Hi, Reader!

I spent last week in Lake Tahoe (which is why you didn't hear from me), and to be honest, I'm now a little bitter. It was absolutely stunning. The water was so beautiful (a far cry from Galveston's brown waters), and the air didn't feel like a wet towel trying to suffocate the life out of me. It was also the first time my husband and I have traveled without the kids in quite some time! I came home more relaxed and significantly more resentful of Texas in August. Although I'm not sure I'd want to live there, I'd definitely go back. Have you been?

Also: Train, Barenaked Ladies, and Matt Nathanson played a show while we were there, and I stood in a crowd singing "One Week" like it was 1998. No regrets.

But now, let's get back to the reason you're here: writing!

THE WRITING THAT WON'T GET TOM INTO COLLEGE

OK, this is still slightly tangential, but it's also oh-so-related to me helping students tell their stories. Three years ago, I started meeting with Tom, my son's golf coach, every Monday morning to help him write his memoir. He's in his 80s and has been teaching golf for 60-plus years, and he can name drop like nobody's business. I've spent the last eight years teaching teenagers how to sound like themselves on paper, and it turns out the exact same skill works on someone who's had six decades to become fully, unmistakably himself.

Some Mondays we wrote. Some Mondays we just gossiped. (Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.) But we moved forward no matter what. If you love golf, or you're just curious what makes someone stay obsessed with teaching the same thing for 60 years, his story finally became a real book, and I'm so honored I got to help. It was a great exercise in pushing through something I wasn't sure I could do. I just hope everyone has as much fun reading it as we've had putting it together!

STOP CROWDSOURCING YOUR ESSAY FEEDBACK

Ethan Sawyer (College Essay Guy) posted a video a few years ago on why asking too many people for essay feedback sometimes backfires. It's still a good (and short) watch.

What's the problem? Five readers means five opinions, and when they contradict each other, that can feel overwhelming to a student. Who's right? Who should they trust? How do they incorporate the suggestions?

Here's my tip: Pick one or two people you trust and tell them exactly what you want them looking at. "Read this and tell me what you think" gets you noise. "Does this sound like me?" or "Do you see my value of advocacy coming through?" gets you an actual answer.

✏️ QUICK WRITING TIP

Who or whom, solved forever: Swap in "he" or "him" in place of "who" or "whom." If "he" fits, it's who. If "him" fits, it's whom. "Who called?" → "He/him called." "You spoke to whom?" → "You spoke to he/him." Works for whoever/whomever, too.

I break down the full trick (with more examples) here: The Simple Trick for Using Who and Whom Right Every Time.

📆 UPCOMING WEBINARS & DEADLINES

See my full calendar here.

Everybody has been asking me what I'm going to do on Monday mornings now that the book has been published. My answer? We're working on a second book that goes more into golf drills and techniques, and we're also doing a companion journal for young golfers to track their progress.

After all, if Tom can keep going, so can I!

Happy Writing!

Julia

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