Transcript Jesse Katz, Editor Releasing Your Inner Writer Heard and Unheard Melodies 3: Number of songs the listeners correctly guessed. 120: Number of songs the tappers played. 60: Number.

Jesse Katz, Editor
Releasing Your Inner Writer
Heard and Unheard Melodies
3: Number of songs
the listeners correctly
guessed.
120: Number of
songs the tappers
played.
60: Number of
songs the tappers
predicted the listeners
would correctly guess.
Thinking Like an Expert
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Complex
Precise
Logical
Thorough
Treacherous
Thinking Like a Writer
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Simple
Accessible
Coherent
Focused
Persuasive
Thinking Like a Reader
Madman
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The creative spirit
Original
Energetic
Unpredictable
Subjective
Makes a mess
Architect
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The planner
Logical
Organized
Visual
Unsentimental
Extractor of the
message
Carpenter
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The builder
Swift
Dexterous
Confident
Intuitive
Sentence-level thinking
Judge
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The critic
Objective
Detailed
Scrupulous
Unforgiving
Typographical-level
thinking
Unleash the Madman with a Mind Map
Give the Madman a Routine
Ernest Hemingway
James Joyce
John Cheever
Vladimir Nabokov
Gertrude Stein
Edmond Rostand
sharpened twenty pencils
smoked three Sweet Aftons
stripped to his underwear
stood at a lectern, in socks
sat in a parked car
soaked in a bathtub
Nora Ephron: “It’s about the point!”
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/eph0int-4 (Second Video Down)
Dear Parent:
We have established a special phone communication system to
provide additional opportunities for parent input. During this
year, we will give added emphasis to the goal of
communication and utilize a variety of means to accomplish
this goal. Your inputs, from the unique position as a parent, will
help us to plan and implement an educational plan that meets
the needs of your child. An open dialogue, feedback, and
sharing of information between parents and teachers will
enable us to work with your child in the most effective manner.
Dr. Robert B. Jones
Principal
Dear Parent,
Anytime you’d like to discuss your child’s
performance, please call me directly. I’m always
delighted to hear from you. If I don’t pick up, you can
leave a message now—I finally bought a new
answering machine!
Bob Jones
Principal
Dear Doris and Bertie,
Love, Warren
**While many
ingredients do not
exist in bioengineered
varieties, Naked Juice
does not use
ingredients that were
produced using
biotechnology as a
matter of principle.
**Naked Juice objects
to genetically modified
fruits and vegetables—
and never uses them,
regardless of their
availability.
**As a marketing
strategy, Naked Juice
renounces
genetically modified
ingredients—and
knows you will pay a
premium to share in
our smugness.
**Because Naked Juice is owned by PepsiCo—
which believes genetically modified organisms can
make “positive economic, social, and environmental
contributions to societies around the world”—we’re
not really too sure what to say about GMOs.
You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, nonexclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the
right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store,
retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat,
modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative
works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content
you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or
the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii)
enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your
website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any
purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and
(b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the
promotion thereof.
By signing up, you give Facebook permission to do
whatever we want with anything you upload—forever.
Blues Brothers 2000—now that’s a
sequel!
78%: E-mailer’s
prediction of accuracy
89%: Receiver’s
prediction of accuracy
56%: Accuracy
Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Beware of Unintended Meaning
• Thanks a lot.
• Would you please
remember to include me
on the next call?
• Do not spend any more
time on the project.
• You shouldn’t have.
• I’m looking forward to
working with you ;-)
Sarcasm?
Exasperation?
Reprimand?
Accusation?
Are you?
Sara: I know this is short notice, but what is
your availability to review a short demurrer
late this afternoon?
Jesse: Your timing is impeccable.
Sara: Is that a yes?
Too Many Words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxzDgfVI9H0 (Begins at 5:40)
California Civil Jury Instruction 2.21
Eliminate Clutter
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At this point in time
Due to the fact that
Until such time as
Adequate number of
In the event that
Prior to
Subsequent to
Notwithstanding the fact
that
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Now
Because
Until
Enough
If
Before
After
Despite
Slay Jargon and Clichés
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Facilitate
Interface
Incentivize
Calendar
Bandwidth
At the end of the day
Takeaway
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Help
Discuss
Encourage
Schedule
Availability
Ultimately
?
Make Every Word Count
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Personal opinion
Past experience
Future prediction
Current status
Final outcome
Advance planning
End result
Temporary reprieve
First priority
General rule
Overall consensus
Customary practice
Added bonus
Natural instinct
Hot-water heater
Judge’s Orders
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Print a hard copy
Read it aloud
Read it to an audience
Let it marinate
Reread, revise, repeat
A writer is a person for whom writing
is more difficult than it is for other
people.
— Thomas Mann