If I’ve learned one thing about writing every day this month, it’s to delete the first paragraph.
Most of the time, the first paragraph is like turning the key in the ignition: necessary to get started, but less than riveting to watch unfold.
Your readers—and your future self—will thank you.
I don’t know who needs this today, but I’m sure someone does.
For all your turkey questions, Butterball (yes, THE Butterball) offers a free Turkey Talk Line.
This is The Stuff That Pings Me: a curated, ongoing series about the stuff that makes me laugh or cry, makes my heart beat a little faster or takes my breath away. It’s the stuff I read, watch, listen to, and think about. Books, podcasts, films, music, quotes, articles, whatever.
While on a recent subway trip, I noticed the subway line had replaced the live-person announcements for each station with pre-recorded announcements.
Most of the stations along the route have fairly ordinary names. But there’s one station with an odd name, one that’s not even remotely phonetic. Unless you’re from the area, you probably wouldn’t know how to pronounce it correctly.
The zoom setting on a camera is safe. It allows you to take a picture of something without getting close enough to experience it.
Which can be helpful, if you want a shot of a lion’s canines.
Moving closer requires risk. Vulnerability. Intimacy.
(And by now you realized we’re not actually talking about photography.)
Don’t zoom in on people; move closer.
“At a fraction of the cost…”
7/10 is a fraction. So is 99/100.
Before you jump at the fraction, ask what the starting number is.
The final cost may still be too high.
Growing up, my family joked about my mom’s “shopping walk”—the particular pace she set when running errands. Just slightly slower than Olympic race walking, this pace was more like a slow jog for a small child. Okay, not quite, but close enough.
This is The Stuff That Pings Me: a curated, ongoing series about the stuff that makes me laugh or cry, makes my heart beat a little faster or takes my breath away. It’s the stuff I read, watch, listen to, and think about. Books, podcasts, films, music, quotes, articles, whatever.
“My dear, all life is a series of problems which we must try and solve, first one and the next and the next, until at last we die.” – Dowager Countess, Downton Abbey
What do we do when faced with something new? Do we blindly accept it? Overthink it? Consider the pros and cons and make an educated decision? Go with the recommendation of family and friends?