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In January, 
David Todd McCarty
 published “That’s Not A Story” in Ellemeno. In it, he describes the difference between anecdotes, which we all have, and a “proper story”, which is “a complete essay with a beginning, middle, and end, where the writer overcomes some obstacle, a truth is learned, or some other sort of meaningful shit occurs.” His piece weaves together advice and examples from famous writers and humorists that you know, but also includes examples from McCarty’s personal writing practice, and those parts of the piece were most valuable to me.

For instance, the simple statement that McCarty takes notes as he goes about his life so that “days don’t pass by in a blur.” Of course, we all know that writing more means you have more to write, but using writing as a way to stop time and prevent loss of memory? That hit me hard in a time when the daily news tsunami somehow washes away my ability to capture individual moments in my life.