Ken Burns on Why 1+1 Should Equal 3

Posted on May 17, 2012 by JoannK

If you love Ken Burns or storytelling, watch this beautiful short documentary, Ken Burns: On Story by Sarah Klein and Tom Mason. Then hurry up and read this interview with them in the Atlantic.

I loved this snippet, in particular:

“We tell stories to continue our selves. We all think an exception is going to be made in our case and we’re going to live forever. And being a human is actually arriving at the understanding that that’s not going to be. Story is there to just remind us, that it’s okay.”

Help Me, Ira

Posted on May 9, 2012 by JoannK

I’m barely through my morning coffee, and already I’m having one of those days. Work awaits in my computer files, sentences that need editing, whole paragraphs that need rejiggering and reshuffling. But I can’t seem to face them yet because I’ve come down with a bad case of the “You Sucks.” Or, as one of my early teachers used to put it, I’ve been tuning into USuck-FM.

The only prescription for this fever? More Ira Glass. Check out his advice about the creative process and closing the gap between the level of work you’re doing now and the work of your ambitions.

Anne Lamott, Preach!

Posted on May 5, 2012 by JoannK

For those of us who like to whine that there’s not enough time in the day to write (myself included), Anne Lamott has something she’d like to tell you.

Psychology Today: Crappy First Drafts

Posted on April 30, 2012 by JoannK

From draft of J. G. Ballard's "Crash." Source: Psychology Today

Writers, you will either find comfort in this, or you will want to burrow under the covers and avoid the monumental revision process that lies ahead. Go for the comfort. It feels nicer.

Psychology Today brings us this blog post about famous crappy first drafts. Take a look. All writing starts as a formless lump of clay on the page. You’ll have your chance to mold it and tweak it and sculpt it. But first things first, this writer reminds us, you’ve got to get the clay on the page.

This is the Kind of Writing Day I Had Yesterday…

Posted on April 24, 2012 by JoannK

…that is, if it were 2007, I still had long hair and my office was in the above food court of an airport in Mexico. (What can I say? I’m scraping the bottom of my iPhoto barrel to illustrate my larger point. Go with it.)

It was that sort of writing day when you stare at the same string of words on your computer screen until you’ve wrung them dry of meaning, when you’re not so sure you’ve got the mental capacity to tell the reader what happens next, when you’ve lost your will to describe. What’s happened? Have I officially used up all my words? Is there nothing more to say? Was this freelance writing thing a big mistake?

And then you realize it’s because you’re on day one of a juice cleanse, you cut coffee cold turkey and you’re running on nothing but fumes and cucumber juice. And then you calm down. You grab a bottle of beet juice, you open a book by one of your favorite writers to fill up the word well and you remind yourself that tomorrow is another writing day.

Dear writers: Please feel free to substitute my cleanse-induced fog for your writer’s block, my beet juice for a strong cup of coffee. But the point is, just when you’re about to beat yourself up for today’s lack of genius on the page, remind yourself that all is not lost. Tomorrow is another writing day.

From The New York Times: Words We Love Too Much

Posted on March 27, 2012 by JoannK

I’m kind of a word geek, as evidenced by my post on words and phrases that need to be retired. Truth: I’d worried that maybe I’d crossed the line between word geek and word bitch with that post. Enter The New York Times, which delivers sweet validation with this morning’s After Deadline blog post (which yes, is decidedly less bitchy).The focus is on journalese, but there are some solid reminders here about clichés and usage that anyone who trafficks in words will appreciate. (Notice, the dreaded “at the end of the day” makes the list.)

The Next Chapter

Posted on March 7, 2012 by JoannK

I’m Taking the Leap

Posted on February 29, 2012 by JoannK

Credit: Flickr Commons. Young girl jumping on trampoline, 1952. (State Library and Archives of Florida)

What better day to share the news than Leap Day?

I’m doing it, dear readers. I’m taking the leap, and taking time to focus full-time on my writing. That means working on the books (Yes, now plural. What can I say? Ideas abound.) And it means returning to the writing world as a freelancer. It’s a scary thing, leaving behind a steady paycheck and the good friends I’ve made in my 9-to-5. In fact, I had to call my mom yesterday for a little reassurance. (And by the way, her first order of business: “Whatsamattah? Why no fly in embers lately?” Sorry Mom. I’ve been a little distracted from the blog, tending to some major life decisions.)

I can hear you, my concerned writing friends: Freelancing!? Don’t do it! I know. But here’s the thing: I have to give it a shot. (And then in about a year or so you can tell me, I told you so.) Being away from writing since I left newspapers more than three years ago has been one of the hardest chapters for me, professionally. I had never realized how much I identified as a reporter, as a writer — until I suddenly wasn’t. I missed being immersed in words and ideas. I missed telling the stories I wanted to tell. And so I took to this blog, and took to writing a novel (and then personal essays and family stories) in the early mornings, in the evenings, on the weekends. And I felt home again. Except for the fact that I was never home.

It’s a scary decision. New York City needs another freelance writer, as my dad would say, “like a hole in the head.” But it feels right. So, I’m doing it. I’m taking the leap. And I take *comfort knowing that my mom, who worries about everything, is actually not worried in the least about this. So, here we go. It’s about to get really interesting.

(*For the record, I also take comfort knowing that you, dear husband, are cheering me on.)

Words and Phrases I’d Like to Retire

Posted on February 28, 2012 by JoannK

1. Utilize
Why reach for this clunker when you’ve got the efficient use sitting right there for the taking? I put this in the category of words people utilize to give what they’re saying the veneer of authority, padding their prose to give it more weight. Maybe it’s all my years as a newspaper reporter, having to quote government officials who seemed to forever be “utilizing monies.” (Yeah, add monies to the list.) Just save yourself four letters and say what you mean.

2. Just sayin’!
In all likelihood, when you use this phrase you’re actually not just sayin’. You’re attempting to absolve yourself of any responsibility to, and repercussions from, the catty or ill-conceived statement you just made. This does not work. This is just bitchy. And makes you sound like a 12-year-old, CNN. (Thank you, Jon Stewart.)

3. At the end of the day…
As in this, from Jennifer Lopez: “At the end of the day, I just want my work to speak for itself.” Only at the end of the day? Not also at the beginning of it? Do we not care what happens at noon? Are we meh about the rest of the week? Suck it, calendar year? It’s the verbal equivalent of a Twinkie: tempting to reach for, but totally empty. And we’re all so much better off without it.

4. It is what it is.
Which is? This is just lazy, and attempts to get the speaker off the hook to actually reflect for a moment and explain him or herself:

Person A: Did you have an affair with her?
Person B: Yo, it is what it is.

People, you can do better. Use your big girl words. Continue reading →

From Slate: Story-Truth vs. Truth-Truth?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by JoannK

Source: Wikipedia. The Boyhood of Raleigh by Sir John Everett Millais, oil on canvas, 1870. A seafarer tells the young Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother the story of what happened out at sea.

Dan Kois has a good piece in Slate this week, with the cheeky headline, Facts Are Stupid. Some story commenters called it gimmicky, but I call it thought-provoking. When it comes to non-fiction writing, can there ever be room for fiction if it’s in the name of art? Does muddying the waters of fact sometimes actually serve to clarify a greater truth?

I got my start in newsrooms, where facts and quotes are regarded with reverence. As journalists, we were trained to gather the pieces of a story as best as we knew them and correct the record when we’d learned we’d gotten it wrong. There was room for fact-blurrying or muddying (unless you’re Jayson Blair. And that’s not cool). Still, who among us hasn’t smoothed over a bumbly quote for the sake of clarity? Essay writing gets trickier. Did that incident you’re writing about actually happen in the fourth grade, or was it third? How much does it really matter if you’re not forsaking the salient facts of the story?

As readers and listeners, we put a certain amount of trust in our storytellers. But when a comedian tells us, “True story that happened to me this weekend…” we know it’s code for “this story is pretty much bullshit, but I’m about to reveal a greater truth, so go with it.” And go with it, we do. The same with humor writers like David Sedaris and Sloane Crosley. They’re essentially writing memoir, but we as readers know they’re exaggerating for effect, that they’re calling up memories that the passing of time has forced them to reconstruct, and likely not with entire accuracy. And we’re cool with that. We go along for the ride because we trust that the essence of the story is true.

But where is the line between story-truth and truth-truth? Read the story in Slate and let me know what you think.