This was fantastic, Michael. The first section was written so well. It was engaging and the active sentences and use of second person — which is often hard to do — was spot on.
I was also very engaged in the second section as I know absolutely nothing about baseball. Down here in Australia it’s not really a big thing, so much so that I’ve never even seen or played a game. But the way you spoke about it with such depth reminded me of the way I talk about skateboarding.
“To write is to reflect, to contemplate, and to contextualize. Writing is my self-administered therapy, that time when I take a critical lens to my life and past to make peace with both the highs and lows.” — I loved these few lines. I totally relate and it was nice to read your take on it and see that it is so close to my own.
And the way you connected the baseball talk with your own exploration into pushing yourself too hard by way of ignoring sleep was wonderful.
I’ve noticed you have this way of writing about two seemingly disparate topics and somehow connecting them and it’s very engaging.
Also, I’m super surprised that you are even able to function on that little sleep! For me, I’ve noticed that if I get less than six hours sleep my cognitive abilities, especially my writing, suffers dramatically. So my mind boggles that you was able to do so much on so little sleep.
Thank you, Michael. This turned out better than I expected it to, and your comment helped me see that.
I’m glad the second person perspective worked in the beginning. I tried to describe all those symptoms to myself during the last week of school, but writing them out as descriptions lacked the urgency. “You” always feels a little different to read.
There have been 48 Australian MLB players—the most recent, Jack O’Loughlin, just debuted for my favorite team—but I appreciate your assessment that it isn’t popular. We have this massive youth and high school baseball infrastructure here and especially in my city where every park has a baseball diamond. It’s a real compliment to invoke your skateboarding piece here, so thank you, and I’m happy that intricate knowledge comes through. Baseball was my first love and remains my longest relationship. (31st anniversary this year! :)
I tried to describe to a friend what writing does for me, and I learned that not every person sees it that way we do. I’m glad to be reminded I’m not alone in that.
Yes, you’ve identified my go-to structure! I wrote a piece about the phrase “Be Yourself” three years ago that bounced between singing a new voice part and an argument between three friends that a few friends responded to, and I liked the challenge of finding thematic connections between disparate stuff. Sometimes it’s just fun as an intellectual challenge, but other times it’s soothing to feel like everything is connected.
This week, because of teaching the writing class and trying to both finish work at night and read their new drafts each morning, I’ve back-slid on sleep and I’m reminded freshly that I can work, write, and think on 3-4 hours, but it doesn’t feel good and 20-minute naps become ninety minutes. I’m glad you recognize the impact of short nights and try to take care of yourself.
Thank you for the multi-faceted comment. The timing was perfect: I stayed up late yesterday to record some writing feedback and finish the art and revisions for the next piece, and I’m dragging a big today. Not only was it fun to reflect and respond, but it was a good thing to be reminded of the cost of dropped sleep.
This was fantastic, Michael. The first section was written so well. It was engaging and the active sentences and use of second person — which is often hard to do — was spot on.
I was also very engaged in the second section as I know absolutely nothing about baseball. Down here in Australia it’s not really a big thing, so much so that I’ve never even seen or played a game. But the way you spoke about it with such depth reminded me of the way I talk about skateboarding.
“To write is to reflect, to contemplate, and to contextualize. Writing is my self-administered therapy, that time when I take a critical lens to my life and past to make peace with both the highs and lows.” — I loved these few lines. I totally relate and it was nice to read your take on it and see that it is so close to my own.
And the way you connected the baseball talk with your own exploration into pushing yourself too hard by way of ignoring sleep was wonderful.
I’ve noticed you have this way of writing about two seemingly disparate topics and somehow connecting them and it’s very engaging.
Also, I’m super surprised that you are even able to function on that little sleep! For me, I’ve noticed that if I get less than six hours sleep my cognitive abilities, especially my writing, suffers dramatically. So my mind boggles that you was able to do so much on so little sleep.
Thank you, Michael. This turned out better than I expected it to, and your comment helped me see that.
I’m glad the second person perspective worked in the beginning. I tried to describe all those symptoms to myself during the last week of school, but writing them out as descriptions lacked the urgency. “You” always feels a little different to read.
There have been 48 Australian MLB players—the most recent, Jack O’Loughlin, just debuted for my favorite team—but I appreciate your assessment that it isn’t popular. We have this massive youth and high school baseball infrastructure here and especially in my city where every park has a baseball diamond. It’s a real compliment to invoke your skateboarding piece here, so thank you, and I’m happy that intricate knowledge comes through. Baseball was my first love and remains my longest relationship. (31st anniversary this year! :)
I tried to describe to a friend what writing does for me, and I learned that not every person sees it that way we do. I’m glad to be reminded I’m not alone in that.
Yes, you’ve identified my go-to structure! I wrote a piece about the phrase “Be Yourself” three years ago that bounced between singing a new voice part and an argument between three friends that a few friends responded to, and I liked the challenge of finding thematic connections between disparate stuff. Sometimes it’s just fun as an intellectual challenge, but other times it’s soothing to feel like everything is connected.
This week, because of teaching the writing class and trying to both finish work at night and read their new drafts each morning, I’ve back-slid on sleep and I’m reminded freshly that I can work, write, and think on 3-4 hours, but it doesn’t feel good and 20-minute naps become ninety minutes. I’m glad you recognize the impact of short nights and try to take care of yourself.
Thank you for the multi-faceted comment. The timing was perfect: I stayed up late yesterday to record some writing feedback and finish the art and revisions for the next piece, and I’m dragging a big today. Not only was it fun to reflect and respond, but it was a good thing to be reminded of the cost of dropped sleep.
Have a great day!
Yeah the second person ‘you’ is always a weird one to write.
Oh wow, I had no idea any aussies had gone and played baseball in the US, maybe it’s bigger over here than I realised haha.
Yeah gotta get that sleep haha
Thanks for the thoughtful response, Michael. :)