Matt's Mix Tape, Vol. 117
Discover more from Steady Beats | Matt Tillotson
Hi, I’m Matt Tillotson, and this is Matt’s Mix Tape: essays + links on living a vibrant and creative middle life.
This weeks Mix:
Logo: What to do when you’re not sure why
One extra step can take good writing to great
The macro rhythm of writing
How drawing affects writing, and vice versa
Let’s dislodge your writing and content blockages
Florida photo
What to do when you’re not sure why
Midweek, I was in a funk.
Sometimes struggles pile up, their collective weight greater than the sum of the parts. In those moments, I lean hard on workouts. I push back against heavy weight, before life’s weight gets heavy enough to flatten me out. And Wednesdays, well …
Wednesdays are leg days.
My leg day routine isn’t long. But it hurts. And this week, my internal prosecutor, who continually argues against going to the gym, took a new angle:
“Why bother? What’s the point. There isn’t any. Skip it.”
This new line of questioning was startling. Normally he chooses lazier arguments, like substandard weather conditions, or a suddenly-urgent task that must take precedence over the gym.
My prosecutor’s new position backfired, though.
The argument’s energy propelled me directly into the gym, a reverse magnetic force pushing me away from its intended conclusion.
“What’s the point,” felt sharp and dangerous. If I agreed with him, he might talk me into a bunch of other things being pointless, also.
A slippery slope best avoided.
If you have a good habit—writing, exercise, picking up trash in the neighborhood, whatever—sometimes you might wonder why you bother.
Don’t overthink it.
You do the thing because it helps you do other important things. Value and protect the habit because of other things you value and protect. That’s the why.
Oh—and tell your internal prosecutor to shove it.
One extra step can take good writing to great
Sometimes, intuition prods you to take your writing one step further.
Brandon Sneed listened to that intuition.
Sneed wrote a Sports Illustrated feature on Colt Brennan, the former Hawaii quarterback who piled up passing yards in 2007 as he lead the school to a 12-0 record.
Brennan struggled with substance abuse and died of a fentanyl overdose in May.
Sneed conducted numerous interviews for the article. But one piece of the story puzzle eluded him. He wanted to visit Tree House Recovery, the addiction treatment center Brennan stayed at shortly before his death.
Sneed’s problem: Tree House is hard to find.
That’s by design, as he told Jon Finkel in Books & Biceps:
I figured if I had any chance to talk to anyone at Tree House, I’d have to make the request in person — but I didn’t even know where the Tree House facility was. It’s not at the address listed on their website.
Sneed found it by following his instincts:
Long story short, I’d stumbled right onto the Tree House building, and the next morning, they unlocked the front door for me.
[..]
That all transformed the story. They showed me Colt’s life in the program, and all of the things that had helped him nearly heal — things that had helped so many others like him heal from addiction, too.
Sneed’s writing about Brennan’s time at Tree House gave the story emotional depth. We learned Brennan was a leader at the facility, and seemed to be in his best mental place in years thanks to Tree House:
On Friday, he and Burns took a leadership class together at Tree House as they prepared for their graduation. They had plans to get an apartment together and to open their own Tree House center in Hawaii, where Colt would coach youth football again. “Despite being 37, I truly feel I can finally see … a life filled with purpose and happiness,” he wrote in his journal. “Right now I got a lot of work, but I think I’m ready.”
Despite his progress, Brennan overdosed and passed away days later.
Sneed’s intuitive step reshaped the story.
A richer story—and a greater tribute to Brennan—formed because Sneed listened to that voice that wanted to push his writing a little further.
The macro rhythm of writing
Do you pay attention to the “macro rhythm” of your writing?
Writing’s micro rhythm is about varying sentence length and flow within a paragraph. And making word choices that propel a piece forward from beat to beat.
But the macro rhythm of a piece tells its own story.
Macro rhythm is what you first see and feel when you scan a piece of writing online. The bullets, subheads, bold text, paragraph lengths—all are individual clues that set the first impression for a piece.
The reader can quickly discern whether a piece is:
High tempo: short bursts of tight paragraphs and single sentences.
A slower and more exploratory experience: with long and descriptive paragraphs.
A regimented, super-organized list: with bullets and clear and concise subheadlines.
Or maybe the piece is a wild ride—a gear-shifting cacophony of all those beats.
Alex Garcia wrote a thread with 13 lessons gleaned from Apple marketing copy. Here he writes about the macro rhythm:
Readers scan your work before they dive in.
What’s the instant impression your writing delivers?
That’s the macro rhythm.
How drawing affects writing, and vice versa
Drawing and writing work in rhythm and echo to shape each other.
Salman Ansari wrote in his newsletter, Quick Brown Fox, about the comics he shares in his newsletters:
I started by sharing a few loose thoughts with a friend about my editing struggles. Then, I wrote some bullets in my notes about it. Later, the idea for the comic popped into my head, and I did a full sketch + illustration of it in a few hours. That helped me crystallize what I really wanted to talk about — perspiration (powering through) vs preparation (curating mindset). Finally, I wrote out my thoughts in more detail for the newsletter.
Sometimes, drawing elevates words. Other times, drawing elicits words.
When I create the logo for this newsletter each week, the writing almost always comes first. Then a visual idea pops up to to support the words.
My brain nearly always thinks in language first, visuals second. Yours might work the same, or the opposite.
Try creating an illustration to complement your writing, even if you don’t share the drawing. The act of drawing can change the way you write in ways you can’t anticipate.
Let’s dislodge your writing and content blockages
Do any of these sound like you?
You’re a professional or entrepreneur who wants to write and share ideas online, but aren’t sure where to start
You own a business and struggle to create a resonant, consistent message
You struggle to come up with regular writing ideas
You’re not sure where to share your ideas and writing online
Let’s talk over Zoom: A short, 15-minute call to get you unstuck.
I’m not selling you anything. I am trying to better understand how I can use my writing and coaching skills to best help people.
Florida photo
Not the sharpest picture. But I caught this hawk soaring through our backyard. That wingspan, though …
Hello to 18 new subscribers
And thank you to you for reading. Drop me a note, ask a question, or tell me my opinion is wrong anytime.