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blackkudos · 4 years

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Shirley Horn

Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz greats including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and others. She was most noted for her ability to accompany herself with nearly incomparable independence and ability on the piano while singing, something described by arranger Johnny Mandel as "like having two heads", and for her rich, lush voice, a smoky contralto, which was described by noted producer and arranger Quincy Jones as "like clothing, as she seduces you with her voice".

Biography

Shirley Horn was born and raised in Washington, D.C.. Encouraged by her grandmother, an amateur organist, Horn began piano lessons at the age of four. Aged 12, she studied piano and composition at Howard University, later graduating from there in classical music. Horn was offered a place at the Juilliard School, but her family could not afford to send her there. Horn formed her first jazz piano trio when she was 20. Horn's early piano influences were Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal, and moving away from her classical background, Horn later said that "Oscar Peterson became my Rachmaninov, and Ahmad Jamal became my Debussy." She then became enamored with the famous U Street jazz area of Washington (largely destroyed in the 1968 riots), sneaking into jazz clubs before she was of legal age.

According to jazz journalist James Gavin, the small New York City record label Stere-O-Craft discovered Horn in Washington, D.C. and brought her to New York to record her first album, 1960's Embers and Ashes. Horn had recorded with violinist Stuff Smith in Washington, D.C. in 1959, as a pianist in one of the rhythm sections featured on Cat on a Hot Fiddle. Unfortunately for Horn, Verve Records did not include her name on the album's list of backing musicians, and the experience did not raise her professional profile.(A later reissue of Stuff Smith's Verve recordings on Mosaic Records documented Horn's participation, and included three Horn vocal performances of George Gershwin songs that were left off the album.)

Horn's Embers and Ashes record attracted the attention of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who praised Horn publicly and invited her to play intermission sets during his performances at the Village Vanguard. Davis's praise had particular resonance in two respects: because he was highly respected as a musician, and because he rarely offered public praise for fellow musicians at that time. A 1961 live performance recorded in St. Louis' Gaslight Square district was eventually released on LP under the title "Live" at the Village Vanguard. (A later CD reissue of this material was released under the title At the Gaslight Square 1961).

By 1962, Horn had attracted the attention of Mercury Records vice-president (and jazz arranger) Quincy Jones, who signed Horn to Mercury. On her two Mercury LPs, Horn was placed in a traditional pop setting with medium-sized jazz orchestra, and on neither album did she play piano. According to jazz journalist James Gavin, a third Mercury LP was recorded but never issued, and as of 1993, the tapes for that album were presumed to be lost. Horn's final LP of the 1960s was 1965's Travelin' Light, recorded for ABC-Paramount. She was popular with jazz critics, but did not achieve significant popular success.

Though she had recorded a song by The Beatles on Travelin' Light, Horn for the most part resisted efforts to remake her into a popular singer in the mid-1960s, later saying of such attempts "I will not stoop to conquer." From the late-1960s to the early 1980s, she was semi-retired from music, staying in Washington, D.C. to raise her daughter Rainy with her husband, Sheppard Deering (whom she had married in 1955), and largely limiting her music to local performances. She made one album in 1972 for Perception Records, but the record received little notice, and Horn did not tour to promote it.

In 1978, Horn's career got a boost when SteepleChase Records of Denmark tracked her down in Washington, D.C. and offered to record her with drummer Billy Hart, (whom Horn had known for many years) and bassist Buster Williams. The resulting album, A Lazy Afternoon was the first of a total of four Horn albums released by SteepleChase between 1978 and 1984. Horn also began to play engagements in North America and Europe, including the North Sea Jazz Festival, where two of her albums were recorded.

In 1986, Horn signed a one-record deal with CBS-Sony for the Japanese market and released All of Me, a studio session recorded in New York City with her regular trio and guest Frank Wess on three tracks. By early 1987, Verve Records was pursuing a recording contract with her, and in May of that year, the live album I Thought About You, her first for Verve, was recorded in Hollywood. Horn recorded one further session for an indepdendent jazz label (1987's Softly, for Audiophile Records), then returned to Verve. She released a total of 11 studio and live albums for the label during her lifetime (additional compilation albums added to this total). Horn's most commercially successful years were spent with Verve, and the label helped her find a large international audience.

Miles Davis made a rare appearance as a sideman on Horn's 1991 album You Won't Forget Me. Although she preferred to perform in small settings, such as her trio, she also recorded with orchestras, as on the 1992 album Here's to Life, the title song of which became her signature song. A video documentary of Horn's life and music was released at the same time as "Here's To Life" and shared its title. At the time, arranger Johnny Mandel commented that Horn's piano skill was comparable to that of the noted jazz great Bill Evans. A follow-up was made in 2001, named You're My Thrill.

Horn worked with the same rhythm section for 25 years: Charles Ables (bass) and Steve Williams (drums). Don Heckman wrote in the Los Angeles Times (February 2, 1995) about "the importance of bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams to Horn's sound. Working with boundless subtlety, following her every spontaneous twist and turn, they were the ideal accompanists for a performer who clearly will tolerate nothing less than perfection".

Her albums Here's to Life, Light Out of Darkness (A Tribute to Ray Charles) and I Love You, Paris all reached number one on the Billboard jazz charts.

A breast cancer survivor, she had been battling diabetes when she died of complications from the condition, aged 71. She is interred at Ft. Lincoln Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Since her death, concert recordings of Horn have been released on CD and DVD by Resonance Records and Image Entertainment.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Shirley Horn among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Awards and honors

Horn was nominated for nine Grammy Awards during her career, winning the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance at the 41st Grammy Awards for I Remember Miles, a tribute to her friend and mentor (the album's cover featuring a Miles Davis drawing of them both).

She was officially recognized by the 109th US Congress for "her many achievements and contributions to the world of jazz and American culture", and performed at The White House for several U.S. presidents. Horn was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music in 2002.

She was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2005 (the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians).

Discography

As leader

Embers and Ashes (Stere-o-Craft, 1960)

Loads of Love (Mercury, 1963)

Shirley Horn with Horns (Mercury, 1963)

Travelin' Light (ABC-Paramount, 1965)

Where Are You Going (Perception, 1973)

A Lazy Afternoon (SteepleChase, 1979)

All Night Long (SteepleChase, 1981)

Violets for Your Furs (SteepleChase, 1982)

The Garden of the Blues (SteepleChase, 1985)

I Thought About You (Verve, 1987)

All of Me (CBS/Sony, 1987)

Softly (Audiophile, 1988)

Close Enough for Love (Verve, 1989)

You Won't Forget Me (Verve, 1991)

Here's to Life (Verve, 1992)

Light Out of Darkness (A Tribute to Ray Charles) (Verve, 1993)

I Love You, Paris (Verve, 1994)

The Main Ingredient (Verve, 1996)

Loving You (Verve, 1997)

I Remember Miles (Verve, 1998)

May the Music Never End (Verve, 2003)

You're My Thrill (Verve, 2000)

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Guest Shirley Horn (Jazz Alliance, 2006)

Live at the 1994 Monterey Jazz Festival (Concord, 2008)

Live at the Four Queens (Resonance, 2016)

As guest

Benny Carter, Benny Carter Songbook (MusicMasters, 1997)

Bill Charlap, Stardust (Blue Note, 2003)

Benny Golson, One Day, Forever (Arkadia Jazz, 2001)

Charlie Haden, The Art of the Song (Verve, 1999)

Quincy Jones, For Love of Ivy (ABC, 1968)

Carmen McRae, Sarah: Dedicated to You (BMG/Novus, 1991)

Oscar Peterson, A Tribute to Oscar Peterson – Live at the Town Hall (Telarc, 1996)

Jeffery Smith, Ramona (Gitanes/Verve, 1995)

Stuff Smith, Cat on a Hot Fiddle (Verve, 1960)

Clark Terry, Live on QE2 (Chiaroscuro, 2001)

Toots Thielemans, For My Lady (EmArcy, 1991)

Joe Williams, In Good Company (Verve, 1989)

DVD

Live at the Village Vanguard (Lucy II, 2006)

#05/01 #10/20

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piranha2509-blog · 5 years

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2019 NFL MOCK DRAFT

ROUND 1

1. Cardinals

The Pick: Nick Bosa - Defensive End, Ohio State

Chandler Jones has been one of the fews bright spots for this 3-13 Cardinals team with 13 sacks on the seasons. His numbers are actually deflated because with no running mate other teams can double team him without having to worry. With the first pick in the draft the Cardinals can change that by selecting Bosa who dominated at Ohio State. The Jones and Bosa tandem could be one to terrorize quarterbacks for many years to come.

2. 49ers

The Pick: Josh Allen - Edge Rusher, Kentucky

It’s very likely that the 49ers trade down to either the Jaguars or Giants both of whom are trying to get in front of the other to select Dwayne Haskins. If they stay put however, they will likely take the uber-talented pass rusher Josh Allen whose decision to forgo the chance to enter the draft last year really paid off. He put up monster numbers in Kentucky and he could really strengthen the 49ers D-Line.

3. Jets

The Pick: Quinnen Williams - Defensive Tackle, Alabama

With the top two edge rushers in this draft Nick Bosa and Josh Allen gone the Jets are going to look to get the best player available and thankfully the best player available might be the best player in the entire draft class. Quinnen Williams was a monster up the middle at Alabama. Gregg Williams comes to the Jets with his new 4-3 scheme and Quinnen Williams should slide right in at Nose Tackle.

4. Raiders

The Pick: Kyler Murray - Quarterback, Oklahoma

With the tier one players in this draft class going in the top three selections Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock might not be benefiting as much as they normally would by selecting the best player available. Watching what the division rival Chiefs did with Pat Mahomes they could draft Kyler Murray this year and give him a year to learn the offense before he hopefully explodes like Mahomes did this year.

5. Buccaneers

The Pick: Rashan Gary - Defensive Lineman, Michigan

There are a lot of reports coming out that Gerald McCoy’s days in Tampa Bay might be numbered. Even if he stays he’s 30 years old and looks to be on the decline. Their next best D-Lineman was Jason Pierre Paul and he’s 30 as well. Rashan Gary is hyper athletic and can play any position on the D-Line. While his numbers might not be the greatest his athleticism warrants a selection in the Top 5.

6. Giants

The Pick: Dwayne Haskins - Quarterback, Ohio State

Eli Manning might still have a year or two left in the tank but Dave Gettleman thinks that it’s about to time to replace him with a younger Qb. Dwayne Haskins proved in his redshirt sophomore year about as much as you can prove in just one season. His sturdy frame, quick release, and pinpoint accuracy allowed him to quickly become one of the best CFB prospects who should be the future in the Big Apple.

TRADE! Broncos Get: Jaguars 1st Rounder, Jaguars Get: Broncos 1st, 3rd, & 6th Rounder

7. Broncos

The Pick: Drew Lock - Quarterback, Missouri

Watching Kyler Murray go 4th overall not only horrifies the Broncos because they’re gonna see him twice a year for another 10-15 years but it also may force the Jags to take the third best passer in the class in Drew Lock. Drew Lock perfectly fits John Elway’s mold for a perfect quarterback with good size and a big arm and those characteristics force Denver to trade up to get Lock.

8. Lions

The Pick: Clelin Ferrell - Defensive End, Clemson

While it looks like Matt Patricia didn’t exactly have the best first year in the Motor City he was able to do a pretty nice job with the Lions defense taking them from 20th in sacks to 11th with sub-par talent. Ziggy Ansah had a down year for his standards totaling only 4 sacks and now he’s set to become a free agent. Clelin Ferrell has great moves which allow him to get to the Qb often and he can fill the void Ziggy Ansah is going to leave.

9. Bills

The Pick: Ed Oliver - Defensive Tackle, Houston

Ed Oliver was projected to go Number One overall just one year ago but he had a kind of down year in 2019. Injuries held him back and at times he had trouble getting to the quarterback at times while other defensive tackles were improving their stock. His size is also an issue but he’s still a disruptive force up the middle. At pick nine he’s a steal for the Bills who will slot him in where previous franchise tackle Kyle Williams played.

TRADE! Broncos Get: Jaguars 1st Rounder, Jaguars Get: Broncos 1st, 3rd, & 6th Rounder

10. Jaguars

The Pick: Jonah Williams - Offensive Tackle, Alabama

The Jaguars trade down 3 spots and pass on Drew Lock when the Broncos give them an offer they can’t pass up. One of the reasons the Blake Bortles underperformed so much last year was because he was under pressure at times. Assuming the Jags pick up Foles in free agency they are going to have to protect him. Jonah Williams was great at Alabama and would be a steal at the tenth pick.

11. Bengals

The Pick: Devin White - Linebacker, LSU

Vontaze Burfict has dealt with multiple injuries over his career and his latest concussion might have just put his career in jeopardy. Even with Burfict for most of the season the Bengals were still ranked 4th worst in rushing yards per game. At LSU Devin White was easily the best linebacker in college football. He’s a fast sideline to sideline thumper who would add some oomph to this Bengals defense.

12. Packers

The Pick: Jachai Polite - Defensive End, Florida

Mike McCarthy was fired at the end of the season but when new coach Matt LaFleur came in the defensive coordinator Mike Pettine stayed. Mike Pettine likes running the 3-4 defensive scheme however, he’s been missing a star pass rusher. Kyler Fackrell shows good potential and they need someone next to him and Jachai Polite has great speed and moves which allow him to get to the quarterback often.

13. Dolphins

The Pick: Montez Sweat - Edge Rusher, Mississippi State

Cameron Wake is 37 years old and isn’t going to get any younger. The Robert Quinn trade they made last year was solid but he declined a little and soon he’s going to be out of his prime as well. The Dolphins really don’t have much other talent on the Defensive Line. Montez Sweat is 6’6” and 241 pounds and has great speed and power which allows him to get to the quarterback on a regular basis.

14. Falcons

The Pick: Greedy Williams - Cornerback, LSU

The Falcons were just outside the bottom five in passing yards given up per game and they cut Robert Alford in the offseason. They need help badly in the secondary as Desmond Trufant and Isaiah Oliver were underwhelming to say the least. Greedy Williams is a lengthy, quick, corner with great awareness and ball skills. While he isn’t necessarily the best fit in the Falcons defense he will still be an immediate upgrade at corner.

15. Redskins

The Pick: Daniel Jones - Quarterback, Duke

Alex Smith suffered a gruesome injury and it doesn’t look like he’s going to return for the 2019 season. There’s also a chance that Smith never returns from his injury the same way Theismann didn’t and none of the free agent quarterbacks look like long term fixes for the Redskins. Daniel Jones was coached by Daniel Cutcliffe in Duke a man who is also credited in developing Eli & Peyton Manning.

16. Panthers

The Pick: Brian Burns - Defensive End, Florida State

Mario Addison is thirty one years old and has a few good years left in the tank. They need to give him a running mate and then a possible replacement after a few more years. Julius Peppers had his lowest sack total since 2007 and he’s now retired. The Panthers need someone to get pressure on the quarterback so they pick Brian Burns a pass rusher with one of the highest upsides in the draft.

17. Browns

The Pick: Christian Wilkins - Defensive Tackle, Clemson

Christian Wilkins dominated guards during his first three years and Clemson and that is why it was so surprising to see him return for his senior season in Clemson. The decision that seemed poor at first happened to pay off big time as he had a career year at Clemson. John Dorsey is going to continue building up this young Browns team and he is gonna take Wilkins and put him next to Larry Ogunjobi for a dangerous duo up the middle.

18. Vikings

The Pick: Cody Ford - Offensive Guard, Oklahoma

Riley Reiff is the only sure thing on this offensive line at this point and they need help at every position. Cody Ford played tackle at times but he was mainly a mover of men at the offensive guard position. Cody Ford is 6’4” and 338 pounds. He’s a monster who finishes his blocks and rarely gets beat. He’s a great run and pass blocker and would automatically make the rest of the team better.

TRADE! Patriots Get: Titans 1st Rounder, Titans Get: Broncos 1st & 3rd Rounder

19. Patriots

The Pick: TJ Hockenson - Tight End, Iowa

It feels as if the Patriots have just won the Super Bowl for the 53rd time in a row. If there is one position that the Patriots might want to look at in the draft it’s going to be at tight end where Rob Gronkowski looks like his career is going to be winding down. In what is probably his last year in the NFL they should look to draft his successor and there’s no one better then the athletic TJ Hockenson to take his job.

20. Steelers

The Pick: Byron Murphy - Cornerback, Washington

For a team that can’t miss when drafting wide receivers it’s kind of odd that the Steelers always miss while drafting a defensive back. Joe Haden was the only bright spot in the secondary and he looks like he will hold down one of the starting spots. The other spot currently belongs to Coty Sensabaugh who they could use an upgrade over. Byron Murphy is an aggressive ball hawk cornerback who can fix the Steelers issues at cornerback.

TRADE! Chiefs Get: Seahawks 1st Rounder, Seahawks Get: Chiefs 1st, 4th & 7th Rounder

21. Chiefs

The Pick: DeAndre Baker - Cornerback, Georgia

The Chiefs inability to stop the pass not only got defensive coordinator Bob Sutton fired but it also kept them from playing the Super Bowl. Kendall Fuller was solid but got injured near the end of the season and Eric Berry has hit the 30 year old mark. The rest of the secondary was a complete mess. DeAndre Baker is an agile corner with great ball skills and instincts that make the Chiefs feel the need to trade up to get him.

22. Ravens

The Pick: DK Metcalf - Wide Receiver, Ole Miss

Lamar Jackson performed well in his first year because teams weren’t used to playing a team with a quarterback who could also play running back. Teams will eventually adjust and Lamar won’t last very long in this league. To stop him from this fate the Ravens need to add talent at wide receiver. DK Metcalf is the prototypical wide receiver with a great combination of speed and size making him the ideal WR1 for Jackson.

23. Texans

The Pick: Greg Little - Offensive Tackle, Ole Miss

Every week DeShaun Watson has to fear for his life playing behind the worst offensive line in the league. They gave up SIXTY ONE sacks during the season. The blind side tackle position in particular was one of the worst positions for the Texans and they could really use an upgrade. Greg Little from Ole Miss has great size for an Offensive Tackle and he has great footwork and athleticism.

24. Raiders

The Pick: Josh Jacobs - Running Back, Alabama

When the Raiders picked up Marshawn Lynch two years ago they thought they were going to be getting the Marshawn Lynch who they saw in Seattle, a guy who powered straight through people and ran pretty well downhill. The Raiders didn’t get close to that and now they have the perfect opportunity to give Kyler Murray a run game with a crazy dynamic back in Josh Jacobs.

25. Eagles

The Pick: Dexter Lawrence - Defensive Tackle, Clemson

Fletcher Cox has been one of the best or even the best defensive tackle in football. He can get to the quarterback as evident with his 10.5 sacks. When offenses ran the ball Cox spent his time in backfields as evident by his 12 tackles for a loss. Next to Cox however, the Eagles got next to no production as Haloti Ngata took a big step back. The Eagles draft the humongous Dexter Lawrence who complements Cox.

26. Colts

The Pick: Kelvin Harmon - Wide Receiver, NC State

The Colts exceeded all expectations this season with a huge bounce back year from Andrew Luck which was enough to get him Comeback Player of the Year Honors. He managed to do this without very many weapons as after Hilton and Ebron the Colts pass catchers aren’t anything special. Kelvin Harmon is a big body wide receiver who catches 50-50 balls and would be the perfect complement to Hilton in the Colts offense.

27. Raiders

The Pick: Marquise Brown - Wide Receiver, Oklahoma

One of the reasons why Derek Carr was unable to produce at the level that he did in 2016 was the lack of weapons he’s had. They lost Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree and replaced them with Jared Cook and Jordy Nelson who are 31 and 33 respectively. The Raiders need a deep threat who can stretch the field and make big plays and Antonio Brown’s cousin Marquise Brown would fit that role perfectly.

28. Raiders

The Pick: Devin Bush - Linebacker, Michigan

Despite having a solid Top 12 defense in almost every rushing statistic including yards per game, yards per attempts, and total rushes the Chargers got absolutely crushed by the Patriots run game in the divisional round matchup. The game showed that they needed to upgrade the linebacker position especially with linebacker Denzel Perryman entering free agency.

TRADE! Chiefs Get: Seahawks 1st Rounder, Seahawks Get: Chiefs 1st, 4th & 7th Rounder

29. Seahawks

The Pick: Nasir Adderley - Safety, Delaware

The Seahawks managed to make the playoffs just a year after losing Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor, Cliff Avril, and Sheldon Richardson. To add insult to injury Earl Thomas got injured in the third game of the season. After the injury he stuck up his middle finger signifying he isn’t returning to the Emerald City. Nasir Adderley is a versatile safety who should amend for the Earl Thomas loss.

30. Packers

The Pick: Deionte Thompson - Safety, Alabama

The Packers defense not only needs help on the D-Line they need help in the secondary. They drafted two cornerback in the 2018 draft but then they traded Ha-Ha Clinton Dix in the middle of the season and now there is a glaring need at safety. The Packers play one safety up more then any team in the league and a rangy playmaker like Deionte Thompson could really help the defense.

31. Rams

The Pick: Jaylon Ferguson - Edge Rusher, Louisiana Tech

Robert Quinn a key contributor on the Rams defensive line in 2017 was traded away and the Rams traded for Dante Fowler to replace him. Fowler however, is only a short term fix at edge rusher as he is a free agent and the Rams don’t look like their bringing him back. Jaylon Ferguson can replace him and despite playing for small school Louisiana Tech, he managed to set the NCAA record for most sacks in a career.

TRADE! Patriots Get: Titans 1st Rounder, Titans Get: Broncos 1st & 3rd Rounder

32. Titans

The Pick: N’Keal Harry - Wide Receiver, Arizona State

The Tennessee Titans just don’t have the weapons around Marcus Mariota to make a deep playoff run. Corey Davis was very solid last season but around him Taywan Taylor, Tajae Sharpe, and Jonnu Smith all performed well under expectations which weren’t very high in the first place. Delanie Walker was injured and now he’s getting older and the Titans need another big wide receiver like great measurables like N’Keal Harry.

ROUND 2

33. Cardinals

The Pick: Jawaan Taylor - Offensive Tackle, Florida

34. Colts

The Pick: Dre’Mont Jones - Defensive Tackle, Ohio State

35. Raiders

The Pick: Zach Allen - Defensive End, Boston College

33. 49ers

The Pick: Trayvon Mullen - Cornerback, Clemson

37. Giants

The Pick: Jerry Tillery - Defensive Tackle, Notre Dame

38. Jaguars

The Pick: Noah Fant - Tight End, Iowa

39. Buccaneers

The Pick: Dalton Risner - Offensive Tackle, Kansas State

40. Bills

The Pick: Hakeem Butler - Wide Receiver, Iowa State

41. Broncos

The Pick: Julian Love - Cornerback, Notre Dame

42. Bengals

The Pick: Jeffrey Simmons - Defensive Tackle, Mississippi State

43. Lions

The Pick: Amani Oruwariye - Cornerback, Penn State

44. Packers

The Pick: Irv Smith Jr - Tight End, Alabama

45. Falcons

The Pick: Gerald Willis III - Defensive Tackle, Miami (FL)

46. Redskins

The Pick: JJ Arcega-Whiteside - Wide Receiver, Stanford

47. Panthers

The Pick: Garrett Bradbury - Center, NC State

48. Dolphins

The Pick: Chris Lindstrom - Offensive Guard, Boston College

49. Browns

The Pick: Andre Dillard - Offensive Tackle, Washington State

50. Vikings

The Pick: Mack Wilson - Linebacker, Alabama

51. Titans

The Pick: Oshane Ximines - Edge Rusher, Old Dominion

52. Steelers

The Pick: Tre Lamar - Linebacker, Clemson

53. Eagles

The Pick: Deebo Samuel - Wide Receiver, South Carolina

54. Texans

The Pick: Beau Benzschawel - Offensive Guard, Wisconsin

55. Texans

The Pick: Taylor Rapp - Safety, Washington

56. Patriots

The Pick: Charles Omenihu - Defensive End, Texas

57. Eagles

The Pick: Yodny Cajuste - Offensive Tackle, West Virginia

58. Cowboys

The Pick: Isaiah Buggs - Defensive Line, Alabama

59. Colts

The Pick: Chauncey-Gardner Johnson - Safety, Florida

60. Chargers

The Pick: David Edwards - Offensive Tackle, Wisconsin

61. Chiefs

The Pick: Juan Thornhill - Safety, Virginia Tech

62. New Orleans

The Pick: Rock Ya-Sin - Cornerback, Temple

63. Chiefs

The Pick: David Montgomery - Running Back, Iowa State

64. Patriots

The Pick: AJ Brown - Wide Receiver, Ole Miss

ROUND 3

65. Cardinals

The Pick: Riley Ridley - Wide Receiver, Georgia

66. Raiders

The Pick: Jonathan Abram - Safety, Mississippi State

67. 49ers

The Pick: Erik McCoy - Offensive Guard, Texas A&M

68. Jets

The Pick: Chase Winovich - Edge Rusher, Michigan

69. Jaguars

The Pick: Anthony Johnson - Wide Receiver, Buffalo

70. Buccaneers

The Pick: Kris Boyd - Cornerback, Texas

71. Giants

Forfeited

72. Broncos

The Pick: Kaleb McGary - Offensive Tackle, Washington

73. Bengals

The Pick: Isaiah Prince - Offensive Tackle, Ohio State

74. Patriots

The Pick: Ryan Finley - Quarterback, NC State

75. Bills

The Pick: Elgton Jenkins - Center, Mississippi State

76. Packers

The Pick: Michael Deiter - Offensive Guard, Wisconsin

77. Redskins

The Pick: Connor McGovern - Offensive Guard, Penn State

78. Panthers

The Pick: Kaden Smith - Tight End, Stanford

79. Dolphins

The Pick: Will Grier - Quarterback, West Virginia

80. Falcons

The Pick: Michael Jordan - Offensive Guard, Ohio State

81. Browns

The Pick: Ben Burr-Kirven - Linebacker, Washington

82. Minnesota

The Pick: Jaquan Johnson - Safety, Miami (FL)

83. Titans

The Pick: Lukas Denis - Safety, Boston College

84. Steelers

The Pick: Terry Beckner Jr - Defensive Tackle, Missouri

85. Seahawks

The Pick: TJ Edwards - Linebacker, Wisconsin

86. Ravens

The Pick: Germaine Pratt - Linebacker, NC State

87. Texans

The Pick: Damien Harris - Running Back, Alabama

88. Bears

The Pick: Jalen Jelks - Edge Rusher, Oregon

89. Lions

The Pick: Andy Isabella - Wide Receiver, UMass

90. Colts

The Pick: Joe Jackson - Edge Rusher, Miami (FL)

91. Cowboys

The Pick: Caleb Wilson - Tight End, UCLA

92. Chargers

The Pick: Khalen Saunders - Defensive Tackle, Western Illinois

93. Chiefs

The Pick: Daylon Mack - Defensive Tackle, Texas A&M

94. Jets

The Pick: Dennis Daley - Offensive Tackle, South Carolina

95. Jaguars

The Pick: D’Andre Walker - Edge Rusher, Georgia

96. Browns

The Pick: Michael Jackson - Cornerback, Miami (FL)

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profoundpaul · 2 years

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NFL Quarterback Dead at 24 After Accident

The budding NFL career of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins has been cut short.

Haskins, 24, was killed in a traffic accident on Saturday.

“Dwayne Haskins was training in South Florida with other Steelers QBs, RBs and WRs. He was killed this morning in South Florida when he got hit by a vehicle. Tragic,” Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted.

Dwayne Haskins was training in South Florida with other Steelers QBs, RBs and WRs. He was killed this morning in South Florida when he got hit by a vehicle. Tragic….

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 9, 2022

“Dwayne Haskins, a standout at Ohio State before becoming Washington’s first-round pick and playing in Pittsburgh, died this morning when he got hit by a car in South Florida, per his agent Cedric Saunders,” he tweeted. “Haskins would have turned 25 years old on May 3,” he added.

Dwayne Haskins, a standout at Ohio State before becoming Washington’s first-round pick and playing in Pittsburgh, died this morning when he got hit by a car in South Florida, per his agent Cedric Saunders. Haskins would have turned 25 years old on May 3.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 9, 2022

“I am devastated and at a loss for words with the unfortunate passing of Dwayne Haskins,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said in a statement.

“He quickly became part of our Steelers family upon his arrival in Pittsburgh and was one of our hardest workers, both on the field and in our community. Dwayne was a great teammate, but even more so a tremendous friend to so many. I am truly heartbroken,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Kalabrya, and his entire family during this difficult time.”

Rest In Peace to Dwayne Haskins who passed away this morning at the age of 24

pic.twitter.com/eoxdJc4tGA

— Overtime (@overtime) April 9, 2022

A statement from Steelers’ HC Mike Tomlin on the tragic death of Dwayne Haskins: pic.twitter.com/cqvgqekvnJ

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 9, 2022

The Florida Highway Patrol announced Saturday that is investigating a fatal vehicle-pedestrian incident that took place at about 7 a.m. on Saturday, according to WPLG-TV.

The station reported that the vehicle that hit the pedestrian was a dump truck.

All westbound I-595 lanes shut down after pedestrian hit, killed by dump truck https://t.co/Ga1OjUkXeZ

— CBS4 Miami (@CBSMiami) April 9, 2022

The incident took place in Fort Lauderdale at the intersection of I-595 and I-95.

Police did not name the victim, saying only that a 24-year-old man was killed.

Tell YOUR loved ONEs…. tHAT YOU LOVE THEM!!!

Life is so short!! Rip Dwayne Haskins!

— Joe Haden (@joehaden23) April 9, 2022

In his final year at Ohio State, Haskins placed third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2018, according to Sports Illustrated.

Haskins threw 50 touchdowns in his sophomore season, racking up 4,831 yards.

That year, he set Big Ten records for including single-season passing yardage, single-season passing touchdowns, and most Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week awards.

Haskins also owned several Ohio State records, including single-season completion percentage, most passing yards in a single game, and most touchdowns in one game.

Haskins was a first-round pick of the Washington Commanders and spent two years with the team.

After signing with Pittsburgh in 2021, he was the team’s third-string quarterback.

The post NFL Quarterback Dead at 24 After Accident appeared first on The Western Journal.

source https://www.westernjournal.com/nfl-quarterback-dead-24-accident/

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tkmedia · 3 years

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Bengals Ja’Marr Chase: ‘If I Keep Playing Like This’ Teams Will Have To Start Double-Teaming Me

There was a brief period of time last month in which people were actually concerned with Cincinnati Bengals rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. The fifth-overall pick dropped a few passes, and suddenly had people wondering if he wasn’t a one-year wonder. But despite taking the 2020 season off, the rookie is looking like the guy who was catching deep balls from quarterback Joe Burrow at LSU two years ago—because he is, only he’s catching bombs from Joe Burrow in Cincinnati now. He actually became the first player in NFL history to record a 30-plus-yard touchdown reception in each of the first three games of his career. Through three games, Chase has caught 11 passes on 16 targets for 220 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 20 yards per reception. Only wide receiver Cooper Kupp of the Los Angeles Rams has more receiving touchdowns on the season so far. Teams are not going to be able to treat him like a rookie much longer. They’re going to have to start double covering him, he thinks, as he told Pro Football Talk. “I would probably say I’ve seen it the past two games a little bit”, he said. “I knew the Steelers threw it at me maybe a couple times today. I’m not really sure how many times I’ve seen it. I’ve had a bunch of times in college but so far in the NFL I’ve only seen it twice”. Against the Steelers, Chase caught four of five passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns. He beat second-year cornerback James Pierre for a 34-yard touchdown late in the first half in a deflating moment for the Steelers from which they did not recover. He caught a second touchdown working against Joe Haden in the red zone. Asked if he expected to see teams start to double team him more from this point out, Chase said, “If I keep playing like this I will”. The rookie leads the Bengals in receiving yards and touchdowns and is second in receptions. Tyler Boyd has 14 receptions for 141 yards and one touchdown, which came against the Steelers. Second-year Tee Higgins has 10 receptions for 118 yards with two touchdowns. So far, the Bengals have been able to control the passing game for the most part this year. Burrow has only attempted 75 passes on the season, despite playing an overtime game, but he has completed 53 of them for 640 yards, with seven touchdowns. He does have four interceptions, including one against the Steelers, and he had three the week before on their only loss of the season.

Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Read the full article

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techcrunchappcom · 3 years

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/here-is-the-latest-pennsylvania-sports-news-from-the-associated-press-10/

Here is the latest Pennsylvania sports news from The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Conor Sheary and Jakub Vrana scored in the second period, and the Washington Capitals stopped a four-game slide by topping the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1. Lars Eller also scored for Washington, and Vitek Vanecek stopped 26 shots in his 11th straight start. Pittsburgh won its first five games at home, including three against the Capitals. Zach Aston-Reese set a career high with his third goal in as many games, and Tristan Jarry made 39 saves for the Penguins.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton says he’s worried about his team improving and not the predictions of a bumpy 2021 for the Pirates. Pittsburgh finished with the worst record in the majors during the truncated 2020 season. The team spent most of the offseason flipping established veterans like first baseman Josh Bell for young prospects. Shelton says he and general manager Ben Cherington are in “alignment” when it comes to the club’s blueprint for success and he is confident the Pirates will become winners at some point down the road.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates are closing in on a one-year deal with left-handed pitcher Tyler Anderson. The deal, which won’t be complete until Anderson passes a physical, is worth $2.5 million. The 31-year-old Anderson went 4-3 with a 4.37 ERA last season while pitching for San Francisco. Anderson, who spent the first four years of his career with Colorado, is 22-27 with a 4.65 ERA in 86 games (82 starts) with the Rockies and the Giants.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Former All-Star center fielder Odubel Herrera was among 31 non-roster players the Philadelphia Phillies have invited to spring training. Herrera, who will earn $10 million this season, hasn’t played for the Phillies since 2019 when he was suspended under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy. The charges against Herrera were dismissed but he was removed from the team’s 40-man roster last year and wasn’t part of the 60-player pool for the shortened season. He will report to the team’s minor league mini-camp. Catcher Jeff Mathis signed a minor league deal with the Phillies on Tuesday and will join the major league camp. Mathis batted .161 in 24 games for Texas last season.

UNDATED (AP) — Outdoor games have become the the marquee event of the NHL season ever since the league staged the first Winter Classic in Buffalo in 2008. There have been games at iconic baseball stadiums like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park and others at college football cathedrals like Notre Dame Stadium or the Big House at Michigan. None of the 30 previous outdoor games had quite a setup like this season when the league will stage two games this weekend on the 18th fairway of a golf course on the shores of Lake Tahoe, with the Sierra Nevada Mountains towering in the background.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired Grady Brown as their new secondary coach. Brown replaces Tom Bradley, whose contract was not renewed at the end of last season. This is the first NFL job for Brown. He takes over a veteran unit that includes cornerbacks Joe Haden and Steven Nelson along with All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and Terrell Edmunds. Brown’s decision to join the Steelers came less than a week after the University of Houston hired Brown to serve as the program’s cornerbacks coach.

#associated #latest #pennsylvania #press #sports #Sports

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hiddengems16 · 3 years

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Killer Joe Movie Review

Okay okay, my brain is still reeling from that ending.....like what?! Yes this review will definitely have spoilers and is probably going to be more like a gossip chat, but hopefully we can get some pros and cons going.

Be warned, this movie IS NOT! I REPEAT, IS NOOOOOOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. (also don’t watch it with your children or parents)

To start off, you get flashed by a woman and a lot of pubic hair in the first 15 minutes. In the first 45 minutes there are contextual clues that there’s an incestual relationship going on. Okay okay..... I guess it’s the movie and we can deal with it as long as there’s some kind of story right? Right.

Honestly, this is just a fucked up situation where the system fails it people and due to lack of education, and they are doing the best they can. The sad part is - thoughts, situations, and life probably happen like this all of the time.

The cast; from “alright, alright, alright” to a power hungry rapist cop, Matthew McConoughey never ceases to amaze. ( If you haven’t read his new book Greenlight it might shed some light onto his career choices). Needless to say, he played this sceezy role to perfection. Honesty, this story had an all star cast! From the fed up wife/stepmom Sharla - Gina Gershun, the idiot cowardly father Ansel - Thomas Haden Church, the dreamer of a son who just couldn’t catch a break Chris, Emil Hirsh, and finally the abused daughter who is the crown jewel Dotty, Juno Temple. They made this relatable, and fast paced.

As far as storylines go, everything seemed to meld it just feels like so many details of her life could have been brought to life. Dotty’s character was entirely believable it just feels like there are so many details of her life that could have been laid out. Like we WANT to know more as to why she is the way she is... OR maybe not. Maybe the amount of illusiveness and imagination is exactly what the story needed. I just really hope that she pulled the trigger at the end.

Shots; this movie has a very raw feel to it, maybe my DPs, directors, and film friends can better describe what I’m trying to convey. But there are a lot of cut scenes and shaky shots. A lot of random close ups that align with the movie. Most times that would really bother me, but it really worked with everything going on. If it was done on purpose it worked. If it wasn’t GREAT JOB!

Hats off to you guys.

#killerjoe killerjoemovie moviereview movies cinema matthewmcconoughey alrightalrighalright film casting thoughts junotemple

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junker-town · 4 years

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Here’s our way-too-early 2021 NFL mock draft

Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields are the early favorites to be the No. 1 pick in 2021.

Two quarterbacks will split opinions throughout the next college football season.

The 2021 NFL Draft will be the story of two quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Justin Fields of Ohio State are not only the top two quarterbacks going into next year’s draft, they just might be the top two players overall.

Lawrence has been a star since the moment he stepped onto the Clemson campus. He’s already started two years, and NFL teams have been looking forward to him becoming draft eligible after this season. He has a strong arm, athleticism, and a big frame.

Last season, Fields caught up with him in a hurry. After transferring from Georgia, Fields showed his electric athleticism for Ohio State while completing 67 percent of his throws for 41 touchdowns and three interceptions.

With those two at the top, it’s time for a way-too-early 2021 mock draft. These are always difficult to do. At this time last year, Joe Burrow wasn’t even in the discussion for the first round, let alone the first overall pick. In the next 12 months, a lot is going to change. Several of the players below won’t even be thought of as first-round picks. But they are now, so this is a look at how they could fall.

The draft order is based on the latest Super Bowl odds I could find after the draft. Teams with the same odds were randomized online. The only other change is putting the 49ers at No. 31 to properly represent the Super Bowl having an AFC and NFC team, so don’t get angry about the order.

1. Jacksonville Jaguars: Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson

If the Jaguars end up with the first pick, chances are the Gardner Minshew experiment didn’t work, head coach Doug Marrone got fired, and general manager Dave Caldwell probably did too.

2. Washington: Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State

By this time next year, if Washington has the second pick in the draft, head coach Ron Rivera might want his choice of quarterbacks.

3. Cincinnati Bengals: Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon

The Bengals have their franchise quarterback in Joe Burrow, but their line play has been suspect. Sewell is a dominant force for Oregon and won the Outland Trophy last season.

4. Carolina Panthers: Walker Little, OT, Stanford

Left tackle Russell Okung is on just a one-year deal in Carolina, and the Panthers could find his replacement in Little. The belief was that if Little didn’t get hurt last season, he could have been a first-round pick this year.

5. Miami Dolphins: Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU

The Dolphins didn’t take a wide receiver this year, and the options after DeVante Parker are average. The last time we saw Chase, he was torching Falcons first-round pick A.J. Terrell in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

6. New York Giants: Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State

The Giants waited until the sixth round to address linebacker in the draft and could target the position in 2021. Parsons is the next great Penn State linebacker; he had 109 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, and five sacks last season.

7. New York Jets: Gregory Rousseau, Edge, Miami

Usually it’s tough to project redshirt sophomores a year out, but Rousseau is coming off a season of 19.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks.

8. Detroit Lions: Justyn Ross, WR, Clemson

Marvin Jones and Danny Amendola are both free agents after the season, and the Lions could look to add some youth to their wide receiver group.

9. Las Vegas Raiders: Jamie Newman, QB, Georgia

The Derek Carr speculation seems to never go away — and 2020 could be a breaking point. Carr’s contract is much more manageable after this season. A graduate transfer from Wake Forest, Newman is excellent on run-pass options and has a strong arm.

10. Miami Dolphins (from Texans): Marvin Wilson, DT, Florida State

Say hello to the 2021 version of Derrick Brown. Wilson surprised people by returning to Florida State for his senior season. That came after a season of 8.5 tackles for loss and five sacks even though he missed his last four games.

11. Arizona Cardinals: Trey Smith, G, Tennessee

Smith could be the rare top-of-the-first-round guard in 2021. The 6’6, 335-pound Smith has history at left tackle and left guard, and will probably be projected as an interior player in the NFL.

12. Atlanta Falcons: Carlos Basham, Edge, Wake Forest

Basham is coming off an impressive junior year when he had 18 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. If second-round pick Marlon Davidson plays inside, the Falcons could use another player on the outside.

13. Los Angeles Chargers: Alex Leatherwood, OT, Alabama

The Chargers didn’t take an offensive lineman in the draft, and could be in need of one at this time next year. Leatherwood has played guard and tackle for Alabama, and done both well.

14. Denver Broncos: Jay Tufele, DT, USC

The Broncos could continue to improve their defensive line in 2021 with Tufele after taking McTelvin Agim in the third round this year. Tufele improved as a pass rusher last season, and would be a nice fit on a team that runs a lot of three-down linemen looks.

15. Chicago Bears: DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama

That’s right, not a tight end. And unfortunately, not a quarterback. Allen Robinson is a free agent after the season, and Alabama has another loaded wide receiver group to choose from in the draft.

16. Jacksonville Jaguars (from Rams): Samuel Cosmi, OT, Texas

If the Jaguars do take a quarterback at the top of the draft, it would be smart to target a pass blocker with their second pick. Cosmi started his first two seasons at right tackle for Texas and will switch to the left side this year.

17. Cleveland Browns: Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama

This one is a little bit of a leap — which is saying something about a mock draft that is coming out a year before the actual draft. The Browns have one of the most expensive wide receiver units in the NFL with Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. Beckham was rumored in trade talks last year and Landry is due a combined $31 million in 2021 and 2022. Something may have to give.

18. Pittsburgh Steelers: Patrick Surtain II, CB, Alabama

Joe Haden and Mike Hilton are both free agents after this season, and the Steelers could look to get younger at the position.

19. Buffalo Bills: Shaun Wade, CB, Ohio State

Veteran Josh Norman was brought in on just a one-year deal this offseason, so the Bills could go into next offseason looking for a long-term partner for Tre’Davious White.

20. Indianapolis Colts: Dylan Moses, LB, Alabama

If the Colts want to upgrade over Anthony Walker, the 2021 draft looks like it might be a good at linebacker. Moses was considered the best linebacker prospect in the nation before getting injured last season.

21. Tennessee Titans: Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson

If the Titans don’t want to give a big contract to Derrick Henry, they can find his replacement in the 2021 draft. Etienne is a speedy runner who has averaged a ridiculous 8.0 yards per carry the last two years.

22. Minnesota Vikings: Richard LeCounte, S, Georgia

Anthony Harris is playing on the franchise tag this season and might price himself out of Minnesota. If he does, the Vikings could maintain the strength of the position with LeCounte, a free safety with ball skills.

23. Green Bay Packers: Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue

A weapon for Aaron Rodgers? What a novel idea. Moore is a small receiver, but he showed as a freshman that he’s one of the best pass catchers in the nation. He only played four games last season, but should have a bounce-back junior year.

24. Seattle Seahawks: Cade Mays, OL, Tennessee

A transfer from Georgia, Mays has experience up and down the line. Offensive line is a perennial need for Seattle, which could use another player to go with third-round pick Damien Lewis.

25. Philadelphia Eagles: Paulson Adebo, CB, Stanford

The Eagles didn’t take a cornerback in the draft after trading for Darius Slay and giving him a three-year contract. They could go into the next draft needing someone to pair with him. Adebo could have been a top-64 pick in the draft this year.

26. New England Patriots: LaBryan Ray, DT, Alabama

The Patriots have taken edge defenders the last two drafts, and could turn their attention to the inside in 2021. Ray barely played last season after getting injured in September, but flashed next to Quinnen Williams in 2018.

27. Dallas Cowboys: Quincy Roche, Edge, Miami

A transfer from Temple, Roche comes to Miami with 26 career sacks. With Tyrone Crawford entering free agency next offseason, the Cowboys could save some money by replacing him.

28. New Orleans Saints: Israel Mukuamu, CB, South Carolina

Janoris Jenkins’ cap hit nearly triples in 2021 from $5.05 million to $14.2 million, so the Saints could look to get out from under his deal after this season. If so, they might go after a cornerback in next year’s draft.

29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State

Chris Godwin is a free agent after this season and could cash in big. If he does and leaves Tampa, his replacement can be found in the draft. In the last two seasons, Wallace has more than 2,300 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns.

30. Baltimore Ravens: Joe Tryon, Edge, Washington

The Ravens have a ton of high-priced free agents after this season, including pass rusher Matt Judon, wide receiver Willie Snead, left tackle Ronnie Stanley, and cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey. That means they’ll have a lot of tough decisions to make. Judon is on the franchise tag this season and could go elsewhere.

31. San Francisco 49ers: Eric Stokes, CB, Georgia

The 49ers have numerous free agent cornerbacks after this season and might want to target that position in the 2021 draft. Stokes was Georgia’s leader in pass breakups last season with nine and was an All-SEC second team member.

32. Kansas City Chiefs: Jaylen Twyman, DL, Pittsburgh

If things between the Chiefs and Chris Jones fall apart, it will be imperative to find his replacement. Twyman had 10.5 sacks from his defensive tackle spot last year, just 0.5 sack shy of Aaron Donald’s single-season high at Pitt.

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blackkudos · 6 years

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Adrian Lester

Adrian Anthony Lester, OBE (born 14 August 1968) is an English actor, director, and writer.

Early life and education

Lester was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. From the age of 9 Lester sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. At 14 he began acting with the Birmingham Youth Theatre. After leaving Archbishop Masterson RC School he attended Joseph Chamberlain VI Form College for one year before completing 3 years training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Career

Theatre

Lester received an Ian Charleson Award commendation and a Time Out Award for his 1991 performance as Rosalind in Cheek by Jowl's all-male production of As You Like It. In 1993, he played Anthony Hope in the National Theatre's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He has also appeared on stage in the musical Company, for which he won an Olivier Award, and in the title role of Hamlet (Carlton TV Theatre Award).

In 2003, Lester played the title role in Henry V at the National Theatre.

In 2010, he played the part of Brick in Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre in London.

In 2012 Lester appeared as Ira Aldridge in the play Red Velvet, written by his wife Lolita Chakrabarti.

Lester played the part of Othello in the Shakespeare play of the same name in 2013 alongside Rory Kinnear as Iago at the National Theatre. Both actors won the Best Actor award in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for their roles; the award is traditionally given to only one actor, but the judges were unable to choose between the pair.

Television

Lester is known for playing a big-time con artist named Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone in the BBC TV series Hustle between 2004 and 2012. The character was written out of the fourth series and replaced by Ashley Walters, although he returned from the fifth series (2009) onwards.

On American TV, Lester appeared in the hit sitcom Girlfriends from 2002 to 2003, as Ellis, a film star who dated Tracee Ellis Ross's character, Joan.

In late 2005, Lester had a major guest starring role in Channel 4's hard-hitting police drama The Ghost Squad.

In 2008, Lester starred in the BBC drama Bonekickers, a programme focusing on a team of archaeologists.

He also played the character Myror in the British television drama Merlin.

Film

Lester played campaign manager Henry Burton in Mike Nichols's 1998 film Primary Colors, based on the novel by Anonymous (Joe Klein). His character is believed to represent George Stephanopoulos. This part earned him a Chicago Film Critics Association award nomination for "Most Promising Actor".

Lester appeared in Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost, an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, set in the 1930s. The film itself was poorly received, but Lester received a British Independent Film Awards nomination for his performance.

In The Day After Tomorrow, Lester had a minor role as Simon, one of the three researchers who drink a toast of "twelve-year-old Scotch" shortly before freezing to death.

Lester filmed scenes for 2007's Spider-Man 3, as a research scientist who is sought after by the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) to find a cure for his ailing daughter. He was seen in one teaser trailer for the film; however, his scenes were cut from the final theatrical version.

Other work

In 2010 Lester appeared in the documentary When Romeo Met Juliet together with his wife Lolita Chakrabarti as acting mentors to the pupils of two Coventry schools involved in a production of Romeo and Juliet.

Lester recorded Alpha Force: Survival, an audio book written by Chris Ryan.

Personal life

Lester is married to actress Lolita Chakrabarti. They live in South East London with their two daughters, Lila and Jasmine.

In 2007, Lester took part in Empire's Children, a Channel 4 documentary exploring the journey taken by the "Windrush Generation" to the United Kingdom. Lester's grandfather, Kenneth Nathaniel Lester, was to be included in the documentary, but was unwell during filming in Jamaica and could not be interviewed. Kenneth Lester died soon after the documentary completed filming and never saw the programme aired.

In April 2013, he appeared on the Cultural Exchange feature of Front Row on Radio Four, a feature of the programme where people had to choose a piece of art that meant a great deal to them. He chose Redemption Song by Bob Marley.

Lester holds a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo.

Honours

Lester was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to drama.

In July 2013 he received an honorary degree from the University of Warwick.

http://wikipedia.thetimetube.com/?q=Adrian+Lester&lang=en

#Adrian Lester

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airoasis · 6 years

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The Motivation Misconception. How High Achievers Truly Set Themselves Up To Win with Jeff Haden

You can't build a writing career on luck, but you can build it on developing a creative process that works for the long-term. In today's show, Jeff Haden explains how high achievers set themselves up to win.

In the intro, I talk about the shake-ups in publishing this week: Kindle Worlds shuts down, the Indie Author Support Network approaches Amazon on behalf of authors impacted by KU scammers, and Romantic Times (RT) shuts down after 37 years. [Shelf Awareness]. I talk about how the changes will keep coming and what we can all do to protect ourselves with multiple streams of income.

Plus, my personal update and how the various aspects of are coming along. I'm doing ebook, paperback, audiobook, Workbook, Large Print edition, and a multimedia course, and selling those on multiple platforms. And yes, trying to launch it all on 31 May … we shall see if I make it I also mention seeing Amanda Palmer in concert, the Guardian article on Patreon, and poet Ben Okri's amazing book, .

Today's show is sponsored by IngramSpark, who I use to print and distribute my print-on-demand books to 39,000 retailers including independent bookstores, schools and universities, libraries and more. It's your content – do more with it through IngramSpark.com.

Jeff Haden is an author, ghostwriter, speaker, LinkedIn Influencer and contributing editor to “Inc. Magazine.” His latest book is The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

Show Notes

From working in manufacturing to ghostwriting

Tips for working at a side-hustle and transitioning to full-time author

Why routine and process are essential for productivity – even for writers

Why measuring small milestones is the key to success with big projects (like writing a book)

The One Question that can help you achieve everything you want to achieve

Balancing multiple passions with being productive

You can find Jeff Haden at JeffHaden.com and on Twitter @jeff_haden

Transcript of Interview with Jeff Haden

Joanna: Hi, everyone. I'm Joanna Penn from thecreativepenn.com. And today I'm here with Jeff Haden. Hi, Jeff.

Jeff: Hi, how are you?

Joanna: I'm good. It's great to have you on the show. Just a little introduction.

Jeff is an author, ghostwriter, speaker, LinkedIn Influencer and contributing editor to “Inc. Magazine.”

His latest book is “The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win.” Which is a fantastic book and Jeff, I got to tell you, I read the advanced copy that you sent me. I also bought it in hardback. That's how good it is.

Jeff: Oh, thank you. That makes you my new best friend.

Joanna: And it's interesting because when I read books that I think ah, yes, I want to remember that I read that. I'm now buying books in print again because I'm more settled.

Let's wind the clock back. I'm fascinated by your background.

How did you go from manufacturing to writing? Give us a bit of a potted history.

Jeff: I worked my way through college in a manufacturing plant. That's how I paid my way through college and I really liked it.

When I graduated I looked around for jobs and it seemed like all of them were with 40-year-old men working in cubicles. And at the time that seemed horrible. Of course, now I'm way past 40 so it would be awesome to be that. But I just couldn't see it.

There was another plant in the town that I lived in that had just started up and it turned out to be an RR Donnelley plant. They're the world's largest commercial printers and actually, they print tons of books. Half of the books behind you they probably printed in one of their factories.

The plant was just starting up and so the HR manager where I was working said, “You know if you want to do manufacturing you should go over there because you can ground up.” So I thought okay so I started on the shop floor as an entry-level worker.

I was the college boy which was okay. My goal was to be, I wanted to run a plant, aim high, right? So I worked my way up, went through a lot of different jobs, a lot of different roles and responsibilities, finally I found myself running a plant.

Three years into that I found myself not wanting to run a plant anymore. Not that it was a bad job and not that the people were bad or anything else but I just wanted to do something different.

There's a longer story there but I won't tease that I'll just say it people would come into my office and within a sentence and a half of talking to me, I would know where the conversation was going to go. What I was gonna end up saying, all the things that were going to happen but it took 20 minutes to get there because you have to listen and you have to empathize. I just wanted to say, “Shut up, go out and get along with Joe and do your job,” but I couldn't do that.

Joanna: You didn't want to be a manager.

Jeff: It's sad to say because everyone aspires to be a leader and I had aspired to be a leader. But I got to the point where I didn't want to lead and I thought if that's how I'm feeling, then I'm not serving the people that I'm supposed to lead.

I was whining about the fact that I didn't love my job anymore and my wife would say, “Well, then do something different.” And I would whine and she would say, “Do something different,” and so finally she said, “What do you want to do?”

I said, “I think I would like to write.” Which seemed really strange because the only thing I had ever written were things that I wrote for work. So, I didn't go to school, none of that.

I whined for about six more months and one day she came home and she said, “Okay, you said you wanted to be a writer, I got your first job. I met a guy who needs a press release for his company.” And I thought I don't know how to write press releases.

This is early internet days and so it was kind of hard to find press releases to use for an example, and it's the worst paying job I have ever had. Because it took me probably 5 hours to write this one-page press release, and I think I made the princely sum of like $40 or something like that you know.

So I'm sitting here and I'm thinking, “Okay, here's what I make at my real job. Here's what I made for that.” But it was interesting and he liked it and he hired me to do a few more things and I thought, “Well, let's just give this a go.”

I didn't quit my full-time job because I think that's foolish. If people say, “Well, you got to go all in,” and I think all in is good at some point but you really do need to prove that there is a business there for you.

I would work nights and weekends and I was doing, I was getting a lot of work off of Elance which I think is called Upwork.

I was getting a lot of projects there, fairly low paying because I didn't have a lot of background but I was getting practice, I was getting the experience, I was learning how to work with clients. I was figuring kind of the business out.

I got to a point where I said, “Okay, I think that I can make a go of this.” And so I worked really, really hard for a really long time to make a go of it and here I am.

Joanna: There's a lot of people listening who are married and their partners would love them to be happy but that switch is very difficult. It took me five years to go from, “I have to get out,” to making the jump.

I did the side hustle for five years. How long did it take you?

Jeff: About a year.

Joanna: Oh, wow, that's really quick.

Jeff: Here's the thing. When people ask me about side hustles and keeping full-time jobs, if you're going to do that, the first thing you have to do is say, “I will be the best at my full-time job of anyone there.”

Because typically what happens is your attention starts to drift and you slide in a few things during your regular work time and you're focused on other stuff. And you owe better to your employer, you owe better to yourself and I just think it's a poor way to start.

So I worked really, really hard at my job which was good but then I worked every night. I worked most weekends. And I just I tried to shorten that cycle because there's a certain amount of time it's going to take on your side hustle for you to build it up to where you can make that your real hustle.

You can shorten that time by how hard and how much you work. Really like from a guy he was a skipper of one of the America's Cup winning yacht teams and he says, “Never have I seen where doing less than the other guy is a winning strategy,” or something like that.

I'm not that smart, I'm not that talented, I had some good experience but not in writing but I had other experience, but I can outwork you.

You can always outwork other people and you can always do a lot. And so I just decided that if I really, really worked hard at it one, it would help me prove to myself fairly quickly whether there was a business here, because I didn't want it to drag on forever.

And two, if there was a business there, well let's get to that, because I don't want to do what it is I'm doing. So when people say to me, “Hey, what's your best advice about the side hustle thing?” Work really hard in your job so that you keep your job and something bad doesn't happen there. But then work really, really hard at your side hustle and if people will say, “Well, what about me time?”

Joanna: There's no me time.

Jeff: Well, me time should be the time that you're putting towards accomplishing something you really want to accomplish, because isn't that the best me time of all? Me time is not vegging on TV and watching whatever the best of the available options are, because that's kind of dull.

Now, if you have something you really want to watch that's different. But me time should be, what will make me feel good about myself? And what made me feel good about myself was transitioning from I work for somebody else to I work for myself. So there you go, so that's perfect me time.

Joanna: I would say one caveat for the screenwriters listening, watching movies with the screenplay is always a good piece of work to be doing.

What you're talking about really it relates to one of the main themes of the book, which is everybody wants this kind of lightning strike success, inspiration, the new career to pop out the sky. But you emphasize routine and process and those kind of words that aren't very sexy. People want the sexy success, the seven-figure deal.

Why are routine and process more important for achievement?

Jeff: I guess the real premise of that comes from and we will probably get to this. But I'm lucky enough now that I get to meet some really, really successful people and talk to them about how they got there.

None of them ever describe this little lightning bolt moment or “I hacked my way to success” or I found this shortcut that got me there. Every one of them worked harder than everyone else around them and they had a goal, they figured out how they were going to get there.

And they were relentless about not focusing on the goal but focusing on what they did every day that would get them to that goal.

For me, process is how you win, process is how you succeed because it weeds out all of the other stuff like talent or education or connections and all those things that people say, “Well, I don't have these things and if I did life would be great.”

You get those things by your process. I wrote some bizarre stuff along the way. I get to work with really cool people now but I wrote a book about hydroponics. And I've tried to repress that experience because I never want to think about growing plants in water again.

I wrote a book about card tricks. I didn't know about any card tricks, I wrote a book about card tricks. How sexy is that? It's not but it paid and it helped me learn. The most unusual one is I wrote a book, it was personal finance for exotic dancers.

Joanna: Ooh.

Jeff: Seriously.

Joanna: That's brilliant.

Jeff: Yeah, and it didn't have any pictures.

Joanna: Very “Inc.”

Jeff: It probably hurt its sales and I can actually talk about that experience because I didn't get paid. What's odd about that is that's the only time in all of that time of doing freelance work that I didn't get paid.

I would go into my gigs saying, “Look, you don't know me. You don't know whether I'm good or not so here's the fee. If you're happy with that, you pay me at the end.”

I wasn't even taking money up front because I didn't need the money so to speak because I had my job. But two, I wanted to prove to people and that got me past that hurdle of, “I don't know how you're going to be, I don't know how you going to work.”

I was doing everything ghostwritten and so the problem with ghostwriting is it's like fight club. And the first rule of fight club is you can't talk about fight club and you can't talk about who you write for. It's really hard to market yourself when you're a ghostwriter.

So that was my twist on that and it worked out really well which took me way around the barn from your original question. But if I sum that up it's I just sat there and said, “Okay, if I want to get to here, what are all my steps?”

And then I'm going to focus on my steps and I'm going to do the work that gets me there because then I can look back and say, “Okay, that worked.” And if I'm constantly looking for a hack or a trick or a shortcut or something, you spend all your time looking for that and you don't develop the skill you need to actually be the thing that it is you want to be.

Joanna: I've worked in manufacturing. I worked in business process engineering back in the day and worked in factories and with robots, making stuff.

You really learn in a manufacturing plant that things have to happen in an order and they keep, if they keep happening in an order you have a business.

Why should it be any different with brain work and writing?

I do want to ask you about your process for writing because obviously as a freelance writer, ghostwriter you have to do the words, like you say, even if it's a project you don't really care that much about.

What's your process for getting the words done?

Jeff: That's interesting and it actually ties to a theme that's in my book where I talk about when you do something for long enough you become the thing that you are trying to do.

I had a very rigid process early on and it was, okay, I've got this number of hours today. I knew what I needed to get done. I played it like manufacturing. It was sort of like okay, here's my target. I want this much per period of time.

I'm not going to allow reflection time and stuff, because I could think about what I needed to write somewhere else. I even had a word target but what I would do is if I didn't get to my target within the time I had that meant I had to stay up late because I was going to get to that target.

I know that sounds for people that feel that some of the creativity and inspiration and things like that have to come to you which I do think is true and so, therefore, you're forcing it. I think there is some success to be found in forcing because it's easy to sit there and say, “Wow, I don't quite have this figured out so I'm going to walk away.”

Sometimes you figure it out when you stay on it and you keep chugging and suddenly the places you wanted to go, they actually do reveal themselves. But they don't reveal themselves if you are not there doing it. They don't for me the way.

Now, every once in a while I do have a cool thought when I'm away and I'll think, “Oh, that's the way to handle that.” Half the time I forget it by the time I get back to where I was, it pisses me off.

But I think that there's lots of people, there's lots of research that shows that people that are the most innovative, they're not dreamers and tinkerers and they're not floating off in the clouds somewhere. They're doing the work every single day and the good ideas come out of the bad ideas but it's a numbers game of sorts.

And so for me, that process was it was a numbers game and I'm going to do a certain amount, partly because I had deadlines, but also I'm going to do a certain amount. And if it takes me longer to do that then boo on me and I need to learn to be more efficient.

I do think you can be a more efficient writer. There are productivity things you can do as a writer and that should be part of your job because the less time it takes you to do quality work the better.

Joanna: Now you've set it up so people want your productivity tips for writing. I can hear my audience go, “Oh, he's mentioned there are productivity tips.” So now you have to tell us.

Just give us a couple of yours.

Jeff: Let's say I'm writing an article for “Inc.”

I have my first paragraph in my head before I start, for instance. I have three or four things usually they're in my head now but I used to bullet out three or four things. And I would have this little quick map on the side that said, “Okay, here's my first paragraph,” roughly. “Here's the four things I want to get across. Here's how to I want to tie it up,” because you can only accomplish so much in an article.

Those are my things so now stick them on my document and let's flesh them out. And it actually worked really well instead of trying to be linear. So if point four was easy to write I started with point four which usually made point three easier because when you've got practice you get to the point where you go, “Oh, okay, I already can figure out how I can tie this and then that figures out how to tie that.” And it all comes together in your head if you have a little bit of a map.

Then the other thing that I do, I'll give you one more. If I'm writing a 700-word article, if I can't write it in 25 minutes and have it be 98% right, I stop. Because I haven't figured out what I want to say and that's the bane of most writers' existence.

I feel like writer's block, if there is such a thing, because I don't think there is, but if there is such a thing it's just because you haven't figured out what you want to say.

Maybe you haven't figured out who your audience is, maybe you haven't figured out who your client if you're writing for somebody else. There's all kinds of variables, but ultimately you haven't figured out what you want to say.

If you know what you want to say it should flow. If you've put in the time and effort to get good at your craft to where you can translate what's in your head down to your fingers.

Joanna: To the page. I'm really interested in understanding what you want to say.

Fiction writers do the same thing; know what you want to say before you say it. Same with dictation. I think in general it's that thinking process.

But you've ghostwritten books. You write a lot of articles. You've got your own book.

What was the difference in writing process with your own book compared to ghostwriting other people's and the articles you do?

Jeff: I am much better at doing work for other people and meeting their deadlines than I am for my own.

If I'm working on my own thing and there's a deadline but then if something comes up or if somebody needs something, I like to please. And so pleasing myself is kinda boring, but coming through for someone else is really cool.

I was terrible about being rigid about what I needed to do for myself. I would find myself in these little periods where it's like, “Oh, crap I'm really behind.” I have to do my own thing and my editor will agree that I was really terrible at that.

To be honest, I haven't figured that part out really well.

When I write articles for “Inc.” that's pretty easy because they don't take me that long. I write something every day for “Inc.” I don't always publish it. But I'm at least knocking out one thing a day.

That's just what I do, I don't even have to think about it and so that goes and then I do some other stuff.

But then like with my book, that was always last and I think for a lot of people if you write for clients and then you try to transition to doing some of your own stuff, it is a really hard transition to make because you will always put yourself last. And somehow you have to find a way to say, “Okay. I'm first now.”

What I eventually did to your question again in a really long-winded way, I eventually carved out days and said, “Okay, Sunday, is just my book day and I'm not going to do anything else.”

I would have my wife help me. She would say, “Okay, are you headed off so that you can just do that?” She would kind of prime me and I would just pick out days and say, “This is the only thing I can do.” Sometimes it was because I planned it and sometimes it was because it was a necessity, whereas the only thing I can do is my book.

Joanna: Got to get it done.

Jeff: It's hard and I think that's a struggle for a lot of people to put yourself first. But you have to if you're going to pull that off.

Joanna: It fits into the process idea. One of the quotes from the book I've got here is, “The key is to enjoy small, seemingly minor successes on a regular basis.”

That is difficult like you say seemingly minor success in an increasingly busy publishing environment, writing environment.

What are we talking about in terms of measurement and how do you measure those minor successes?

Jeff: I don't measure them the way I used to because again, it's all that part of becoming. So whenever you start something that's probably the best time for that and I'll use a non-writing example. Let's talk about running a marathon.

Say you decide you want to run a marathon, lots of people would like to, but you're not a runner. So you know that eventually, you have to run 26 miles. You can't right now.

If you go out today and run a mile and you come home and you lay on your couch and feel terrible because you're not a runner, and you allow yourself to think about the 26 miles you someday have to run, you're going to quit because the distance from here to there is just too far.

Same with if the listener decides they want to write a book. If they sit down and struggle their way through the first 500 words, finally get something on paper and look up and go, “Oh, gosh, and I need 80,000 of these,” you'll probably quit.

But if you set yourself up and say, “Okay, what I'm going to do is every day I'm gonna do 500 words.” They may not be perfect, they may need to be revised. It's just a start but every day I'm going to do 500 words”.

If you just focus on that and don't look out into the distance to the 80,000 you need to get to, then every day you get to feel good about yourself because when you've done your 500 you can go, “Cool, got my 500.”

That feels good. I accomplished what I set out to do today which makes you happy, gives you a little bit of motivation and it makes it easier to do it again tomorrow because you're feeding off of that cool little virtuous flywheel.

People always talk about you need to have this big goal, you need to have a laser-like focus on it. I think you need a big goal and you let that inform the process that you create that will allow you to achieve that goal and then you focus on your process.

Because if you're checking off your process every day you get to feel really good about yourself, which is a motivation that you need to keep going and you can do it forever.

It's a really dumb example but one year I decided that I wanted to do 100,000 push-ups which I think is in my book.

Joanna: Yes, I think it is.

Jeff: I don't know why I picked that. So I broke it down, I said, “Okay, that's 274 push-ups a day so if I do 274 I'll have 100,000 at the end of the year.”

It was a meaningless goal, because we're taught that goals are supposed to be meaningful and all that stuff. Well, this is a meaningless goal. It gets me nothing but I just worked my process and I did 300 a day so I had a little bit of a buffer in case I had a day I couldn't do it.

And within a month that's just what I did. That was how I did things and it bugged me the times that I missed it because I couldn't put the little 300 on my spreadsheet that I was adding up. And I didn't have the total at the bottom.

I didn't foot my column because I didn't want to look down and go, “Oh, no, 91,000 more.” I just wanted to see that number for that day and it chugged right along and so that was fun in itself because every time I did my day I put my little 300 down, felt really good. Tomorrow's another day.

It's the Jerry Seinfeld approach to building a stand-up act where he has his calendar and he puts a red X on every day he writes a joke. And he's got years of these calendars with all these red X's.

It's the accumulation of small wins that gets you to this big place at the very end. And so for writers, you break down whatever it is you're trying to accomplish into something that has a process.

And then you focus really hard on the process, knowing that if you do the process right the end result takes care of itself in large part. Or at least it gets you really close so that then when you get there you can say, “Okay, I've got this body of work. I've got this book. It's not perfect but now I have something to fix.”

Joanna: I think that's so true. We keep circling back to process. It's not a magical process to write a book. I mean there is an element, some kind of spark of something but it is a process to get the work done.

But it's funny because there you're talking about the daily little checkbox or the number but you've also got this section in the book titled “One question provides nearly every answer.” Which is actually about the big picture and strategy and long-term thinking.

I know that authors are far more likely to get obsessed with like Amazon rankings and don't step back.

What are your tips for that stepping back and working on strategy in long term?

Jeff: The part of that question is mainly it's great for warding off temptation. The genesis of that came from Herb Kelleher, he's the CEO of Southwest Airlines. Makes 8,000 decisions a day, which seems like it would be an impossible job.

But he basically asks himself one question to everything that comes to him, “Will this make Southwest Airlines the low-cost provider? If it's yes, we'll look at that. If it's no, well, then we're not going to mess with that because that's not what we're focused on.”

That kind of question is perfect when you're trying to accomplish something big and you're tempted to slough off, like say in my marathon example you're like, “Well, I don't really want to run today.” Is skipping a workout what a person that wants to run a marathon would do? No, so go do your thing.

If you're trying to write a book and your goal is 500 words a day and you're Stephen King, who does it every day, and you don't want to do it today, well, would a published author not write today? No, so there you go.

It's a big picture way of framing things down. If you're trying to lose weight, is a person trying to lose weight going to have a second piece of chocolate cake? No.

It's a perfect way to frame that to allow you to say, “All right, what do I really want to accomplish here and does whatever this temptation is, allow me to do that?” And if the answer is no then it's really clear.

Otherwise if you loosen that up, you can play the game of, “Well, yeah, I'm trying to lose weight so if I have another piece of chocolate cake, well I'll run tomorrow, I'll do this tomorrow, I'll do whatever.”

You negotiate with yourself and we're really good at negotiating with ourselves but we're not very good at coming through on the end result of the negotiation. That's really hard.

So that was the premise of that; it goes back to what is your big goal?

If there are writers out there that are trying to get to someplace. What is it that you want to accomplish? Are you trying to write a novel? Okay, frame your life around the fact that you want to write a novel and you are going to do so.

It's not a dream. It's not an idea because an idea without action is it's a dream. Idea should be verb I think.

Joanna: Yes, to idea.

Jeff: Seriously, you should otherwise it's a just dream.

Joanna: Well, it's to create.

Jeff: Right, so figure out what that is that you want to do and then say, “What does a person who accomplishes that goal do?” And then don't try to reinvent the wheel, don't try to come up with some special bespoke process that works for your individual…we're not that individual.

We're all about the same. See what other people have done and say, “You know, what? For right now I'm going to model that.” And someday when I get through if I look at it and say, “Well, you know, that worked for me but I could tweak that a little bit.”

You can tweak it based on experience not based on, “Well, I didn't really feel like doing it that way.” Because usually when you say I don't feel like doing it that way, what you're really saying is that I don't feel like accomplishing what I want to accomplish.

The goal is you figure out your goal, figure out what people do to achieve that and then model yourself.

Joanna: I think that modelling is really important and I did that way back when I was way back so I'm so old now. But 10 years ago when I decided I wanted to leave my job and make a living online and be a writer, I found people to model and have continued to find people to model at different points on the journey.

You've got this thing called the one question which I get and we just talked about that. But also and I like the book, “The ONE thing” by Gary Keller. It's a good book, but you also like me are what many people are now calling a multi-passionate.

Jeff: Yes.

Joanna: As in, you're writing your books, you're ghostwriting, you're speaking, you're an editor, you're writing articles, you do all these different things too. I struggle with this all the time because I write under three different names, I'm a podcaster, I'm now taking speaker off my list but I do a lot of things.

How do you balance this one question with being multi-passionate?

Jeff: I like to call what you just described the serial achiever, which means you do one thing, get to a point where you're like, “Wow, I've gotten really good at that but I'd like to something else,” that's cool.

Or you can do multiple things at the same time, but again, you can balance them out however you want and they actually work in harmony with each other really well.

If you pretended I'm Amazon, because they didn't coin the term, but there's a flywheel affect to the Amazon business and I promise I'm going to get to a point. They're selling stuff online, free shipping makes people more likely to buy which increases their business.

More people going to Amazon causes the fulfill by Amazon folks that's like, if you decide to sell a product on Amazon you can do so and they'll fulfill it for you. That gets more of those which gets more customers which gets more people that want free shipping which gets more customers and so this thing feeds itself.

And so for me, I write for “Inc.” because that was a way for me to basically advertise my ghostwriting because it's hard to market yourself when you're a ghostwriter. And I figured that if someone saw something I wrote and liked it and noticed I was a ghostwriter and needed a ghostwriter, they might call me. Worked out really well and the cool thing is, it is as if “Inc.” is paying me to advertise my services.

We'll take that and plus it's my writing for it because I'm paid for it by the page view and I do really well there, it's very lucrative so that's part of my flywheel. So that fed to the ghostwriting part that also got me lots of social media followers.

I have 960,000 some followers on LinkedIn or something. That helps me drive traffic to my “Inc.” articles, that helped a publisher say, “Wow, he's got a platform. Maybe we should be interested in a book.”

Having a book, having my “Inc.” stuff helps my speaking, because if you like that speaking helps the other and so I've got this little flywheel where they seem like they're different pursuits and they kind of are. But they all feed that one thing, which is, I like to write helpful, useful, practical stuff that maybe will help people do something a little better than they were doing before.

And if I get lucky and change somebody's life just a teeny, teeny bit, then that's awesome and that's really what I'm trying to do, and all those things feed that.

So if you look at anything that I write it's all intended to be practical, useful, helpful, let me make a difference for you. Let's hope you achieve whatever it is you're trying to achieve. That's the place I go and all of those things feed that.

And take a step back and say, “What am I really trying to accomplish?” And then you can make what appear to be different facets actually fit together really well.

Joanna: I agree and my overarching goal is to make a living with my writing, or make a very good living with my writing, which I think you feel as well.

I love that you mention your page reads because I love that the information, you put in the book how you upped your payments at “Inc.” by learning copywriting skills.

Also I just realized you do these great lists of books which I link to all the time especially because you put one of my books in the list.

Jeff: And why wouldn't I? It was great.

Joanna: Thank you for that and I was like, “Oh, wow, he's awesome.” Which is great obviously lists linking out to authors is fantastic.

Tell people about that.

Why does copywriting skill mean that you get paid more for your articles, because I think it's brilliant?

Jeff: “Inc.” is a media site and so they have advertising. They have major advertisers that are there. When people read articles then “Inc.” gets paid by the advertisers because they had views of some of their advertisements.

So the more views that “Inc.” gets ,the more money that “Inc.” can make, so they naturally share that with people like me.

The more views that I get, the more money that I can make. And so you know, clearly the goal, if you're doing this, is you would like lots of page views because you get paid that way. Like you said, you wanted to be a writer that got paid well for writing. Me too.

So I looked at it and said, “Okay, what do people like to read, what do they enjoy, what do they benefit from, what do they like to share?”

If you look at my stuff, I have never written a negative thing about anyone ever, partly because that's my personality. I'm snarky in person, like on the side I can be as sarcastic as anybody, but I don't feel like saying bad things about people in print because I would just rather not say anything at all.

I'm positive. I don't do controversial stuff, I don't try to clickbait people in. I don't do any of that. If I write something that you benefit from and you think, “Wow, that's really good for me,” you will probably share that with people you care about, because you'll think, “You know what? Nancy would really benefit from this or Nancy would enjoy that.”

That sharing thing is really where I got my audience. It wasn't because “Inc.” just pushes it in front of people. It was people saying, “Hey, I like this. I think I'll share that,” and that's how I ended up being a LinkedIn Influencer.

Long ago, used to be LinkedIn had like LinkedIn Today where they would aggregate articles from everywhere. And so the way that your stuff ended up on one of their category pages was if a large velocity of LinkedIn users were sharing something in a period of time and they would say, “Oh, that's getting a lot of attention, let's pop it over.”

I did really well with that, and so LinkedIn when they were starting the influencer program where they wanted people to write directly for LinkedIn, which now everyone can do but at first it was just the influencers, they said, “Clearly you know what our audience likes. Would you like to do this?”

You don't get paid. But it's shopped a ton of traffic back over to my “Inc.” stuff and it built the platform that we talked about a little bit ago.

It was all because I knew how to write things that people wanted to share with other people. And I don't write stuff that they want to share because it's controversial or because it pisses them off or any of those other things that other people do. And good on them if they do, I don't care. That's not my thing.

But if I can help you then you'll probably share it and that's how I look at that. So that, the genesis of all that though was that I looked and said, “All right, if I'm going to be in this game writing for “Inc.” and I would like to win the game, which means make more money, what do I need to do?”

I don't know if you're going to ask me this but the biggest lesson or biggest thing that I would like people who are freelance writers to take away from this is if you want to make a good living you have to take a step back and say, “My job is to write what my client wants. My job is not to write whatever satisfies my inner creative person.” Do that on your own time.

“My job is to write what other people want.” And I got a lot of jobs along the way because I was willing to be the contractor that takes the blueprint for the house and builds the house the client asked for.

Instead of, “Wow, but that doesn't feel good to me and you know, I want to express myself.” Go express yourselves somewhere else. I always say that to people. Seriously. If you are paid to do something your job is to make the person that paid you, be delighted that they hired you. And if you focus that way and deliver what they want, then you can get work all day long.

I probably get 10 e-mails a week where people say, “Hey, I'm trying to get started and I can't get anybody to hire me and you know, it's really a bummer because I really like to write about so and so and nobody will hire me to do that.”

And I'll say, “Okay, you really like to write about that, but it doesn't sound like anybody needs that or wants to read it so if you want to get paid, you've got to go where the money is.” And I don't mean that in a harsh way.

It's just if writing about Mountain Dew bottles and nobody cares then you do that for yourself. But if writing about cell phones is paying then hey, go do that. And I know people don't want to hear that.

It's like that in any profession.

Joanna: Yes.

Jeff: You have to do what it is that people need, and if you're good at giving people what they need and want, you're in.

Joanna: I think you know my audience are used to the business stuff and I definitely share quite a lot of your articles. I think they're great and as I say you link to a lot of books so if people like reading business books, I think you're posting on LinkedIn.

Jeff: I like books. I like authors.

Joanna: Yeah, exactly.

Jeff: And I read something that I like I never link, I never put anything on any list that I don't like, and that I wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend.

People ask me if I will review lots of products and I'll look at something and if I don't really like it then I don't write about it. But if I do then I say so, because I don't know what's to be but book lists if I like it cool. I hope other people read it because I am decidedly average.

Let's put it that way. I am an average white bread kind of guy, and so if I like something chances are, there are a lot of people that would probably like it too. Because I'm in the middle of that bell curve somewhere.

Joanna: I'm in the middle of that curve as well because I like a lot of the books you like too. I think that works well. But we are out of time so where can people find you and your books and everything you do and your articles online?

Jeff: I write for “Inc.” If you go to Inc.com and just search my name there's about 1,600 or so now. I'm on LinkedIn. I connect with people and I'm happy to do so and I do answer questions and I mean, I do it in a day. But I do answer questions and I'm happy to help folks. I'm on Twitter but I don't really care about Twitter, Twitter doesn't fit. Twitter is not a good social platform for me or for the stuff that I do so. And my book is wherever you want to find it.

Joanna: Fantastic, well thanks so much for your time, Jeff, that was great.

Jeff: Thank you.

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