This isn’t likely to be one of those socially relevant, or politically interesting blog entries.
Some of you know that I’m in the process of writing a book.
Most mornings, I try to get at least a few pages done. Today, I’m facing a bit of writer’s block on it. Nothing’s coming out right, so I’ve set it aside for tomorrow.
Since I don’t really want to waste the time I’ve put aside for writing, I’m hoping that sharing a little bit of this whole writer’s block with you will chase it away.
The book I’m working on isn’t really the sort of thing I expect to be a big seller. It’s a pretty narrow policy tome, aimed at a very small segment of the population. Having read tens of thousands of books, this is my first attempt at writing anything longer than a few hundred pages, and to be honest I’m struggling a bit.
My book is the outgrowth of a series of conversations with my pop, Danny B. We tend to talk about religion and business when we share the phone. He’s a small business owner who sells Bibles and religious books online.
He is, and raised me Seventh-day Adventist. I left that organization years ago, but have very fond memories of a LOT of the extremely active programs the church provided for young people. It was a fantastic environment to grow up in. Even now, I count among my friends any number of people who are still involved in that particular denomination.
One of the best parts of growing up Adventist was the educational system. SDAs operate the second largest parochial school system in the country. It’s a pretty impressive collection of primary schools, junior and senior secondary academies, colleges, universities and medical schools.
Growing up, I never really saw the system as an entity. There was just the school I was attending at the time, and the academies and colleges I hoped to go to someday. I never made it to the academy I favored, or the college I wanted to attend. Life happened. But I’ve always had a certain fondness for the entire system that I still consider my own.
So it sort of hurt my feelings when I discovered that my alma mater was in serious jeopardy.
It has always been a small school, but in the 17 years since I graduated, its enrollment has plummeted. As a grown-up, and a journalist, I started to pen a few ideas that first surfaced with me as a student there, and have evolved over time as I’ve been involved with different financial and marketing endeavors. Danny B listened to some of them, and encouraged me to write them down so he could present them.
Not being a power-point kinda guy, this challenged me to do the research, interviews and critical thinking required to present the ideas in a context that will allow them to be well received by the people I want to eventually read them. It’s a technique that works well in blogs, because you’re essentially writing a very short piece (relatively speaking, I don’t edit much OUT of my diatribes in this format :-) ) that requires minimal research.
I’m about two months into a research cycle on the development of the American secondary educational construct. Its pretty interesting, but I’m really struggling summarizing it in a way that doesn’t take me off track.
That’s a common enough struggle for me.
Anyhow, that’s what’s happening with me today. The words aren’t coming, and now that football is starting up, they’re probably not going to get the chance.
But at least I got some writing done in my writing time.
GO BIG RED.
Hope you have a great day.
--Stew.
Some of you know that I’m in the process of writing a book.
Most mornings, I try to get at least a few pages done. Today, I’m facing a bit of writer’s block on it. Nothing’s coming out right, so I’ve set it aside for tomorrow.
Since I don’t really want to waste the time I’ve put aside for writing, I’m hoping that sharing a little bit of this whole writer’s block with you will chase it away.
The book I’m working on isn’t really the sort of thing I expect to be a big seller. It’s a pretty narrow policy tome, aimed at a very small segment of the population. Having read tens of thousands of books, this is my first attempt at writing anything longer than a few hundred pages, and to be honest I’m struggling a bit.
My book is the outgrowth of a series of conversations with my pop, Danny B. We tend to talk about religion and business when we share the phone. He’s a small business owner who sells Bibles and religious books online.
He is, and raised me Seventh-day Adventist. I left that organization years ago, but have very fond memories of a LOT of the extremely active programs the church provided for young people. It was a fantastic environment to grow up in. Even now, I count among my friends any number of people who are still involved in that particular denomination.
One of the best parts of growing up Adventist was the educational system. SDAs operate the second largest parochial school system in the country. It’s a pretty impressive collection of primary schools, junior and senior secondary academies, colleges, universities and medical schools.
Growing up, I never really saw the system as an entity. There was just the school I was attending at the time, and the academies and colleges I hoped to go to someday. I never made it to the academy I favored, or the college I wanted to attend. Life happened. But I’ve always had a certain fondness for the entire system that I still consider my own.
So it sort of hurt my feelings when I discovered that my alma mater was in serious jeopardy.
It has always been a small school, but in the 17 years since I graduated, its enrollment has plummeted. As a grown-up, and a journalist, I started to pen a few ideas that first surfaced with me as a student there, and have evolved over time as I’ve been involved with different financial and marketing endeavors. Danny B listened to some of them, and encouraged me to write them down so he could present them.
Not being a power-point kinda guy, this challenged me to do the research, interviews and critical thinking required to present the ideas in a context that will allow them to be well received by the people I want to eventually read them. It’s a technique that works well in blogs, because you’re essentially writing a very short piece (relatively speaking, I don’t edit much OUT of my diatribes in this format :-) ) that requires minimal research.
I’m about two months into a research cycle on the development of the American secondary educational construct. Its pretty interesting, but I’m really struggling summarizing it in a way that doesn’t take me off track.
That’s a common enough struggle for me.
Anyhow, that’s what’s happening with me today. The words aren’t coming, and now that football is starting up, they’re probably not going to get the chance.
But at least I got some writing done in my writing time.
GO BIG RED.
Hope you have a great day.
--Stew.
(2 Dec 06)
No comments:
Post a Comment