Listen to what people are telling you.
Mark McClish
Writing is more than putting words on a screen. It’s communicating.
And part of communicating is listening to what people are telling you. In his book I Know You Are Lying, Mark McClish warns us to look for faux answers. These answers sound like answers but actually evade the question.
For example:
I emailed, “Hey Jon. Did you schedule that appointment we talked about?”
Jon’s replied, “I got on to email last night to do it.”
“So. Did you make the appointment?” I responded.
He followed up with, “No. I got sidetracked. I’ll do it today.”
In the first reply, he “got on email last night to do it.” He didn’t lie, he got on email to do it. But this could have been a yes or no response. I didn’t see either. The second question got it done, though.
Don’t go nuts analyzing EVERYTHING that EVERYONE says. Mark says you won’t have family and friends for long if you analyze everything your family and friends say.