A column at First Things

The essay — “Real ‘School Choice’” — that grew from the two notes I posted (and then deleted) here last week is now available at “On the Square,” the online column published by First Things. 

The construction of this essay has taught me an important lesson: writing cannot be planned or scripted. At least mine can’t.

First Things was the first intellectual journal I ever read. In it, I found my first regular engagement with big ideas. Although I didn’t understand very much early on, and my present politics don’t quite square with the predominant worldview featured there, I still hold the publication in very high regard. It has always been a little dream of mine to publish there at some point. I sent them a thing or two early on in my graduate studies, but I was nowhere near ready. My writing was too weak.

This past spring, I decided it was time. I consulted with several lifetime First Things readers and one writer (my dear friend, Stephen Webb) and decided to convert a manuscript where I compare compulsory schooling to preventative war into a winning submission. I dedicated an entire week solely to the project and sent out drafts for feedback.

By the middle of the summer I gave up: it seemed like everything I edited demanded for seventeen more edits. I wanted it to be submitted in time for back-to-school season and I was clearly not going to finish in time. I decided to wait till next year — or the next. 

Then, last week, after a 5-hour commute to the Twin Cities, I watched the Republican National Convention and things began to come together, with the support of a very kind editor I’ve begun to work with. As those of you who read here know, my notes tend to grow like weeds. And this was no exception. In every way, today’s little reflection shows more than the overwrought, abandoned essay said. I edited it significantly over the weekend, but I never felt like I was trying to make it fit. It just came out; and just in time for back-to-school.

I am sure there are better, more disciplined and talented writers who can pen winning columns on demand. I cannot. Seeing the contrast between this outing and the last, I count today as another small lesson in my journey and craft as a writer. 

SR