SAM QUINONES ON IMPORTANT WRITING

What’s better than a writer hyping important writing, the importance of writing, and at the same time telling us about their favorite writing book from a dead writer?

If that’s not writing advice, I don’t know what is. Good writing advice is hard to come by.

Will it make you a better writer, you ask?

Only if you write, only if you use it as intended.

Such as:

 

Treat writing like a job. Sit and do it. Inspiration is over-rated and really comes with pushing yourself consistently to write (so true, I found).

Search out adjectives and adverbs and ask whether each is necessary – many are not, so cut them. Cut, cut, cut — through cutting your words you will find your voice.

(Also true)

 

I saw and listened to Sam Quinones years ago in a Powell’s reading.

His message was loud and clear, so clear I found out where to go for some heroin and didn’t go there, but I wrote a blog post about it.

Today on his Substack Sam gives us a hit on writing, and we should go there.

 

From Sam’s Substack

Writing can help save you from what corporate tech is preparing for you.

Our economy is becoming about ultra-processed (read addictive) supply. This is increasingly a focus of mine and of this newsletter.

That focus began to take shape when I wrote Dreamland, my first book about our national drug-addiction epidemic. I kept at this in The Least of Us.

It seemed to me irrefutable that we were creating a legal addictive economy: social media and smart phones, video games, junk “food,” of course, but also hyper-potent pot, porn, now gambling apps, and much more.

We were relinquishing our brains and our dollars to corporations who applied the tenets of neuroscience to refining their products to be as addictive as possible. Their products, like heroin or methamphetamine, are designed to be easy to use and to blast our brains. As with illegal drugs, it’s all about supply.

We stood back and let them.

All this keeps us increasingly narcotized, easily diverted – like kittens with a shiny ball, or characters in a science fiction novel. It’s kept us depressed. Anxious and alone. And mad, because the companies found that one way to keep us engaged in their stream of reels was to outrage us.

 

If I’m pointing fingers at social ills, I’m not looking at pot, porn, or gambling. It sounds slightly like a self-own.

If I were to point my finger and connect the dots I’d say people go in a repetitive cycle of porn, pot, then gambling, following the traditional baby boomer creed of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Or gambling.

My social ills list begins with the drone of compliance from groups of people tasked with creating a better society for one and all.

Better society = better understanding of what’s wrong and working to straighten it out, which begins with enforcing existing laws from the top down.

“If you do the crime, you do the time.”

“No one is above the law.”

And so on and so forth. Sam writes it.

 

The Writing Solution From Sam

Whoever you are, sit for fifteen minutes to half an hour a day and write. A true story from your life or your view on a political issue. Doesn’t matter.

Then rewrite. That’s really the fun part of writing, I’ve found. The first draft’s purpose is only to get you going, like half-formed clay on a potter’s wheel. So don’t let AI edit it — even an email.

Do that yourself.

Also, read. Consider reading classic novels. I’ve been doing that. (More on that in upcoming posts). It helps hone our focus, which is like a muscle. It’s not easy reading. I guess that’s the point. When it’s easy, you know you’re being conned.

I wrote a book about tuba players and band directors because their life stories embody this: perseverance through failure, focus, effort without expecting wealth or fame, postponed gratification, collaboration with others. Hard work.

We find meaning and fulfillment when we dedicate ourselves to something like that. That was the point of The Perfect Tuba.

 

If I were you, and you don’t have a writing habit of thirteen years on one blog and more on another, I’d take that fifteen minutes to half an hour and start with this:

 

“I want you to know this because it’s our last time together . . . “

 

Then write it to your Mom, your Dad, your family, your dog, your town, your country, your planet.

Yesterday I wrote about the Cheesecake Factory and St. Paul’s Cathedral. 

If you need a writing prompt: Why are such diverse products so similarly packaged?

 

PS:

This is a relative of the old shit from shinola argument. Both have their use, but are not interchangeable.

 

PSS:

Recent and current books:

Killers Of The Flower Moon

All The King’s Men

My writing teacher book is Steering the Craft, a 21st Century Guide to Sailing The Sea of Story, by Urula K. Le Guin.

 

Masterly and concise, Steering the Craft deserves a place on every writer’s shelf.

This celebrated guide to the art of storytelling focuses on the essentials:

• The Elements of Craft: Ten focused chapters on the essential tools of narrative, from the music of language and sentence construction to the strategic use of adjectives and adverbs.

• Point of View and Voice: A masterclass in choosing and maintaining a point of view, with witty commentary and clear examples that demystify narrative voice.

• Practical Writing Exercises: Engaging exercises at the end of each chapter, designed to sharpen your skills whether you work alone or with a group.

• Guidance for Writing Groups: An invaluable guide to participating in—and benefiting from—peer group workshops, both in-person and online.