The Plucky Reader

A boy, his books, and a blog

How to Write a Memoir

In my classes right now, we are studying memoirs and William Zinsser’s commentary on writing memoirs. In his essay, “How to Write a Memoir,” Zinsser offers some advice. The four big tenets that we’ve focused on in my class are:

1. Be Yourself

2. Speak Freely

3. Tell Your Truth

4. Think Small

He also gives some very directed advice: sit down at your desk and write daily. Write a memory without the intention of writing a memoir. Write everyday and store those memories. And in three months or six months or however long it takes, take all your writings, look for a common theme, and pull from that your memoir.

As we progress through this unit and I read the memoirs of others, I’m reminded of how much I love memoirs. Some of my favorite books of 2018 were memoirs. I’ve mentioned before just how much I love memoirs. So I’ve decided to take Zinsser’s challenge. I mean; that’s why I have a blog, right? I want to write. I want to be a writer.

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Review – How to Experience Death for Beginners by Jessica Branton

So many updates in the Pluckyverse, I don’t even know where to begin. The semester started off crazy with me taking on way more responsibilities than I could manage and somehow getting them done. What that meant, though, was my reading life suffered and my blogging life became nearly nonexistent.

But I am back and ready and rearing to reclaim my time. I’ve got so many amazing ARCs I’m working through, and at some point, I’ll even update you on my 2018 reading challenge. Did I meet my goals? Did I keep up with my Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge? Did I change the world on page at a time?

You’ll have to wait to find out. Until then, please enjoy this review of How to Experience Death for Beginners by Jessica Branton.

So, if you know anything about me, you know that I love crime shows, movies, books, podcasts, etc… I love crime so much, in fact, that I started a podcast, Lifetime Sentence, with my friend Erin. When I say crime, it’s not like I want there to be people running around with guns or knives or whatever committing heinous monstrosities around the world. What I mean is I find the psychology of crime fascinating. I like to study it in a purely scientific kind of way. And before I make myself sound any more like a madman that I already have, I will tell you why this is an important thing to mention.

A clairvoyant introvert can enter the minds of people at their moment of death. When a serial killer emerges in her small town, she receives audacious advances from an enigmatic newcomer. While dodging detectives and falling in love, she joins forces with the FBI to take down the killer.

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A Full-time Job

As many of you know, I am a full-time teacher. What many don’t know, however, is what that all entails.

Being a teacher is early morning alarm clocks and half-eaten breakfasts as you run out the door. Being a teacher is late nights in a classroom, grading papers and listening to your favorite music. Being a teacher is phone calls to parents to share good news, and sometimes bad news. Being a teacher is paperwork and planning and curriculum and scripts and meetings.

There is so much about being a teacher that I never realized before I became one myself. I never realized that being a teacher meant weekend emails and texts, PTA meetings, painting classrooms. I didn’t understand what it meant to design the perfect zone for students to feel like they belonged; I didn’t realize that it meant more than placing your tables in exactly the right place.

What I didn’t realize about teaching is the impact you leave on a kid long after they’re not your kid anymore. I didn’t realize that when you’ve made a positive on a student, they may call you years later to thank you (or what happens to me more often, ask for help or advice.) I didn’t realize that once you show you care, they always know you care. And you care forever.

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A Look Back and a Look Ahead

Happy 2019, readers! We may be war torn, scarred, battered, and bruised, but we somehow made it through 2018 mostly intact. It was a rough year, y’all. I don’t know about you, but my 2018 was filled with only highs and lows. It didn’t feel like I had that many average days. As I type it, I’m not even sure what an average day is, but I know that I didn’t have many.

Not to dwell on the past, but 2018 had a rough start. You may remember that I wrote about deaths in my family the first week of the year. And just weeks after that, I packed up and went to New York to perform in Carnegie Hall. It was a wild year with a lot of memories. I took a leap of faith and switched from teaching music to teaching English. I made new friends and went on new adventures. My dog was diagnosed with cancer. It was just one of those whirlwind years.

Through it all, I’ve tried to stay positive. One of the many perks of being married to my wife is she is a perpetual ray of sunshine. She finds the beautiful, the positive in everything. And she helps me to remember that I aim to choose joy in everything I do. So instead of focusing on the awful things that went wrong this past year, I’m going to look ahead at 2019 as a year full of opportunity. And there really are so many opportunities ahead of me. I recently started a podcast with a friend of mine. We’re having the best time with it. It may not be successful, but it’ll be fun. I’ve gotten back into the rhythm of practicing my music, of playing video games that bring me joy, and of reading. I even beat my 2018 reading goal, which I set as a lofty one. This year, I read 53 books. That’s huge for me. I’m a very slow reader, and I work many hours. I have to steal away minutes for reading. But I did it. And I loved it.

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Learning to Forgive Yourself

When you look back at the road map of your life, does it look like you expected it to? Did you expect the twists and turns? Did you expect the detours you were forced to take? Do you regret them?

I don’t regret the path my life has taken, not by any means. I don’t regret the way God has molded my road map; the way He placed roadblocks and detours and alternate routes to get where I’ve been. I never expected things to play out the way they have; the success I’ve encountered is more than I could have ever wished for.

But I do confess, I’ve made mistakes that I have trouble forgiving myself for. I have made errors in judgment that have, ultimately, added more stress to my life, even if they seemed they would help me at the time. I’m sure it sounds crazy that I have trouble forgiving myself for simply adding stress to my life, but it’s so much more than that. It’s the areas in my life where I chose to add that stress. It’s the way in which I complicated my situation.

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Review – Becoming Starlight by Sharon Prentice, PhD

A few months ago, I was contacted and asked to review a book about a Shared Death Experience (SDE). Honestly, I was a little leery. I had to do some research on the author and on the concept of SDE before I would commit to a book about it. But I do enjoy learning and experiencing new things through books, so eventually I agreed.

I was so excited when it came in the mail, I set it on my nightstand and made it my priority to read next. And then the end of the semester happened. Very quickly October became December, somehow along the way, I had been pulled under a deluge of papers to grade, lessons to plan, concerts to play, and functions to attend. Do you notice something very important missing in that list?

That’s right. Reading. I have had a very large book-shaped hole in my life since October, being so consumed with work that I have not been able to read anything, save for what we have been reading for school.

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Giving Hands

Little girl donating money

This weekend, I went with some of my students to ring the bells for the Salvation Army. I love taking time to give back to my community, and I love it even more when I can share that experience with my students. I am aware that my life is a life of privilege and any chance I can, I try to use that privilege to give back to those around me.

So this weekend, with the help of some incredible kids, I stood outside Wal-Mart and rang that little bell and greeted everybody that went by. My students sang Christmas carols with gusto and joyful hearts. We wore Santa hats and reindeer antlers and elf ears. And we had a good time hanging out, getting to spend time together in a less formal setting than in the classroom. 

But most importantly, we got to see people with the biggest hearts donating their money to help other.

Watching so many people go out of their ways to donate to others was a beautiful experience. I was touched to get to interact with so many strangers cleaning out their pockets and the coin catchers in their cars and giving their change from the store. In many cases, it wasn’t much. But it was something. Small acts of kindness can all add up to do big things.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Aesop
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The Restorative Properties of Hallmark Movies

Today, I curled up in bed, exhausted from Thanksgiving and Black Friday and ready to dive into a good book. My 50-pound mutt climbed up in the bed with me and snuggled up (don’t tell my wife. We don’t allow dogs in the bed.) I didn’t like the silence, so I turned on the Hallmark Channel to have playing in the background. 

Freddie, my big mutt, is my snuggly companion.
My snuggly companion

Soon I realized, however, that I was not reading my book at all. Instead, I was totally immersed in Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa, one of this year’s Hallmark Original Christmas Movies. The plot is as cheesy as you can imagine, the acting is on par with every Hallmark Original Christmas Movie. The storyline is contrived. Nothing about this movie was a masterpiece, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t stop everything I was doing to watch the entire movie.

And I loved every minute of it. There was nearly no diversity in this small town and it was a little suspicious that everybody in the town believes in writing letters to Santa. And there were more questions than answers. But I didn’t care. I watched every minute of it, as if it were pure cinematic gold. Was the store going to sell? Who was going to buy it? Was Lisa going to save the general store, and ultimately Evergreen? Would Lisa and Kevin finally kiss?

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Review – The Golden Sequence by Jonni Pollard

The Golden Sequence by Jonni Pollard

I recently had the opportunity to read The Golden Sequence by Jonni Pollard. This book came as a surprise to me, just bundled in with another book I had been asked to review. Let me tell you, surprise books are the best kind of surprise.

The Golden Sequence is much along the same vein as the past few books I’ve been sent for review; it is a book about finding yourself, discovering your innermost desires and drives, and reaching a certain kind of fulfillment. With The Burn Zone, I followed the story of a woman trapped in a cult, frantically searching for herself after losing her identity entirely to the world she’d been absorbed into. Then in Brother John, I read the essay of a man seeking purpose, hiding out in a monastery and all buy idolizing a monk who lives there.

The Golden Sequence is a how-to guide, more or less. It is a meditation aid and a guide in seeking fulfillment through understanding The Golden Sequence.

“In Western society and culture, we are more connected to each other than ever through social media and mobile communication, yet we feel increasingly disconnected and isolated.”

Jonni Pollard, The Golden Sequence

As I’ve said, this book is a lot about finding yourself and finding purpose in your life. It aims to identify the problems in our lives–why we’re feeling unfulfilled and unconnected–and help us to fix the brokenness in our lives.

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The Zone – How I Conquer NaNoWriMo

This year I am participating in NaNoWriMo. For the uninitiated among you, NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writers Month, is an annual challenge writers take to try to write an entire novel in the month of November.

Since its inception, NaNoWriMo has changed slightly. Many writers, myself included, are using the month to focus hard on a work they’ve already started, rather than writing a brand-new work for the month.

I’ll be honest: I have been less successful at NaNoWriMo in November than in Camp NaNoWriMo which happens every summer. July maybe? Look, today is not a researched post rife with information and hard facts. If you want that, you’ll have to go back to my Banned Books Week posts.

Today, I’m simply talking about my writing process and how I conquer the writing challenge. And I have been successful in my attempts at Camp NaNoWriMo.

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