I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. Because I write in lots of different places, it can be hard to keep up with my stuff, so I’m going to try to do a post every Friday gathering up the stuff I wrote during the week, plus some thoughts about good stuff I’ve read and things I’m working on.
THIS WEEK’S PIECES
The NFL’s most beast-or-bust draft ever (Forbes)
How in the world did the Cowboys pass on Johnny Football? (Forbes)
The power of simple words (Nieman Storyboard)
A tribute to Gary Smith (from the blog — this was late last week but I’m going to sneak it in here)
WEBSITE UPDATE
I finally reworked tommytomlinson.com — it’s got recent favorites, a bunch of older stories, a section on writing, and lots of other stuff. It’s not a finished product — let me know what you think.
THINGS I’M THINKING ABOUT
Benji Hughes … Lunchbox Records … bluegrass at Wake Forest … Tiger Woods and practice … ranking all the REM records top to bottom … tailgating.
GREAT READS
This story on the murder of a open-hearted poet has haunted me all week.
Loved this Garth Brooks story from Todd Snider’s upcoming new book — plus, there’s a sidebar about a legendary Hootie and the Blowfish party.
Sort of inside baseball for writers, but this piece on how to improve the Pulitzers had some really good ideas. I love the thought of announcing the finalists ahead of time, Oscar-style.
CURRENT OBSESSION
I watched the documentary “Muscle Shoals” the other day — it’s about all the great music that came out of two little studios in Alabama in the ’60s and ’70s. You know most of the songs — everybody from Aretha Franklin to the Stones recorded down there — but I had never heard the first Muscle Shoals hit. This is “Steal Away” by Jimmy Hughes, and I’ve been listening to it over and over.
Have a great weekend, y’all.