6. Christian Nightmares / JesusNeedsNewPR / Huffington Post Religion

Both Christian Nightmares and Jesus Needs New PR are blogs that detail the rather weird side of Christianity. Sometimes funny, sometimes scary, but, to me, always interesting. Be warned: These sites are not for the faint of faith. HuffPo Religion is where I find news of note in the Christian world that is making waves beyond the church’s walls. read more »

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