Month: November 2021

A dig through the clutter

There is a moment when you look around the mess and say, “OK, enough!” Except when it happens several times a day, you get fatigued. “OK, enough,” and then what? This, that, and the other thing. Here we go, heave ho, here we go, heave ho …

What did I write to myself the 10-20 previous times I threw up my hands and said, “No more clutter!”? Ya gotta wonder. My hero Ray Bradbury just smiled and said, “Look, all my stuff is within reach, what shall I write about next?” Maybe I should try that.

Here is a metal office organizer that says THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL (414) 271-6000. The Journal has not been the Journal in lo these 26 years since April 1995, and such office trinkets nowadays are made of plastic in China, so this thing probably counts as an antique. I forget how it came into my possession; the Journal may even have been the Journal when it did. I have no grand memories of it, I just am reluctant to part with it.

Underneath it are seven books I bought at a Friends of the Library sale in September, tossed into a “$3 bag sale” bag, more or less on impulse:

Hometown Legend by Jerry B. Jenkins, prolific writer of the Left Behind series. He has written more than 200 books, so I think I picked it up to see how prolific writing is done.

Liberty, a book by Garrison Keillor I’d never heard of, with a title I don’t often associate with folks of the “left” stripe anymore.

Dear God! What is Happening to Us? Halting Eons of Manipulation. The back cover blurb begins, “Internally and externally, things have never felt so crazy. Sometimes it feels like everything is coming apart.” Sounds like a contemporary analysis; the crazy thing is it’s dated 2003.

 First Things First by Stephen R. Covey and two co-authors — subtitle “To live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy.” I opened the book at random and found a section titled “The Main Thing is To Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing.” Can I get an amen?

How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less by Milo O. Frank. It’s a short book but will still take more than 30 seconds to read.

How to Write What You Want and Sell What You Write. Every wannabe writer’s wildest dream summarized in a book title. It says “Speedy Press” under the title, and I can’t tell if that’s the author’s name or the publishing house.

Change by Design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation, by Tim Brown. The cover design recalls Good to Great by Jim Collins, which was a good book.

Obviously at the sale that day, my mind was unsettled — self-improvement, taking life by the horns, get up and go — or, dare I say, cluttered.

And here these books sat, in a pile, moved from one spot to another in the great clutter for more than two months. At least today I looked at them and remembered why I tossed them into a bag,

Think if everyone who read books like these acted on their suggestions. How more amazing the world could be!

W.B.’s Book Report: Several Short Sentences About Writing

If you’ve been reading this blog since Thursday, a thought may have occurred to you:

“I wonder if he’s been reading Several Short Sentences About Writing.”

It’s a little book, written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, about the power and purpose of sentences.

Click on the cover for the link.

One way he makes his point is by making virtually every sentence its own paragraph.

You see, if you’d read the book, why these last several blog posts might give you that thought.

Any written work is a chain of linked sentences.

The better the sentences, and the stronger the links, the better the work is.

The concept is so simple, it seems obvious once you hear it.

And yet, it takes Klinkenborg’s little book to cement the idea.

That’s why it’s among the most illuminating books about writing I’ve ever encountered.

No, I’m not going to make every sentence its own paragraph from this day forward.

I do have to say the book has made me want to be more aware, and more intentional, about each and every sentence.

As long as that doesn’t tie me in knots, it’s a great attitude adjustment.

I can’t recommend Several Short Sentences About Writing too strenuously. It’s that good.

What darkness?

© Sasinparaksa | Dreamstime.com

It’s all in our minds, you know.

This world, this existence, this life, is all so breathtakingly beautiful that we are overcome.

And so, we find ways to reduce the enormity.

We glaze our eyes over. 

We divert our attention.

We fuss among ourselves.

We deliberately seek ugliness, and darkness, and what hurts.

And so, we miss the obvious.

This is obviously a huge, beautiful world in a universe of infinite and unspeakable grandeur.

Our minds can scarcely drink it all in, so we try to make the universe smaller.

We try to make it less grand.

We focus on the imperfections.

We focus on the petty differences.

When we lift our eyes, however, we know the meaning of awe.

It is too much, until it is just enough.

Then, and only then, do we see.

Life is not a small, churlish thing.

Life is a big, wide adventure full of wonder, that is to say, wonderful.

The more we wonder, the more we live.

The more we live, the more we chase the dark away.

Light bright lights along the path, the better to heal the darkness.