I once read that Hunter S. Thompson, as a young and ambitious writer, tried to improve his writing by copying word for word the opening chapter of The Great Gatsby.

At that age, long before he became a literary legend, Thompson considered Fitzgerald’s book to be the great American novel, or close to it. So he typed it out to better understand the cadence, the rhythm, the style, the mood.

When we are all young, we copy our heroes, our mentors, our parents – until we gain a footing ourselves and go off on our own. We learn to flap our wings, or gums, and take off.

Recently, I came across another idea on copying that goes further. The idea is this: When you copy something, don’t just type it, write it by hand. The thinking is that copying something down in handwriting makes you go slower and actually think about what you are writing.

It also shows you why short sentences are better and why commas are important, and where they should go. It’s like learning in slow motion, which is a better…way…to…learn.

This doesn’t just apply to writing a book or story. If you are a cook, for instance, writing down a recipe by hand makes you think about each ingredient and step. Odds are you are less likely to forget to put garlic in the Tex-Mex Lasagna (as I have done).

Everyone loves receiving a handwritten letter. Unless your handwriting is indecipherable, like my mother’s was, which was exasperating (a word she said often to me in person, but if she ever wrote it I couldn’t read it).

If you are writing an important email, try it first long hand, with cross outs and new starts. Then type it and send it. It will help you clarify your thoughts and improve your message.

And when you type it by reading your handwriting, you’re less likely to have typos. I remember my horror when I wrote an ad for a client that said, “Stay smart. Think positve.” I had left out the second “i” in positive. My client (Linda F.) spotted it and brought it to my attention. It got changed fast, before it ran thank god – a full page ad in the Portland Business Journal.

If that law firm ad had run with the typo, I would have had to leave town and I'd still be hiding out today - perhaps with Hunter S. Thompson, in the clouds and bars above. Looking for a pen.

Call me Les.

This came to mind when I read some research on how to communicate with others – especially folks (including children) who don’t see eye to eye with you on certain things.

Be careful with negativity. Research has shown that negativity has a detrimental effect on the brain. It can change neural pathways (form ruts) and lead to long-lasting negative thinking. Evidence also shows that positivity – using words that express kindness and respect – can open pathways to further communication and create connections for more constructive dialogue.

That’s the central premise of "Words Can Change Your Brain," a book co-authored by Andrew Newberg, M.D., director of research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and Medical College; and Mark Waldman, Loyola Marymount communication professor.

They believe that from an early age our minds are “hardwired to respond favorably to certain types of speech and negatively to others.” As children, our brains are molded by the words we hear. Teaching children to use positive words helps them with emotional control and can even increase their attention spans.

Newberg states: “If you’re always emotionally stressed as a child, you become more easily stressed and more anxious throughout the rest of your life, almost. Those early childhood years are really essential for trying to create connections in the brain that foster more compassion, love and forgiveness and less fear and anxiety.”

Research also indicates that we often talk too much – longer than the average person is able to easily digest. Our brains can only grasp four things at a time. If you speak too long and make numerous points, the person listening will get just a portion of it. Eyes glaze over. Minds wander off. So I’d better finish this.

To get your point across, try to be more positive than negative. Use short sentences, simple words, and avoid adverbs and adjectives (which show bias). Limit your argument to just a few sentences at a time, approximately 30 seconds max. After that, comprehension drops like a rock.

Compassionate and kind trumps mean and nasty. Enough said.

Click your heels together or click the link below to sign up.

https://mailchi.mp/3b68236fbd6e/lesoverhead

Hey! Your your should be you're. But no sweat. You're human!

Somewhere, a robot is laughing at me.

Typos used to bug the holy bejezus outta me. They drove me berserk. Whenever I saw one on a sign I wanted to tear it down. If I saw one in a news story or magazine ad I wanted to set fire to it.

Once when a Portland brewery used the words MISSION STATMENT in a huge headline in a full-page ad, I wrote to the brewer in cheeky, smart-ass style: “E” now on sale at Les Overhead! Les Overhead is my one-man business, boss, and alter ego. I didn’t get a reply.

As a freelance copywriter/CD for nearly three decades, typos have long been the bane of my existence. Years ago, I was saved from my own terrible typo incident when my client called at the last minute to say she thought I had misspelled a word in their new ad which I was about to send to the publication.

The all-important call to action I’d written had only four words: Think positive. Hire smart. The designer had retyped the copy in her layout in a small serif font and spelled positive as “positve.” I totally missed the missing “i” when I proofed it.

When my client brought it to my attention (embarrassing enough) and I saw the error with my own eyes, it dropped me to my knees. I almost blew chow thinking of how stupid I’d have looked if the ad had run. It was a full-page ad for a law firm, in a book of ads for other law firms. I’d have had to leave town. Positively.

But I have a different view of typos now. I actually like them. Because, for better or worse, typos are caused by humans. They show that an actual living, breathing person created the message and he or she made a mistake, which is human. We all make mistakes. Some are damn funny.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be the death of us all if we’re not careful. Forget the Russians, it’s the robots we should be worried about. Someone should remake the movie: The robots are coming, the robots are coming! They’re already here, of course.

Automated content-generating writing is already being used in journalism and elsewhere.
Companies like Narrative Science and Automated Insights provide news bots that generate content for many different companies and publications. It started mainly with reporting on sports and stocks.

Now they’re moving more into general news. The Washington Post uses Heliograf, a news bot featuring arguably the most sophisticated use of artificial intelligence in journalism, thus far.

Narrative Science trains computers to write news stories. Its CTO and cofounder, Kristian Hammond, says these basic news stories are just the first step toward a world dominated by automated writing.

When asked what percentage of news would be written by computers in 15 years, Hammond said, “More than 90%.” He went on to say that in 20 years “there will be no area in which Narrative Science doesn’t write stories.”

When told that pontificators had predicted that a computer would win a Pulitzer Prize within 20 years, Hammond disagreed. It will happen in five, he said. I hope he’s wrong. I hope it doesn’t happen for a thousand years. Go ahead robots, laugh.

A P.R. pro once gave me a “tip” on how you can get an editor to read the press release or article you send in. It’s a risky move but kinda genius.

The idea is to deliberately insert a typo or other error in your opening sentence. Something subtle. When editors see it they will scoff, guffaw, and think how awful to have a typo in the opening line! And then they will read on, to the end, looking for more typos. They can’t help it. It’s an addiction. Of course, the rest of your press release must be smoothly and flawlessly written, sans typos.

That’s how you get an editor to read your submission. Just add a typo or spell a word wrong up front — like I did with bejezus (correctly spelled bejesus or bejeezus). Yes, it’s risky and you may look like a fool. But I like taking risks and I don’t fear looking like a fool. It won’t be the first time.

In short, I’m proud to be human. And that’s a sentence no robot anywhere, no matter how advanced, can write. Assuming it’s honest.

Long live typos! Write on, humans!

Hope somebody reads this all the way through.

As a competitive basketball player for untold years (48), I know well how important knees are. I would never have blocked as many shots (11) or swished so many countless jumpers (1,393), or dunked in so many opponents’ faces (0), without my knees rising to the occasion time after time. Go ahead and laugh.

But today, knees are no laughing matter. Never have knees been so powerful, so impactful, so important as they are now.

The action of kneeling and the phrase “taking a knee” has taken on a nebulous new significance and meaning. Meaning that's often unclear and misunderstood. Opinions of what it means are all over the map. Arguments erupt, tempers flare, tension boils, and friendships get destroyed.

To me, taking a knee shows support and empathy for people of color who, for generations, have been disrespected, harassed, and more times murdered than we might imagine by law enforcement in this arguably great country.

Kneeling is a humble, non-aggressive, patriotic act designed to call attention to what’s going on in cities large and small, black and white.

But news is fractured with so many sources. People get their information from similar-thinking friends and media outlets (left or right) that mirror their personal views.

As disputes rise, words and sentences get more angry and mean. Extremists get microphones and seats in Congress. The media ratchets it all up for ratings and pundits pontificate as if they are the voice of God. Facts be damned.

Meanwhile, we the people get more and more steamed each day as we approach the boiling point. Frogs? Trolls?

But I have hope. Recently, a relative in the Midwest reached out to me (not me to her) and asked in a courteous manner why, as I had claimed, taking a knee was good for our country. I’m thinking she felt the opposite, and probably still does. But she was sincere and civil. She lowered my temperature. Words can do that (it's some kind of physiological thing). I paused before firing off a reply to her, long enough to tone down my rhetoric.

I’m honored she reached out to understand her wacko relative in Portland a little better. Seems we need more of that – getting out of our silos and walking and talking down paths that lead to friendship and understanding. Kneeling if need be to start the conversation.

That’s the importance of knees, to me. I’m proud to take one. I hope it holds out.

Strangely enough, I’ve recently collaborated on a book with good friend and weirdly talented Portland artist, Karen Wippich. It’s titled “Driving Strangers: Diary of an Uber Driver.”

The book combines Karen’s oddly intriguing portraits with my brief, pithy musings about people I’ve ferried around Portland as an Uber driver. It features 25 art portraits, 75 Uber reflections, and driver data showing my net earnings per shift.

Even stranger, the book is for sale on Amazon and Createspace. In a blatant act of self-promotion, I’ve provided the link below.

P.S. The book also makes a nice cheese plate. Perfect for the holidays!

Find it on Amazon!

HEY, LOOK THIS WAY! READ THIS AMAZING BLOG POST! You will be astounded at what happens next! Did you hear the shocking news? Are you missing the boat on this? Good God, HURRY!

(Pause. Heavy, exasperated sigh.) I am really, really, really tired of emails and headlines that bark like yip dogs for attention. They come from everywhere – sellers, service providers, news outlets, social media… I’m getting carpal tunnel deleting them as fast as I can.

Here’s what I won’t delete (at least in a nanosecond).
1. Emails with subject lines that are not desperate, dumb, blatant hype.
2. Messages that offer good information I can use.
3. Headlines and images that are interesting, entertaining, or humorous as hell.

Those are the three ways to get into my mind and make a connection. Without them, the doorman will not let you in. GET LOST!

On a recent holiday trip to Morocco, I spent some time in Marrakech with various local freelancers, including storytellers, drummers, dancers with roosters on their head, fortune-tellers, cell phone hawkers, and one highly charming snake charmer.

I came away with five insights into freelancing that can be applied in any country, any line of work. Not just snake charming.

1. People will be leery of you and what you offer. When you approach prospects, do it in a light-hearted way. Be friendly and casual, make a joke, and ask a personal question (such as where they are from) to start a conversation.

2. Don’t beat around the bush too long. Get to the point soon and bring out your goods (snakes, roosters, rugs, design, copy, consulting).

3. Let customers try on your product – whether it be a cobra, leather jacket, or creative work. For instance, create an ad or poster for your prospect that shows your design and copy. Give them an idea of how it will look, feel and work. Then offer it at reduced cost and nurture the relationship. Bargain wisely and fairly.

4. Explain how simple it is to work with you. Keep it short and add some wit and humor to show your warm, engaging personality. If you don’t have such a personality, get a snake.

5. If the prospect turns you down, just smile and say, “Okay, friend. Maybe later.” It works. After first turning the snake charmer down, I went back later and paid for a photo.

Hope your new year is even better than the last one. Keep smiling in 2015!