Jillian’s law according to the rules

Kids help you write better.

Can’t be true, you say.

Yet consider…

1. Kids distract you from distractions.

2. Kids are a constant source of inspiration.

Oh, and they ruin your pants.

I’m talking specifically about one kiddie—er, kitty.

Monte Carlo, the kitten we rescued (from a culvert, no less), has begun to climb every pant leg. He’ll climb up the leg of my trousers, up the back of my shirt, and only stop when he reaches my shoulders.

My favorite kitten ever…

I had a barn full of cats growing up. My favorite was the sole survivor of its litter. I want to say his name was “Peter Pan” (sounds like something I would have named a cat). This cat would climb up to my shoulder and just sit there. No, it was “Pirate.” That was his name, now that I think of it.

Monte Carlo is not as calm.

He climbs. Then he paces from shoulder to shoulder. If that doesn’t get him what he wants, he climbs back down your clothes.

Carlo does not understand the difference between jeans and suit pants. Last time he scrambled up my pant leg, his claws left behind a row of pulled threads. Also suit pants are thin. And his claws are prehistoric.

But Monte Carlo isn’t a real boy…

The real children of this house actually help me write.

You may have the same question Jillian had: “Are you kidding me?” (When I asked her to stop saying that, she followed up with, “Are you serious??”)

Sure, it doesn’t feel like they’re helping by jumping on our bed with sand-covered feet.

But it’s true.

New to this Newsletter?

1. Click here to join our family and get the the next letter.

2. I am pro-typo. In an effort to conquer my perfectionism, I am trying to edit less compulsively. You’re getting one step above a rough draft. Click here to read why.

Phone-stealers to the rescue!

The Amazing Jillian and the Extraordinary Ellia insist they cannot fall asleep unless they are listening to Junie B. Jones. In order to listen to Junie B. Jones, the girls need my phone, which has our library’s audiobook app on it.

But then I can’t use my phone. It’s in the girls’ bedroom playing “Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten.”

If I had my phone, I’d probably still be writing Tweets instead of this newsletter. But my kids have successfully distracted me from this distraction.

As you can see, kids are a constant source of inspiration. (As I write this, Jillian’s head is on my lap. She’s finally sleeping after complaining of a tooth ache.)

Just as kids are a source of inspiration…

So are my idea generation formulas.

DadFace Directive

Actually, it’s Ray Bradbury’s strategy.

The author of Fahrenheit 451 recommended creating two lists. (This is one of my favorite ways to attack a blank page.) You can quickly jot down these lists and then expand on one of the items into an article.

This is how to start from nothing and get your first idea of what to write about. But how do you go from one tiny Lego piece of an idea and build it into a castle people want to look inside of?

I’ll share how to do that next week…

Our Not-So-Great Pyrenees has been barking for the last hour. So gotta go.

—DadFace

P.S. - Did any of these strategies spark an idea? If you got value out of today’s letter, you have to share this email with a friend. As Jillian would say, “That’s the law according to the rules.”