Haha indeed! I thought of it as gardener to architect, but pantser to plotter is way more evocative;) And that is amazing to hear you sensed the evolution between those books. I hope I keep improving.
David: I love the way the newsletter gives us insights into your big, powerful, messy brain -- and your efforts to corral it to maximum efficacy. That one pager is an absolutely beautiful image. Thanks for sharing.
My U.S. publisher is the only one that set up the infrastructure for the bonus, I'm afraid. That said, I'm hoping to figure out a way to deal with this. I hoping to send out a newsletter at some point if I have a solution. My apologies, but I'm really dependent on publishers to help with this.
This is exactly the conversation between Jack Carr and David McCloskey on the Jack Carr Danger Close podcast. Both are writers and have completely different processes. McCloskey, a former CIA analyst stated that he will typically write 300,000 words for a 100,000 word book, ( I could be slightly off, but it was something like that). Carr, on the other hand, a former SEAL, does a 1 page summary to get himself going, and then writes the book. As for me, when I write a 1000 word blog post, I typically write 1000 words then correct the whole thing 5-10 times.
And then there’s Lynda Barry style: slowly word for word, handwritten, no edits except the crossouts you leave on the page, because you’re publishing the thing handwritten.
This may seem odd, but constraints are one of the things that made coaching college football so challenging and fun. Each job is so much different from a resource perspective, and not having what the haves had (say that three times fast) causes you to be more creative.
Henry, tell me more! ....One of Nick Saban's former assistant coaches told me recently that Saban at one point told his coordinators that they could only run seven plays in practice, because he wanted to force them to think really hard about the most important things to work on in a short amount of time.
Are you familiar with Mike Leach and his system? He would sometimes spend an entire practice running the same exact play (four verticals). His system was one developed totally because of constraints, that eventually spread like crazy.
By the way, your book Range had a tremendous impact on my life. So thanks for that!
The most interesting books I’ve read by journalists are mesearch. Angela Gerbes, Like a Mother (*how* does a mother’s milk protect her nursling from infection? — she finds out!). Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire (we think we decide what to put in our gardens, but what if it’s the *plants* who are “controlling” us?) …
I'm slowly gearing up to write a PhD thesis and thinking about how to organize it. I too go madly off in all directions, so having a single story to run through the thing makes sense. Like Kurlansky's Salt. I want to write a Theory of Belonging and my story is my own, about not belonging. (Even just writing this here has been helpful for the structure! ha ha) Edit: I looked at your one page of tiny writing and was reminded of another terrific book: Rules: A Short History of What We Live By, by Lorraine Daston.
Looking forward to reading this!
Thank you Peter! Looking forward to your thoughts.
So you've become a plotter from a pantser ! I love it.
I read Range before The Sports Gene and could sense an improvement in structure/focus.
Haha indeed! I thought of it as gardener to architect, but pantser to plotter is way more evocative;) And that is amazing to hear you sensed the evolution between those books. I hope I keep improving.
David: I love the way the newsletter gives us insights into your big, powerful, messy brain -- and your efforts to corral it to maximum efficacy. That one pager is an absolutely beautiful image. Thanks for sharing.
Doug! So nice to see you hear. This is a lovely compliment. Made my day.
Why no bonus for international preorders ?
My U.S. publisher is the only one that set up the infrastructure for the bonus, I'm afraid. That said, I'm hoping to figure out a way to deal with this. I hoping to send out a newsletter at some point if I have a solution. My apologies, but I'm really dependent on publishers to help with this.
This is exactly the conversation between Jack Carr and David McCloskey on the Jack Carr Danger Close podcast. Both are writers and have completely different processes. McCloskey, a former CIA analyst stated that he will typically write 300,000 words for a 100,000 word book, ( I could be slightly off, but it was something like that). Carr, on the other hand, a former SEAL, does a 1 page summary to get himself going, and then writes the book. As for me, when I write a 1000 word blog post, I typically write 1000 words then correct the whole thing 5-10 times.
So interesting! I guess I have no been both a Carr and a McCloskey. I have to listen to this. Thanks so much for sharing, Christopher.
And then there’s Lynda Barry style: slowly word for word, handwritten, no edits except the crossouts you leave on the page, because you’re publishing the thing handwritten.
This may seem odd, but constraints are one of the things that made coaching college football so challenging and fun. Each job is so much different from a resource perspective, and not having what the haves had (say that three times fast) causes you to be more creative.
Henry, tell me more! ....One of Nick Saban's former assistant coaches told me recently that Saban at one point told his coordinators that they could only run seven plays in practice, because he wanted to force them to think really hard about the most important things to work on in a short amount of time.
Ha, Lord Saban. Ever with the details.
Are you familiar with Mike Leach and his system? He would sometimes spend an entire practice running the same exact play (four verticals). His system was one developed totally because of constraints, that eventually spread like crazy.
By the way, your book Range had a tremendous impact on my life. So thanks for that!
Super excited to read this David!
Your outline bit reminded me about outliners vs freewriters, as the fiction author Brandon Sanderson calls them: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com/knowledge-base/can-you-go-into-depth-about-outlining/
The most interesting books I’ve read by journalists are mesearch. Angela Gerbes, Like a Mother (*how* does a mother’s milk protect her nursling from infection? — she finds out!). Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire (we think we decide what to put in our gardens, but what if it’s the *plants* who are “controlling” us?) …
Hi David, I love the term "mesearch". I'm adding it to my vocabulary as all of my writing comes to this. Trying to figure life out.
I'm slowly gearing up to write a PhD thesis and thinking about how to organize it. I too go madly off in all directions, so having a single story to run through the thing makes sense. Like Kurlansky's Salt. I want to write a Theory of Belonging and my story is my own, about not belonging. (Even just writing this here has been helpful for the structure! ha ha) Edit: I looked at your one page of tiny writing and was reminded of another terrific book: Rules: A Short History of What We Live By, by Lorraine Daston.