Random Life Advice: Let’s Look At Each Other

When I go to classrooms on book tour or for school visits, teachers (or kids prompted by teachers) always ask me what the most important skill is for being a writer. And I tell them a couple things. No, it’s not about what a comma splice is or the coolness of objective correlatives. It’s really a two part answer: Notice what people are doing, their mannerisms, how they act, interact, hold their heads. Live the biggest life you can, take opportunities, feel things, have adventures. That’s what makes a difference on the page. I once had a reporter ask me why I have details in my book and I may have laughed, which was super cruel of me, I know, but she was oblivious thankfully. And I said, “Details are what makes strong story, what shows character, what pulls someone into the world.” By noticing other people or setting or how the air smells near a sewer grate or under someone’s arm, you create a world on the page. This, is also pretty important advice for life, too. Tim Denning writes, “Get on a bus. Zombies everywhere. No one is looking at each other or having a conversation. It’s just a sea of bodies looking at phones that are nothing more than a distraction. Phones are dream killers. They’re full of other people’s priorities. What’s cooler is to have human conversations. It’s to look people in the eye and be present. I had coffee with my old boss the other day. Every few minutes he kept glancing at his phone. He looked worried. He looked like he was under a spell. Or like a puppet master was pulling his strings. He couldn’t relax or engage properly in the conversation. And this is the Great American Life that has been exported to most major nations, including Australia where I live. Sad. Relationships are more important than notifications. And 99% of inbound phone calls aren’t urgent and can go to voicemail. Life hack: put your phone on do-no-disturb mode, then add your family to favorites so only their calls can get through in case of an emergency.” Julia Cameron, creator of The Artist’s Way says something similar, which is basically that by filling our time with distractions (Netflix, Wordle, Facebook, Tumblr, X, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, NYT Spelling Bee—the list goes on forever), we lose that connection to our muse—to the quiet within ourselves that creativity often springs from. We look only at a screen and fail to look at a world. Wild, right? DOG TIP FOR LIFE BY A CAT Be noticed. But also notice things. Channel your inner cat. WRITING TIP OF THE POD Try to spend an hour without distractions on the screen and not even reading a book. What do you notice? Can you use that for your story? SHOUT OUT! The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.  Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song?  It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free. RANDOM PLACE TO SUBMIT YOUR STORY Air/Light. Genre: New and innovative works of literary arts across all mediums and genres including cross genre work. Length: Up to 4,000 words for prose, and up to 10 pages for poetry. Payment: Poetry: $50; Responses and department pieces: $100; Fiction and essays/nonfiction: $200; Visual art, music, and multimedia: $200. Deadline: December 1, 2023. Our random thought is from here.