Nows and Forevers

Jon Franklin, professor and author of the classic “Writing for Story,” died last week. Don Murray and Roy Peter Clark more directly influenced and inspired my writing and editing. But I learned from “Writing for Story” and especially “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster,” which ran in The Baltimore Sun in 1978.

Something Franklin said years ago really has stayed with me:

“Unlike with poetry, which favors young artists, or science, which favors younger people, writing is just the opposite. I was 35 before I could do that. And writing is something you’ll never get too old to do.”

I found that a source of optimism in my early 20s, and I find it true today. I am a much better writer in my 50s than I was in my 20s. It’s not just logging thousands of stories and many millions of words in print. I have absorbed more about the craft. I’ve made mistakes, and learned from them. I see story and character and drama in almost everything and (mostly) now how to reveal.

I have more lived experience. It took until my 30s before the pieces began to fall in to place, about halfway through my time in the wilderness and found myself mentoring and editing other journalists. I began working closely with another writer, who inspired me. Then I moved to New York.

I can see that now, going back through my writing and my journal. It was a long apprenticeship. Guess what: it’s still going on. Forever apprenticeship to the craft, Don Murray called it.

Anyway, here’s “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster.” I made all of my reporters read this, along columns by Mike Levine and Jimmy Breslin. It’s 45 years old, but it’s still as gripping as it was when it was published in The Sun.