At one of the desks where I write for this blog, I’ve got three index cards taped to the wall. Each card has a single word on it, all caps: ENCOURAGED. EQUIPPED. UNDERSTOOD. These are how I want colleagues like you to experience the work I put into the world, whether it’s a blog post […]
Dave's Writer/Blogger/Business Life
Thank You and (Belated) Happy New Year
“I had acquired what, to my mind, is the most valuable success a writer can have — a faithful following, a reliable group of readers… who trusted me, and whose trust I must not disappoint.” -Stefan Zweig Dear Reader, With the manuscript for my book safely in the hands of my editor and the other […]
On Writing a Book, Pt 5: What Makes a Book Great, and How Much Insanity Does it Take to Try Writing One?
Our goal here is to make something that people rave about, that becomes part of their lives. The buried insights found in those other great works were not put there on the first pass. Work is unlikely to be layered if it is written in a single stream of consciousness. No. Deep, complex work is […]
On Writing a Book, Pt 4: One Sentence, One Paragraph, One Page
With my time these days as husband, father, and high school teacher becoming increasingly precious, I am working to write a book that will be useful and true not just when it first comes out, but also useful and true in five years, ten years, twenty years, and so on. That’s a lofty goal, to […]
On Writing a Book, Pt 3: Distance
Last week, I submitted my rough draft of (tentatively titled) Teaching Toward Everest: A Non-Freaked Out Approach to Literacy and Mastery Across the School Day. Now, the book goes out to a handful of reviewers around the country who my publisher believes can provide me with the kind of targeted feedback I need to make […]