![The First Rule](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/Finger-1023x675.jpg)
The First Rule
12-16-07 | The first rule of writing is to use fewer words than you think you need to. I violate this rule every time I put my fingers on the keyboard.
![Without a Net](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/Thwack-1080x675.jpg)
Without a Net
12-13-07 | Last month, the day before Thanksgiving, I was pumping gas into my car, or trying to, anyway. After a few tries, the gizmo still wasn’t working. I was annoyed. I turned to step over the hose and head into the station to get an attendant. Suddenly I heard an eerie sound: it sounded just like the thwack! of a baseball and bat making contact.
![The Hard Part](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/lockandkey-1080x675.jpg)
The Hard Part
12-4-07 | I’ve just spent a week, more or less, doing what is for me the hardest part of writing: starting.
![More Real Than Real](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/Spike_as_Old_Yeller.jpg)
More Real Than Real
11-30-07 | One summer, when I was a kid (maybe seven, or eight) I read Fred Gipson’s 1956 classic Old Yeller. When I got to the end, when Travis Coates has to shoot his beloved dog, I cried and cried.
![The Art of Kindness](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/bilde.jpeg)
The Art of Kindness
11-20-07 | “Musician, mentor, friend.” That was the headline of a story in the Nov. 14 edition of the Rochester, NY Democrat & Chronicle. The story continued: “Noted as a scholar and a gentleman . . . the late Alfred Mann is credited with bringing attention to early music. As brilliant as he was in his field, Mann also was gifted in the art of kindness.”
![On Nineteen](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/chris-11-07.jpg)
On Nineteen
11-12-07 | I remember 19 very well: it is a potent threshold, a time shimmering with the halo of possibility. If you can keep that halo alive, then in a very real way, you’re always nineteen.
![The Folly and Wisdom of Nineteen](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/alfredmann1992jpg.jpg)
The Folly and Wisdom of Nineteen
11-9-07 | When I was nineteen, I was offered a position as composition instructor at a university. To my dad, a musicologist and college professor, this must have seemed a dream come true.
![Those Three Little Words](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Galileo_before_the_Holy_Office.jpg)
Those Three Little Words
10-31-07 | For years I have believed that the most empowering thing one can do is to freely declare, “I was wrong.” I believe this is one of those acts that can elevate one’s character and ennoble one’s life as almost nothing else can. ¶ Why is it we cling so ardently to being right?
![Another Lesson from My Mom](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/The-Manns-in-Leipzig-76-663x675.png)
Another Lesson from My Mom
10-6-07 | I’ve had more response from my last post, “Lessons from My Mom on Staying Young Forever,” than just about any other post I’ve written.
![Lessons from My Mom on Staying Young Forever](https://johndavidmann.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Young-Carolyn-b.jpg)
Lessons from My Mom on Staying Young Forever
9-30-07 | A little while back, I posted an article inspired by my dad on the Zen of MLM site. In honor of my mom’s birthday this coming Thursday (she would have been 78), here is a piece inspired by her.