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@fromawritersperspective
Summer Break Gone Awry
Summer Break Gone Awry
27 Days with Harvey
I am a teacher. I am also a writer who takes advantage of Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, spring break, and summer break to get the bulk of my writing done. I’m a planner. I do well with artificial deadlines that are my own. Last summer break, I planned and plotted to write at least 50,000 words on Playing for Overtimewhile still conducting research and interviews.…
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Interesting Mississippi 1A Football School Trivia
I geek out on interesting Mississippi 1A football school trivia. Did you know...
Lessons Learned About 1A Football Schools in Mississippi
Part of my recent Kickstarter campaign provided funds for every Class 1A head football coach to receive a copy of Playing for Overtime: The David Lee Herbert Story, which releases on August 10. I spent part of this week gathering information so that I can get those copies out as quickly as possible when my first shipment arrives. I…
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One Coach, Many Hats
One Coach, Many Hats
I began my coaching career at a 3A Mississippi public high school as a teacher and coach. That meant coaching receivers and defensive backs in football in the fall, working the concession stand at basketball games in the winter, and coaching baseball in the spring (as well as teaching year-round). In addition to football practice and games, I would often drive halfway across the Delta to swap…
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Book Cover: You Be the Judge
Book Cover: You Be the Judge
You know the old saying: Never judge a book by its cover.
Those in the publishing industry at any level know better, though. The reality is that a book cover is judged at a fraction of its actual size in a glance, often while surrounded by the thumbnails of other books.
Sadly, many people never read great content behind an unappealing cover. The converse, of course, is also true; I have…
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Standing Where He Stood
With Playing for Overtime, I join the many folks I've met over the last three years who have cheered David Lee Herbert's life and invite others who didn't know him to learn this man and his family's truly remarkable decision to play for overtime...and win.
A near three-year journey of writing Playing for Overtime: The David Lee HerbertStory took a giant leap forward this past weekend when I forwarded a near-complete manuscript to my editor. Over those three years, I have been able to stand in many of the same places that David Lee Herbert did at different points in his life. I never met Coach, but in so many ways, I feel like I know him now.…
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I Wish She Could Have Heard...
I Wish She Could Have Heard…
Summer 2018: One last look out her classroom window at Tish.
She told me many tremendous stories over the past two-and-a-half years while I have been working on her husband’s biography. Funny stories. Sad stories. Hopeful stories. Down home good country people stories.
But not one story of regret. Not one story of lament. One of her daughters wrote of her: “She was one of the greatest…
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A Look Back at 2018 from a Writer's Perspective
A Look Back at 2018 from a Writer’s Perspective
A Look Back at 2018 from a Writer’s Perspective
A look back at 2018 from this writer’s perspective starts with an admission. I normally start a new year with up to ten very specific goals for the year. Last year was different as 2018 crept up on me without my usual reflection on the past year and vision for the new one. It was a good year to put some old habits to the test to see if they…
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The Star Tree 2018: Paul's Body Shop
The Star Tree 2018: Paul’s Body Shop
The Star Tree 2018, Featuring Paul’s Body Shop
For several years now, I have been writing about my Star Christmas tree, the story of my hometown as told through Star Woman’s Club ornaments. Schools, churches, iconic businesses, even the old railroad depot–they all represent the history of one little unincorporated Mississippi town.
This year’s ornament, the ninth in the series, features…
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Book Summaries: Turning 40,000 words into 28
Book Summaries: Turning 40,000 words into 28
Book Summaries: Turning 40,000 words into 28
I teach. I write. Some days, I do both. Every once in a while, I get to do both at the same time. I had a day like that recently. I was teaching summary skills to one of my classes. I had given the requisite notes and used a book they had read as a master text. We were on the verge of going through other book summaries when one student suggested…
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30th Anniversary of the Wrong-Way Play
30th Anniversary of the Wrong-Way Play
 30th Anniversary of the Wrong-Way Play
Thirty years ago, on a Thursday night in Falkner, Mississippi, the Tishomingo High School Bulldogs etched their names in football lore alongside Roy Riegels and Jim Marshall. Riegels, an All-American at the University of California, famously lost his bearings in the 1929 Rose Bowl, running into his own end zone for a safety in a game that Georgia Tech…
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North Carrollton and Corn Flakes at Midnight
North Carrollton and Corn Flakes at Midnight
North Carrollton and Corn Flakes at Midnight
I spent some time in Carrollton, Mississippi, with my mom and dad last weekend at the annual Pilgrimage and Pioneer Day festival. The trip was part research for Playing for Overtime: The David Lee Herbert Story(Carrollton was Coach Herbert’s hometown.) It was part preparation for coming to next year’s celebration with boxes of books about one of…
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Meet the Family: A Lines in the Gravel Excerpt
Meet the Family: A Lines in the Gravel Excerpt
I was presented with a dilemma this weekend. I am working on a presentation about the legacy of story that I am giving at a conference next month. I have been encouraged to share some of my family’s stories from Lines in the Gravel. That never takes much of a push, but here’s the rub: My audience members will be about as lost as Hogan’s goat if they don’t know my family. They can’t exactly meet…
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Remnants of a Bygone Era and the Legacy That Remains
Remnants of a Bygone Era and the Legacy That Remains
Thanks to Tishomingo County supervisor Jeff Holt for this photo of the flatbed from which Coach David Lee Herbert coached during road games during the 1988 season.
Remnants of a Bygone Era and the Legacy That Remains
Research for Playing for Overtime: The David Lee Herbert Storyhas uncovered a number of vehicles that played important roles in the story of a coach who coached his last season in…
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2018 Mississippi Book Festival: Capitol, Cookout, and Charlie
2018 Mississippi Book Festival: Capitol, Cookout, and Charlie
2018 Mississippi Book Festival: Capitol, Cookout, and Charlie
I’ve been settling into the classroom for the new school year. This weekend was time for me to back to a school of sorts, the 2018 Mississippi Book Festival. Mississippi’s Literary Lawn Party, as the festival is dubbed, celebrated its fourth year with all sorts of panel discussions about writing and writers, along with book sales and…
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Highlights from a Fast-Flying Summer Break
Highlights from a Fast-Flying Summer Break
Highlights from a Fast-Flying Summer Break
Summer break went by in a hurry, as per the usual. There was no beach trip, though that’s not really unusual. A summer break post just seemed to call for a summer break photo. The photo above is a stock photo of Santa Monica Beach. I have actually been to Santa Monica Beach, and I own a pair of sunglasses, so I can relate.
No, my most significant trips…
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The Howling Kid at the Baptist Church
The Howling Kid at the Baptist Church
“The Howling Kid at the Baptist Church” is an excerpt from Lines in the Gravel. A little time in Carrollton this week for interviews on my current writing project reminded me of my singing roots grown around there during summers at Tomp and Mama Tomp’s house.
The Howling Kid at the Baptist Church
I don’t know, maybe it was those weeks that we spent with Mama Tomp during the summer that led us to…
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A Giant of a Little Lady
A Giant of a Little Lady
A Giant of a Little Lady
I spent this past weekend in Tishomingo, Mississippi, doing research for Playing for Overtime: The David Lee Herbert Story. I interviewed former players, managers, parents, and neighbors from the era between 1983-1988 when Coach Herbert led the football program at Tishomingo High School. I had a number of scheduled interviews through much of the day of Friday, but…
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