Back in the saddle again! :)
Also on Twitter now https://twitter.com/MJ_Van_Wyhe
currently reading: Gun Fight by Adam Winkler; Sugar, Salt, Fat by Michael Moss
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Paragraph by paragraph
So it only took me a week of writing about writing (with a great long weekend trip up to Lake Michigan in the middle) for me to finally start. What is it? Short story? Novella? Novel? Door Jam? Probably the latter at this point, but it was fun to spend some time writing this afternoon. I'm trying to stick with what I know - centering around history, the university, a specific area in the South - but the characters are new. Not basing anything on anyone, just seeing how they grow.
Rome wasn't built in a day, but page 1 was written in one.
Also currently reading: The Lost City of Z, by David Grann.
Rome wasn't built in a day, but page 1 was written in one.
Also currently reading: The Lost City of Z, by David Grann.
Monday, June 27, 2011
ESPN and Bill Simmons
Had a great vacation up on Lake Michigan, but now back at the ranch and ready to get back to work.
Was thinking about the most recent book I've finished, ESPN: Those guys have all the fun by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. I was looking forward to this one for a while because of my love of sports, backstage politics and ESPN. I also enjoyed their previous work on Saturday Night Live. Not sure the oral history format is my favorite; however, it works for these books.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It's basically two books in one. The first half is the business history of ESPN, while the second half focuses more on the on-air personalities of the 1990s. Now, that's a bit simplistic since the first half certainly details many personalities and the second half is full of business. But ESPN is ESPN partly because of the personalities it created (and then regretted doing so) in the 1990s. Nothing beat Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann doing "The Big Show" every night. If you like sports, TV, or inside baseball I recommend it.
The reason I felt like writing about it though was a passing mention of Bill Simmons. I forget who it was, but some ESPN big shot was comparing Simmons to another writer and described how Simmons refused to take editing suggestions. Basically, they'd make editing notes on his copy and Simmons would almost always reject them. I wasn't all that surprised to read this after having read his work over the years, but most specifically his book on Basketball. Now, Simmons is kind of on the forefront of self-publishing. He became famous by creating his "Boston Sports Guy" Web site when he couldn't get published by the paper he worked for. This turned into his (epicly long) Page 2 columns on ESPN.com and now his co-branded site with ESPN, Grantland. Brilliant guy, entertaining writer, but .... needs an editor.
As I read his Basketball book, which is about 800 pages long or so, I find myself thinking often how much better that book would be if it was shorter. Definitely a case of less is more. Anecdotes are repeated, ten examples are given to prove a point when three would work, and so on. I was reminded of this while reading an ombudsman piece on Grantland that ESPN published on their page. The analysis was that Grantland was an exciting venture, but the clear, obvious problem the site would struggle with is no clear lack of direction. Simmons, the site's editor-in-chief, takes pride in long, rambling essays. Will a whole Web site full of them with no clear thread connecting them - besides sports/entertainment/hot chicks - work in the long run?
My guess is yes, it will be a success. But, Simmons is a good person to keep in mind for a newbie writer like me. Write about what you know and what you love. If you believe in what you're writing, others might be interested too. That's what he's done well. Just don't forget that sometimes less truly is more. And in the case of his Basketball book, that's definitely true.
Was thinking about the most recent book I've finished, ESPN: Those guys have all the fun by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. I was looking forward to this one for a while because of my love of sports, backstage politics and ESPN. I also enjoyed their previous work on Saturday Night Live. Not sure the oral history format is my favorite; however, it works for these books.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It's basically two books in one. The first half is the business history of ESPN, while the second half focuses more on the on-air personalities of the 1990s. Now, that's a bit simplistic since the first half certainly details many personalities and the second half is full of business. But ESPN is ESPN partly because of the personalities it created (and then regretted doing so) in the 1990s. Nothing beat Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann doing "The Big Show" every night. If you like sports, TV, or inside baseball I recommend it.
The reason I felt like writing about it though was a passing mention of Bill Simmons. I forget who it was, but some ESPN big shot was comparing Simmons to another writer and described how Simmons refused to take editing suggestions. Basically, they'd make editing notes on his copy and Simmons would almost always reject them. I wasn't all that surprised to read this after having read his work over the years, but most specifically his book on Basketball. Now, Simmons is kind of on the forefront of self-publishing. He became famous by creating his "Boston Sports Guy" Web site when he couldn't get published by the paper he worked for. This turned into his (epicly long) Page 2 columns on ESPN.com and now his co-branded site with ESPN, Grantland. Brilliant guy, entertaining writer, but .... needs an editor.
As I read his Basketball book, which is about 800 pages long or so, I find myself thinking often how much better that book would be if it was shorter. Definitely a case of less is more. Anecdotes are repeated, ten examples are given to prove a point when three would work, and so on. I was reminded of this while reading an ombudsman piece on Grantland that ESPN published on their page. The analysis was that Grantland was an exciting venture, but the clear, obvious problem the site would struggle with is no clear lack of direction. Simmons, the site's editor-in-chief, takes pride in long, rambling essays. Will a whole Web site full of them with no clear thread connecting them - besides sports/entertainment/hot chicks - work in the long run?
My guess is yes, it will be a success. But, Simmons is a good person to keep in mind for a newbie writer like me. Write about what you know and what you love. If you believe in what you're writing, others might be interested too. That's what he's done well. Just don't forget that sometimes less truly is more. And in the case of his Basketball book, that's definitely true.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
What interests me now
So I've set up a nice background with cool looking bookshelves. See what I did there? So witty. I'm blogging about reading and writing and have a books background. Genius!
I suppose what I'm currently reading impacts my own writing, so here's what I'm reading at the moment.
A Time to Kill - John Grisham
Lincoln - David Herbert Donald
The Big Book of Basketball - Bill Simmons
On Writing - Stephen King
Heading off to vacation tomorrow, hoping to do some initial writing while hanging out. Good times!
I suppose what I'm currently reading impacts my own writing, so here's what I'm reading at the moment.
A Time to Kill - John Grisham
Lincoln - David Herbert Donald
The Big Book of Basketball - Bill Simmons
On Writing - Stephen King
Heading off to vacation tomorrow, hoping to do some initial writing while hanging out. Good times!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
And so it begins!
Hello all. And by all I mostly mean me when I'm rereading this later. I'm an avid reader and have done a lot of scholastic writing; however, the realities of school, job, and life caused me to stop writing creatively a long time ago. I've had this desire lately to just write something in an effort to rekindle some of my creative juices. And mostly, because when I write, I enjoy it.
So, I'm going to start writing. For me. Maybe some day I'll write enough that it's not too bad and I can share it with someone besides just my wife. Heck, maybe it'll be so good that someday I'll post and purchase a copy of it from Kindle for 99 cents so I can say I'm a "published author". Whatever, it's not the destination right now, it truly is the journey. So, I'm going to start writing, and this blog will serve as my journal about it all ... if for no other reason than to remind me I need to write so I can blog! I plan to blog about what I'm writing, reading, and (most likely) how my sports teams are doing.
And so it begins!
So, I'm going to start writing. For me. Maybe some day I'll write enough that it's not too bad and I can share it with someone besides just my wife. Heck, maybe it'll be so good that someday I'll post and purchase a copy of it from Kindle for 99 cents so I can say I'm a "published author". Whatever, it's not the destination right now, it truly is the journey. So, I'm going to start writing, and this blog will serve as my journal about it all ... if for no other reason than to remind me I need to write so I can blog! I plan to blog about what I'm writing, reading, and (most likely) how my sports teams are doing.
And so it begins!
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