Sit Down, You’re Not Finished Yet: Writing Advice From My Dad

By Judy Sandler

I used to believe that writing was a talent that one either possessed or lacked. I thought it was a genetically inherited trait, like athleticism, musical ability, a knack for mathematics.

My father cured me of that belief.

My father was a writer: a journalist for The Baltimore Sun, an author of several books about Baltimore, a feature writer for magazines in the 1970s through 2018. When we traveled as a family, he kept detailed journals, clacked away afternoons at hi...