What Is It Like to Live on a Farm?

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When a horse dies it's always a tragedy. And when a pig dies it's tragic too until the butchering gets to a certain point and then it becomes a comedy. The part I regret about it is that I don't live in a culture that actually understands the ceremonial nature of this. If you live in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, there are plenty of places where a pig butchering is a communal collective event. With it there's this tremendous sense of community which the pig has participated in.

In Episode #18, we explore becoming a better writer. We’re joined by Verlyn Klinkenborg, author and Yale professor. We cover learning from farm life and work, finding rhythm in writing, and debunking writing cliches.

“So what I do now is essentially help students escape from their education. That's my enterprise every year. And it's always fun, because they escape quite readily. They all know that what they're making in their classes is an artificial product that doesn't actually have any particular interest for anyone except them.” – Verlyn Klinkenborg

EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/verlyn-klinkenborg-outliers-show-notes

FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/verlyn-klinkenborg-outliers-transcript

CHAPTERS

This episode is our definitive guide to becoming a better writer. In it we cover:

(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:54) – Rural life and the “home place”
(00:04:50) – Raising animals and eating meat
(00:11:07) – Learnings from farm life and work
(00:15:35) – Verlyn’s reading habits
(00:28:40) – Verlyn’s book Several Short Sentences About Writing
(00:34:49) – What is academic prose?
(00:40:08) – Why people should use shorter sentences in writing
(00:44:43) – Finding rhythm in writing
(00:48:49) – Self authorization and noticing the world around you
(00:55:26) – Writing cliches that are untrue
(01:06:43) – Writing is rooted in experience more than language

ABOUT SEVERAL SHORT SENTENCES ABOUT WRITING

Verlyn Klinkenborg teaches creative writing at Yale University, and was a member of the editorial board of The New York Times for 16 years. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Esquire, and National Geographic, and he has authored several books, including Several Short Sentences About Writing. This book aims to debunk general cliches about writing and creativity and remove obstacles keeping us from clear self-expression.

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