Writing about all kinds of things

A column that ran in Northwest Arkansas newspapers on October 18, 2017

by David Wilson

Dear Readers,

Thank you so much for reading in this space each week. I enjoy writing and I want to write well, but it means so much more if I know someone is getting something out of it on the other end.

Some of you occasionally e-mail me, and I appreciate the feedback. If you ever have an idea that should be explored or commented on, please let me know and I will consider it. 

In addition, if there is an issue or an event that is specific to Northwest Arkansas that you think someone should be writing about, I would welcome your suggestions on that as well.

My writing experience began when I was in grade school, when my teacher assigned it.

Call me a nerd if you want, but I usually enjoyed English class and I welcomed the opportunity to produce a paragraph or an essay when it was assigned.

I understand that many people did not relish the idea of writing anything in school and they still don’t want to write much as adults.

I get that. We are all different and we all have certain inclinations to excel in different ways.

But in my own experience, I wrote some things as a grade school student simply because I wanted to, things written outside of school that were in no way a classroom requirement.

In the fourth grade I became interested in history—in World War II in particular—and I started reading all I could about it in the library. For no particular reason, I began copying down facts about World War II from the World Book Encyclopedia. 

I was interested in it, and wanted to write it down and perhaps pass it on.

And I’ve always been that way. There is something inside of me that wants to organize thoughts for others to read and contemplate.

I’m not like some individuals, who can write for years in a journal or in a diary and never have anyone read it.

No, if I write something, it is definitely done with the intention of communicating to others. I want it to be read.

And that’s one reason that I have always been drawn to journalism. I like reaching other people through the written word.

I’m fond of a Bible verse in Luke 1:3, which could be a motto for any journalist who takes his or her job seriously.

If you look at several different Bible translations you can get the gist of what Luke 1:3 says. It goes like this:  “It seemed good to me also, having carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write unto you an orderly account.”

I think that is what journalists do. Or at the very least, it is what they should do.

Historians do that too, but journalists have much stricter deadlines with their work.

When I was a child the subject of World War II caught my attention, but it wasn’t the only thing. I also liked sports in general, just like a lot of young men do growing up, and football in particular.

And I wrote about it—stories about some of my favorite teams or players—and sometimes football stories that I just made up completely.

In the sixth and seventh and eighth grades, I created my own fictitious football league, and began making newspapers filled with game summaries and scores and stats and player features.

You can call me unique, or you can just say I was a kid who wanted to create and write.

I wrote detailed accounts of games, such as how the Fort Worth Green Hornets defeated the Jacksonville Comets 14-6 in a playoff game.

If you’ve never heard of those teams, it’s because you shouldn’t have. Quite simply, I made all of that stuff up when I was about 12 years old.

If we fast-forward to today, I’m still writing, but not much about fictitious football teams. I write mostly non-fiction, about any number of topics.

For instance, in August I wrote once about having a good perspective for work. In September I did a piece on how educators specific traits to do their jobs. Last week I wrote about football, and next week I am starting a series of columns about Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.

I’ve read tons of information about it, and I have found that the reformation in Europe 500 years ago was quite a fascinating event with implications for the world today.

If you enjoy it half as much as I have enjoyed researching it, you’ll appreciate it tremendously.

Stay tuned.

__________

David Wilson, EdD, is a former high school principal and is the communications director for the Transit and Parking Department at the University of Arkansas. His book, Learning Every Day, is available on Amazon. You may e-mail him at ledauthor@gmail.com.