An interesting question about good writing

I was speaking with someone about writing yesterday and the question came up, "how does a professional writer create something worth while? We all have a fantastic idea that writers are budding Hemingway's or Shakespeare's and that is far from the pale in what real business writers should be aiming for, and is also far from an ideal that any writer wishes to aim for. The easy answer to this type of question is that there is no easy answer. Most professional writing comes from the assignment of a task and is often involved in the execution of a greater mission and for better or worse that makes it easier to get started. I can't say that makes the job easier but it removes much of the questioning from the process.

The other factor that I have seen ruin good writing is the perfect example of the old cliche about too many cooks ruining the pot. I have seen way too many circumstances where a draft while not perfect, is sent to others for review and comment. Each person decides they want to add their own inputs to the draft and more often than not consider the document incomplete unless their inputs are made. At the same time, these people are loath to offer any input during the drafting stage when input would be far more powerful and helpful. Of course keeping egos in check is always a challenge. I recall one senior executive who said to me that his quote didn't make him sound statesman enough and I told him that he wasn't a statesman. Honesty is so rare in the office these days.

Went on a run to Framingham and Natick yesterday and had the chance to stop by Casey's Diner in Natick for lunch. For those who don't know Casey's and have not had the privilege of eating there yet it is simply a joy. Small and family run, with maybe a dozen seats inside and some of the best hot dogs you will ever eat. Give me a place like this as opposed to the McDonald's or what have you in the world today.

Three things have me very happy today. The first is that John Lester pitched wonderfully again and the Sox won 4-0. Granted it was against the Orioles who are for all purposes a AAA ball club. I also won a free appetizer at the local Irish pub by knowing all three John Cusack/Jeremy Piven movies. Lastly, Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail yesterday. The men received all the mercy he deserved in my opinion. He was worse than a thief and in some cases killed people more violently than if he beat them with a club. My hope is that he live a long life behind bars and enjoy every view of those cold concrete walls.

Speaking of cold, I hope the weather turns before much longer. Supposedly it is going to be nice on July 4th. I will believe that when I see it!

Strange days indeed!

Wow there is just a lot of strange stuff happening these days. I think I have to start with the weather. I can not recall a June where the weather has been worse and where summer has been in less evidence than this year. I can not recall when we have had less sunshine than this past month. I mean it is one thing if you have this type of weather in April but then to see it continue into June is beyond the pale. Every day the weather people are forecasting that the weather will break soon. It reminds me of something my uncle used to say when lousy weather was happening. He would look out in the middle of some storm or stretch of bad weather and say, "the back of this storm is broken." Of course that is usually when it would ratchet up a notch or fifty.

I took my nephew to see the new Transformers movie so allow me to provide you with my review of it. This may be a sign of me getting older and thinking that things were better when I was a child, but this movie was lame to put it nicely. The acting was bad, the plot was paper thin and there was no real reason to do a sequel other than to make more money. Granted whoever had the explosives contract for this film made out like a bandit as there were more things blown up here than during D-Day. And the thing was 2 1/2 hours long to top it all off. So if you like to see things blown up please go and see this movie, otherwise I am sure something more intelligent will come out.

The Sox did give it an effort yesterday but could not sweep the Braves. I have to say no shame there as the Atlanta pitcher really did a great job and threw the ball right past Sox hitters as the Sox pitchers had done to the Braves the first two games. Once again, Jason Bay had done a great job and had the first Red Sox hit of the day.

Now I do wish to say for what ever record that I am officially tired of the Michael Jackson adulation that is ongoing. Someone explain to me please why a 50 year old pop star's death is worthy of more attention than if a 50 year old heart surgeon dies. To be honest, the heart surgeon or teacher is a greater loss to society. I was saddened to hear of the loss of another 50 year old that being Billy May the TV pitchman. I never bought what he was selling but he was a self made man and while I had no use for his products, I respected a fellow entrepreneur. What a shame for his family.

Wake is just amazing!

I've made no secret of the fact that I am a big Tim Wakefield fan. I have had the chance to meet him twice and he's really down to earth and you can look at his role with the Red Sox over the years and you can see how much he's meant to the team. Yesterday, not only did he pitch well, but he tied Roger Clemens for the Red Sox club record for starts.

They represent quite a contrast. Wake is the ultimate team player and leads, from all accounts, a good decent life and puts team first. Clemens is the ultimate selfish player who always put self above team and expected to be treated differently because he was the lord almighty Roger Clemens. Keep on doing what you're doing Wake! While sports stars should be automatically held up as role models, for his hard work and commitment to the community and the team Tim Wakefield should be held up!

OK so there were massive thunderstorms in Foxboro yesterday and I missed them!!! I love a great thunderstorm and God knows New England doesn't get enough of them. Foxboro received 4 inches of rain in something like an hour. That is amazing!!! Of course I was having a blast at a friend's party so I can't complain. Oddly 25 miles away and we heard one clap of thunder and that was it. Now the stupid birds had me up at 4:30 AM this morning so now I feel like I had zero sleep last night.

Today is another lousy day so I am taking my nephew to see the Transformers movie. I looked online and it is 2 1/2 hours long so I sure hope not to fall asleep. One thing I heard on the news struck me as wrong and that is that a town in Maryland is building a new school and has decided to name it after President Obama. Now the decision belongs to the town of course, but I tend to believe that local buildings should be named for local leaders and if it is a national leader it should be one whose accomplishments are not disputed and whose record is complete. An Abraham Lincoln or an FDR for example. I have no issue with the President but it's too soon for the accolades to start.

Here comes the rain again!

All together let's sing that mid-1980's song by the Eurythmics. It is amazing that despite the rain during the past week we somehow remain in a drought or below rainfall expectations whatever the meteorological term would be.

I have been giving some thought this weekend to the idea of what to name my company. Surprisingly, this is much more difficult than one would think. One the one hand you would like to have a name that tells what you do, but on the other hand you need to have a solid marketing program behind what you do that will sell your product or service. For example, Amazon.com works much better than, buy your books using a computer and have them shipped to your home. Of course, I can't help but smile when I see Stop & Shop. As far as a name goes, that one does the best job of simply stating what the company's purpose is.

Another Red Sox win does help to make an otherwise yucky Sunday morning more palatable. Winning ugly is still winning and when the Yankees lose so much the better! The lead is now three games and looking very good but of course as all life long Red Sox fans know, the Sox never look strong than what they do in June. If World Series were decided in June the Red Sox and not the Yankees would have 26, maybe 30 plus World Championships!

Now I will admit to seeing a kids moving and enjoying it tremendously. I saw Wall-E on DVD the other night and was surprised that I found myself sucked in by the story and while I had expected something cheesy and sugary, instead it was quite warm and inspirational.

Oh by way of retraction, I believe I said that Cuckoo Clark Rockefeller should have had the book thrown at him. What happened is the wrong book was thrown. He should have had War & Peace thrown not some little kiddie book!