NEWS YOU CAN USE. Maybe you saw these stories. Maybe you missed them, but these are among the pieces I’ve read recently that might elicit some form of short memoir – an op-ed, or personal essay – from you. Once a week I’ll bring you news pieces I find provocative. Here are some that get me going:
Surely you have something to say using one of these as your news peg.
- Even I can do that. Really. I think. Maybe tomorrow
- Because the road ragers need this one thing to make me stop driving entirely
- Could there ever be a big enough mea culpa for this?
- Mobbed up museum. Will it mop up in Vegas?
- Shame on us all that all these children are hungry
- Interracial marriages in U.S. hit new high
- Best recent presidents? Time for me to pull out my best Reagan rants. Again
Looking for inspiration or guidance on how to write a personal essay? Look at my categories for NPR essays, parenting essays, and several other topics. All of the pieces there have been published, or have aired on the radio. If those don’t work, see the interactive calendar for more inspiration. And write on.
See a typo, a grammar flub, my (ever-present) overuse of commas? Point it out, and I’ll throw you in the pool for a monthly free book giveaway. Which book? One of mine – your choice – all of which were professionally copy edited, thank goodness.
