Write for Your Life

Two new books, both titled WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE, were published this past spring. Both are written by talented authors and both share numerous stories. The first is more of a “how-to” guide, especially helpful for high school and college age writers. The second encourages reflection and appreciation of the many benefits of writing. 

WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE by Charles Wheelan is, per the subtitle, intended to be “A Guide to Clear and Purposeful Writing (and Presentations).”  Wheelan has written numerous texts including Naked Economics (in our curriculum for years), Naked Statistics and We Came, We Saw, We Left. In his latest, he offers suggestions for Getting Started, Making it Better, and Buffing and Polishing both writing and speaking. Wheelan notes that these ideas came from a list which he had been compiling for his undergraduate students; his focus is on “clear, straightforward language; a comprehensive narrative structure; rigorous editing; and even humor if it serves to make a point.”  Like Wheelan’s students at University of Chicago or Dartmouth College, many of our students need more practice in writing well and clearly expressing their thoughts. Wheelan asks his readers, “Can you communicate in ways that inform, inspire, and motivate? Can you articulate your ideas so that they lead to the intended outcome?” He explains concepts and “rules” they have likely heard before – know your purpose, know your audience(s), craft a clear thesis. I particularly liked his section on making an outline because our students do struggle with that and he uses relevant examples (e.g., writing letters of recommendation) to illustrate his point. WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE is full of engaging anecdotes and real life examples, including those from Winston Churchill, Hillary Clinton, and Elena Kagan. I am looking forward to sharing this manual with English teachers and our students.

In WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE Anna Quindlen, former New York Times correspondent and prolific author, encourages readers to “tell your story, record your thoughts, note your feelings, write it down.” For her part, Quindlen offers a series of essays. In the first, titled Infinitive, she reflects on the benefits of writing and uses Anne Frank and Erin Gruwell’s Freedom Writers as examples of the importance of writing for ourselves, especially in diaries and journals. From there Quindlen moves to Salutation and discusses the many conversations produced by letter-writing and on to Tense where she encourages daily notes, even just short ones on a calendar, since “the simple, forgettable notations of every day can offer a way into writing, transforming facts into feelings.” Interspersed with quotes from famous writers (“To survive, you must tell stories ~ Umberto Eco”), her other essays deal with topics like the impact of technology on writing, with poetry, and even writing assignments in school (where notes on revision can offer “the promise of something better, perhaps even really good”). There is less here explicitly about the mechanics of writing and much more about the pleasures. Quindlen’s own excellent writing is strong motivator to set down ordinary tales associated with everyday life. Students and teachers will enjoy reading and discussing these essays as they continue their own writing journeys. WRITE FOR YOUR LIFE received a starred review from Library Journal.