Category: Coursework

The Out-of-Door Academy

I spent my first two years of high school at a massive public school in Sarasota before transferring to a small private school for my junior and senior years. I chose to find an article on the latter and came across this little gem of a story. I was in fourth grade when this article was written, and my school did not yet have a football program. But the basketball team was well-known and my best friend’s big brother was a senior and ODA’s star player. Essentially, this story is about the fact that my small school did not have a regular point guard and instead relied on contributions from two talented seniors to take on that role. This team was exceptionally talented for such a small school and sent multiple players to all-conference teams.

I really enjoyed finding this story because I went to just about every home game during the 2004 season with my best friend and am still close with the players featured in the story. My friend’s brother, David, walked on at Vanderbilt the following year and is a real grown up now, but I sent him the link to this story to remind him of how awkward and shy he was in high school!

Keeping track of material and writing

When I sit to write down a story it’s slightly haphazard.

I can’t outline. I’ve tried. Constantly. It just doesn’t work for me. So I assemble all of my materials in front of me and just write.

All of my notes are in the form of outlines however. Everything has dots, dashes, and is indented. That’s the only way I can take notes. I’ve been taking notes like this since 7th grade.

All of my background and interviews are in this format. It just makes sense to me even though I can’t form a story from an outline.

As for holding onto materials, I jot random things down in whatever I have near me. If I have a notebook I write it down there. If I have my phone I type it in the Notes app. If I’m on my computer I write it in a word doc and save it for later.

So when I sit to write a story I have to find where I wrote down whatever I’m writing abut and go from there.

Once I start writing, I just take an idea and run with it. (I have to type it though, mostly because I don’t want to write it all out and then have to retype it) I write as much as I can and put in quotes then I step back.

Some paragraphs get cut and pasted to other sections of the story while some get cut all together. It’s a process that would drive most people crazy but it works for me.