Writing

Writing is about telling a story. You can write in first person, second, or even third — we kinda learned that in Journalism 101 at Diablo Valley College many years ago. But the deeper lesson wasn’t about point of view. It was about truth.

Your writing should come from the person that can actually speak, and be the same in real life. That’s the key to journalism. That’s the key to being human on paper.

Many people can go to school and become educated, collect degrees, learn AP style, and still miss the human capacity. They miss the pause, the ache, the joy behind the words. They can write about people without ever writing for people.

I always wondered about that as I sip my drink from Human Bean, watching life move outside the window. I love school at a coffee shop — not just the books, but the stories walking by. The single mom with her laptop. The old man reading his Bible in the corner. The barista who remembers your name.

That’s where real writing lives. Not just in the classroom, but in the lived moments. In the trauma, the healing, the jail cell prayers and the baptism water. If your words on the page don’t match the person ordering coffee, then what are we really saying?

So write like you speak. Speak like you live. And live like you know that someone out there needs your story — not a polished version, but the real one.

Because the world doesn’t need more educated voices. It needs honest ones.