The LITTLE Things by Jerry Simmons

As you might know, the head of a company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten. Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.

One woman was late because her alarm clock didn’t go off in time.  One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident. One of them missed his bus.  One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change. One’s car wouldn’t start.  One went back to answer the telephone.  One had a child that dawdled and didn’t get ready as soon as he should have. One couldn’t get a taxi.   The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.

Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone…All the little things that annoy me. I think to myself, this is exactly where I am supposed to be at this very moment…Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow getting dressed, you can’t seem to find the car keys, you hit every traffic light, don’t get mad or frustrated; take refuge in the fact that someone is at work watching over you.

May your guardian angel continue to bless you with all those annoying little things and may you remember their possible purpose. – Author Unknown

Make Writing Your Only Plan by David Farland

During last week’s episode of “The Voice,” a reality television show where young singers compete for a recording contract, one of the judges, rock star Adam Levine, gave a critique of one singer’s performance. He said something that I thought was interesting. He told the young singer, “I love the fact that you give it your all. You have no backup plan, and that’s important. If you’re going to make it in this cutthroat business, you can’t have a backup plan.” This is something that I noticed long ago. Many people want to become writers, and many of them have a tremendous amount of talent. But almost always, the young writer decides that he needs a backup plan. For example, he might say, “I’ll take a job as a tech writer and plan to write on the side.” Or “I’ll take a job as a computer programmer or work as a dentist.” Eventually, the writer finds himself with a career, and his writing gets shoved back further and further in to the corners, never to escape. Very often, after years of regret, the writer will try to make a go of writing, but she’ll often find that the constraints of family expenses and the time involved just don’t allow for a transition to a writer’s life. The dream may soon be gone forever, becoming nothing more than regret. As a college student, I studied several things in my early years. I was a straight-A student in marketing and business management for a year, but then went to pre-med. Though I’d worked as a butcher when young, I found that I didn’t have the stomach to become a surgeon, and so I began looking seriously at my backup plan—writing. Perhaps I could make writing my primary plan and do something else if it didn’t work out. I quit studying medicine and dove into writing, thinking that if I couldn’t sell my writing, I’d perhaps take a job as an editor. Well, the writing career took off much faster than expected, and my “backup plans” were cast by the wayside. Oh, I do still do some editing and teaching but mainly for fun. A guy has got to get out of the house once in a while. But I keep myself focused on writing, and here’s my backup plan: more writing. By that I mean simply, I’m going to write what I like. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll write some more. I’m finishing the last book of the Runelords series, and then I’ll work on the next book in the Nightingale series. When I’m done with that, I have three other novels that I want to write, and a fourth that I’m hatching. I have faith that one of these projects will take off big. I’ve found that this is the only sane way to work in this business. Write, and then write some more. So if you see your writing as a backup plan, figure out how to make it your career. Give it a little more emphasis. Attack your writing with a little more ferocity. Whatever else you may be doing, whatever other occupation you have, start looking at it as your backup plan. If you’re stocking shelves in a grocery store, see it as a means to an end. Remember that you’re a writer first. You only stock shelves to pay the bills until your writing career takes off. Then make sure that each day, your writing takes precedence. That means that you start the day with your writing, when you’re full of energy and fresh ideas. You don’t try to do it just in those few stolen moments when you really “feel like it.” Start making money with your writing, and then make writing your only plan.

Make Every Word Count by Stephen Wilber

Make every word count - or as Strunk and White famously advised in The Elements of Style, "Omit needless words."

Consider this sentence: "Due to the fact that we ran out of gas, we were two hours late for our meeting."

Can you identify the needless words? (My first version of the previous sentence read, "Can you identify the words that were used needlessly?")

Look again. The sentence contains a phrase that, as reported by E. B. White, made his former college professor William Strunk "quiver with revulsion."

Although your reaction may not be as visceral as Professor Strunk's, I suspect you can identify the non-functioning words. To make every word count, replace the wordy phrase due to the fact that with the word because.

How would you revise the following sentence?

"Due to the fact that our profits remained flat in the third quarter, the board reduced our CEO's salary by $50 million and used those dollars to increase the salary of our 500 account managers by $100,000 each."

  

The phrase the fact that can almost always be replaced with a simple but useful word: because. So too can the phrases based on the fact that, in view of the fact that, and owing to the fact that. Similarly, the phrase in spite of the fact that can be replaced with although or even though.

With these patterns of wordiness in mind, how would you condense these three sentences?

1. "Based on the fact that I love snow, I'm eager for winter to come."

2. "Many people choose to live in Minnesota in spite of the fact that they don't like snow or cold weather."

3. "In view of the fact that it snows every winter in Minnesota, and usually in significant quantities, I'm perplexed by their decision to live here."

Do your revisions look like this?

1. "Because I love snow, I'm eager for winter to come."

2. "Many people choose to live in Minnesota even though they don't like snow or cold weather."

3. "Because it snows every winter in Minnesota, and usually in significant quantities, I'm perplexed by their decision to live here."

By the way, if you were taught it's incorrect to begin a sentence with because, you were misled. Beginning a sentence with because is perfectly acceptable as long as you complete the sentence -- that is, as long as you don't put a period after the dependent because clause and create a sentence fragment.