J. R. Moehringer
J. R. Moehringer
John Joseph "J.R." Moehringeris an American novelist and journalist. In 2000 he won the Pulitzer Prize for newspaper feature writing...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth7 December 1964
CountryUnited States of America
collected publishers rejection since slips stuck suggested suggestion trying
I've been trying to write a book since before I was old enough to vote, and I've collected many rejection slips from publishers and magazines. I used to keep them all stuck to my refrigerator, with magnets, but an ex-girlfriend told me they were depressing, and defeatist, and suggested I take them down. A very wise suggestion on her part.
appealing arguing attitude christmas family information less machine meanness profanity screamed spend time web wrong
Like the Earth, the Web is a less appealing place than it used to be. If I want attitude and arguing and meanness and profanity and wrong information screamed at me as gospel, I'll get in a time machine and spend Christmas with my family in 1977.
bulls defined nutty players professors sideline teams
Basketball's eras are defined by teams - Celtics, Lakers, Bulls - and baseball's epochs are defined by players - Ruth, Robinson, Mantle - but with football, it's the sideline strategists, the nutty professors and top coated Lears.
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My father was a food lover and a deadbeat dad, and maybe a connection between good food and bad dads was forged early, in the deepest folds of my subconscious, where we make so many decisions about our parents.
maybe slate tight whenever
Now, whenever I need to go online, I confine myself to a tight circle: Gmail, MLB.com, NYTimes.com, Slate and maybe Facebook.
backyard belt credit dreams eternal football form game gets
Baseball always gets credit for the foundational part of masculinity - the father thing. The eternal game of backyard catch, 'Field of Dreams', the Ripkens, the Griffeys, the Bondses, so on. But football is the real paternal game, because it's a conveyor belt of father figures, in the form of coaches.
food learned power respect
Food still isn't my thing, but I've learned to respect its power and significance.
subjects
You think you choose the subjects of your books. But sometimes, in ways you don't know, the books choose you.
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Tacked above my desk are photos of artists I admire - Hopper, Sargent, Twain - and postcards from beloved bookstores where I've spent all my time and money - Tattered Cover, Elliot Bay, Harvard Bookstore.
definition lived love though
Vegas is like the old definition of writing: though I don't enjoy writing, I love having written. Though I didn't enjoy Vegas, I love having lived there.
bust great journalism meetings reporters rule sports sunshine time winning
There's that old journalism rule that sunshine is the great disinfectant - which is how reporters bust their way into meetings and such all the time. In sports, I really think winning is the great disinfectant.
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If you can live in Vegas, or visit Vegas, and leave in one piece, still loving it and somehow laughing about it, you should spend at least part of your last night in town doing something that will serve you well no matter where you go next: thank your lucky stars.
regret people bars
Of course many bars in Manhasset, like bars everywhere, were nasty places, full of pickled people marinating in regret.
sorry writing mind
I don't know. Sometimes I try to say what's on my mind and it comes out sounding like I ate a dictionary and I'm shitting pages. Sorry