I love great writers. Folks who can assemble sentences to produce clarity, concision, and the desperate desire to read the next sentence bring joy to my life.
As an author of six novels and three nonfiction books, I try like hell to emulate the work of the greats and hope to someday come close.
Even better than a great writer is a great writer who writes about me.
Aaron Derr is one such writer. Aaron wrote a piece on the completion of my Eagle Scout project last year — more than 30 years after I first started it. I’ve had many journalists write about me over the years. More than a decade ago, a lengthy feature about me ran on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Hartford Courant.
I bought a lot of newspapers that day.
Many of these pieces about me have been excellent.
Some have been fine.
Quite a few have contained wild inaccuracies and sloppy sentences.
But the piece that Aaron has written about my Eagle project made my heart soar. Not only did he brilliantly capture the essence of the day, the purpose of my project, and my feelings about it, but he did so in sentences that sing.
I did not mentally re-write a single sentence as I read. I did not question a punctuation decision or word choice.
I loved every bit of it.
It’s an exceptionally written piece about something that means a great deal to me.
I am so grateful.
Great writers really do make the world a slightly more joyous place.
You can read Aaron Derr’s piece here.
