{"id":124810836,"date":"2023-05-31T12:30:58","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T12:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=124810836"},"modified":"2023-05-31T12:30:58","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T12:30:58","slug":"heat-culture-for-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=124810836","title":{"rendered":"Heat Culture (For Writers)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8220;a practice \/\/ we talking about,&#8221; &#8211; Ross Gay, &#8216;Be Holding&#8217;<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NBA Finals are set: Denver Nuggets vs. Miami Heat. People who enjoy basketball are thrilled, because these are two excellent teams. People at ESPN are pissed because now they have to learn names like \u201cBruce\u201d and \u201cCaleb\u201d instead of re-skinning some Lakers\/Celtics montages to include Austin Reaves and Malcolm Brogdon. <\/p><div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\"><div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\"><div class=\"preamble\"><p class=\"cta-caption\">Hey ESPN. Sorry about that stray. I <em>will<\/em> write for you if you give me a contact.<\/p><\/div><form class=\"subscription-widget-subscribe\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Type your email\u2026\" tabindex=\"-1\"\/><input type=\"submit\" class=\"button primary\" value=\"Subscribe\"\/><div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\"><div class=\"fake-input\"\/><div class=\"fake-button\"\/><\/div><\/form><\/div><\/div><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a guy who watches basketball for aesthetics (read: bad at parties), I\u2019m stoked about this matchup. On the one side are the Nuggets, a genuinely selfless team who plays The Beautiful Game. On the other side are the Heat, a bunch of Dudes Who Work Out doing things like moving without the ball and threading interior passes. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/8e1c097a-5485-4298-ba6a-a19c5f27fb85_800x570.jpeg\" alt=\"File:Jellyfish (79552693).jpeg\"\/><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over at <span class=\"mention-wrap\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Good Morning It's Basketball&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:23963,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;pub&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/open.substack.com\/pub\/ziller&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/e863d6c8-e368-4b19-9a60-4e964eb8929a_1280x1280.png&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;f5cfea58-1d0d-473c-ab1c-370e21003492&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"MentionToDOM\"\/> , <a href=\"https:\/\/ziller.substack.com\/p\/the-immaculate-heat\">Tom Ziller has a great breakdown of Heat Culture<\/a>. Basically, it\u2019s that the Heat do things like \u201ctry hard\u201d and \u201cexpect greatness out of each other\u201d and \u201chold each other accountable\u201d and \u201cstay in shape\u201d and \u201cpractice basketball.\u201d Honestly sounds like a bunch of undrafted nerds. Nerds who have been to three of the last four conference finals and two of the four finals. This iteration of the Heat plays Ugly Beautiful basketball, in that they beat the hell out of you on defense, and then when they get on offense, they\u2019re setting hard screens and making the right read and attacking off the catch.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019a typical action, with Caleb Martin inbounding to Bam Adebayo, who alley-oops a cutting Jimmy Butler: <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jimmy Butler Tips in the Game Winner in Overtime!\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LxXdczpfDZQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hey that wasn\u2019t the right video. How\u2019d that get there.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/0d63b965-9371-43c3-8711-f3e6fb4de9bd_480x480.gif\" alt=\"Chicago Bulls Lol GIF by NBA\"\/><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway, the Nuggets, man, how else to design a team of pure archetypes? Life, The Universe, And Everything revolves around Nikola Joki\u0107, who bruises easily and looks like a bag of milk (h\/t to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/treykerby\">Trey Kerby<\/a>). He\u2019s like Bill Walton with working feet and three point range, or Arvydas Sabonis born on the right side of the Cold War timeline. We finally get to see what the Boomers were on about, and it\u2019s awesome. It\u2019s not just his infectious passing, though\u2014Jamal Murray is a fancy little trickster making funny faces at defenders he\u2019s whipping, Aaron Gordon has finally found a basketball situation that fits his Shawn Kemp-without-handles skillset, and Michael Porter, Jr. is a 6\u201910\u201d robot designed to make every shot he takes and play decent defense. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown bring ineffable coolness; Jeff Green plays like he says \u201clook out now, young blood\u201d to people. They\u2019re a marvelous team. Here\u2019s Jokic dropping 30 on the Raptors: <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Doug McDermott Full Career-High Highlights vs Raptors (2016.02.19) - 30 Pts, TOO GOOD!\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/79AMz4qfkHg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wait my bad. That\u2019s Doug McDermott, who the Bulls traded Jusuf Nurki\u0107 to the Nuggets for on draft night, the same draft the Nuggets took Joki\u0107 in the second round. Look, it\u2019s not like McDermott for Nurki\u0107 and Gary Harris wasn\u2019t a bad trade for the Bulls (it was). It\u2019s more that the Bulls couldn\u2019t even trade for the right Eastern European center. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway, how does this relate to writing? <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/99a2d18a-f10e-4bd8-aad5-57b2fe9fd87f_600x450.jpeg\" alt=\"File:Cleaner station komodo.jpg\"\/><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe because I was an athlete before I was an artist, but these discipline\/play the right way metaphors <em>do<\/em> work for me. Writing is like working out, in that it sucks at first but gets easier over time. Also, it\u2019s <em>way<\/em> easier to say \u201cI could run an 8k\u201d than it is to run an 8k, as I recently learned, and now replace \u201crun an 8k\u201d with \u201cfinish a novel.\u201d<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/3a4b0a9b-0b5b-4385-9280-8fb6adbbf5b3_480x478.gif\" alt=\"Celebrity gif. NBA Player Jimmy Butler on the Chicago Bulls sits on the sidelines looking out at the court. He\u2019s concentrated on the game until something shocks him, and he blinks in confusion. He looks away with squinted eyes and pursed out limps, still super confused about what he just witnessed.\"\/><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s the writer\u2019s equivalent of Heat Culture? The writer\u2019s equivalent of \u201cPat Riley said I had to run a bunch of laps or else no signing bonus?\u201d Is it writing for an hour every day? Doing \u201c30 poems in 30 days\u201d or NaNoWriMo challenges? Is it always ensuring <a href=\"https:\/\/countercraft.substack.com\/p\/yes-metaphors-should-actually-make\">your metaphors make sense<\/a>, h\/t to Lincoln Michel at <span class=\"mention-wrap\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Counter Craft&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:284412,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;pub&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/open.substack.com\/pub\/countercraft&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/ef29a3ea-a3f9-4bcd-b7c9-733ebbe31fbe_400x400.png&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;31eaff4b-5d2c-4861-8103-d59177a723b1&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"MentionToDOM\"\/> ?Is it finally learning that drinking hard liquor <s>the night before games<\/s> while at your writer\u2019s desk actually makes you worse, not better? <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s the writer\u2019s equivalent of being drafted in the second round, winning two MVPs, and having people <em>who work for ESPN<\/em> saying \u201chadn\u2019t really watched this guy, guess he\u2019s good\u201d <em>during the conference finals<\/em>? Is it not having an MFA? Is it finishing your novel between eight-hour shifts at a call center and after your kids go to bed? Finishing your poems despite living with chronic illness\/chronic pain? Is it winning the National Book Award and then thinking wistfully about all the rejections you got before publication? <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/618329b5-5b77-4f36-8030-484740287d80_800x528.jpeg\" alt=\"File:Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) (32749142772).jpg\"\/><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For what it\u2019s worth, and this blog is free: five years ago, I wasn\u2019t writing at all. Finally working up the courage to pitch <em>Cracked<\/em>, starting up The Line Break and meeting the Cotton Xenomorph homies, giving myself the assignment of this blog twice a week: all that gave me things I needed like deadlines, confidence, validation. All of that got me writing again, and man, I don\u2019t have the publications to point to yet, but I have been like this: <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/797d8423-8a3e-46f1-a295-50a78f4aa183_500x280.gif\" alt=\"Kermit The Frog Reaction GIF by Muppet Wiki\"\/><\/figure><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During that course of time, I\u2019ve felt myself getting better. Crisper paragraphs, fuller characters, more gooder sentences. I feel my eye for sense-making metaphor sharpening. I\u2019m <em>thiiiiiiis<\/em> much closer to writing a sincere blog post without backhanded complimenting myself. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But really, I think what I\u2019m most excited about with writing lately is that it feels like trying hard and practicing is paying off. If Nikola Joki\u0107 and Jimmy Butler can succeed with head-down hard work, why not anyone who gives a damn about their craft? <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorry you got an email, <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris<\/p><div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/shipwreckedsailor.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\"><div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\"><div class=\"preamble\"><p class=\"cta-caption\">Thanks for reading shipwrecked sailor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<\/p><\/div><form class=\"subscription-widget-subscribe\"><input type=\"email\" class=\"email-input\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Type your email\u2026\" tabindex=\"-1\"\/><input type=\"submit\" class=\"button primary\" value=\"Subscribe\"\/><div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\"><div class=\"fake-input\"\/><div class=\"fake-button\"\/><\/div><\/form><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;a practice \/\/ we talking about,&#8221; &#8211; Ross Gay, &#8216;Be Holding&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124810836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124810836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124810836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124810836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124810836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124810836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124810836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}