Crafting a lead - food or obsessiveness?

Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi are authors of the book Craft Lessons = lots of good stuff here. In essence, Fletcher believes that most of us – and more specifically – writing teachers need help with the elements that an author uses to produce an engaging piece of writing that a reader will want to read. The book is about teaching kids at various grade levels about “writer’s craft” or how to craft their writing.  Chapter headings include such as the following: “Adding Details” “The Circular Ending” “Focus: Staying on Topic” and many more. I like the fact that the book identifies the most likely grade level that a particular craft would best be taught.
 
I pulled out a few thoughts from his chapter on “Crafting a Lead”; Fletcher argues that 3rd and 4th graders are probably ready to explore the use of “leads” in their writing.  - He is addressing how you start out a piece of writing -
 
Quotes About Leads
 
Every lead is sort of a compressed draft of the entire piece - .  It reveals something of the subject, the writer's attitude toward the subject, the direction, the form and order of a piece of writing.
 
So I decided to try my hand on this lead “Food or obsessiveness?”.  Below is an example.

What’s a big deal in my life? Food and my relationship to it – that’s a big freaking deal for me. From childhood, I’ve struggled with food issues.  I spent most of my childhood as overweight or as my childhood jeans would say – husky.  I think some of my early overeating is tied to my relationship with my older brother.  He is three years older than me and was always my role model.  When he was young, he really struggled with his weight and food.  At one point, he was classified as morbidly obese and weighed above three hundred pounds.  I can remember him introducing me to all of his favorite fast food restaurants and snacks.  I became obsessed with food and indulged in many food binging sessions where we would inhale thousands of calories of greasy food.  I feel like these binging sessions have been present in my life since childhood and they helped uncover an “inner demon” of sorts – obsessiveness. I have learned to wrestle with being obsessive about food.  Why not work to harness my tendency toward obsessiveness. Most recently I’ve used this demon to drive healthy eating and exercise.  It’s helped me get my weight issues under control by massive weekend meal prepping and a strict workout schedule.  I can see pretty clearly now how food and weight control will be a constant struggle throughout my life.  But eat I must – to stay alive.  So, returning to my original question – I’m left thinking.  Is food the big deal? Or is it obsessiveness?  For now, I don’t need to decide.  The two are related.  


 
















Homemade cauliflower rice for the freezer...

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