Michael Long: From physics to communication

Nearly every day bootheel native Michael Long helps even the most communicatively adverse individuals express their ideas in a concise manner.

But Long's road to becoming an accomplished author, essayist, award-winning screenwriter and speechwriter for presidential candidates and business leaders, among others, was anything but conventional.

The physicist

From the age of 3, Long was raised in the Matthews and Charleston, Mo., area. Upon graduating high school he attended Murray State University on a full academic scholarship -- studying not journalism or communication, but physics and math. He also went to Vanderbilt University for graduate studies in physics.

Asked why he chose to study physics and math, his answer was more about his insecurity than his interest.

"I had a desperate need to be the smartest guy in the room, and I thought that would do it. I was mistaken, and that reflected my insecurity as a young man. But I thought that was the pathway to whatever I was looking for. It turns out there's lots of different kinds of smart. The problem wasn't the world's, the problem was mine."

Realizing in graduate school that he did not want to have a career as a physicist, he left to pursue stand-up comedy. While he enjoyed comedy, to pay the bills he worked as a systems analyst, writing computer code and training others.

A decade later Michael Long the professional writer emerged.

"First, I decided I could make a living as a writer. When I was a kid I wasn't exposed to anyone who wrote for a living except my dad, and he was a pastor. I didn't know you could make a living as a writer. I thought you were a book author and that was it."

"So I started casting about, and I noticed the people who wrote that I liked the most had been presidential speech writers. So I thought, ‘That sounds like where I need to be.' They had the same kind of interest and the same sort of random and discursive educational background that I have, so I started writing."

After being published locally in Nashville and some on a national level, he decided he'd write to his member of Congress and two senators, one being Fred Thompson.

Thompson had seen an essay Long had written for the Nashville Tennessean about taking his young son to Opryland, and he decided it sounded like something he would say. The senator had an opening for a speechwriter and Long was hired.

Capitol Hill

Thompson, known not only for his politics but also as a media figure and actor, was an interesting employer, Long said.

"Robert DeNiro came to the office to meet with Fred. We got to call him Fred ... But I mostly called him Senator. It started with a call in the car, and when Fred hung up, I said, ‘Excuse me, sir, but are you talking about Robert DeNiro?' He said, ‘You mean Bob?' and he laughed really big. DeNiro showed up the next day, and even though you're not supposed to bother the visitors, I marched up to him and introduced myself anyway. He was absolutely delightful and he even remembered my name later when he left. I have the autograph on my wall to this day."

After getting his feet wet on Capitol Hill, Long left to pursue positions with various public relations agencies. He'd later join the White House Writers Group, a group predominately made up of former Ronald Reagan speechwriters.

Despite leaving his job with Thompson, Long's career of writing for and with high profile individuals was just beginning.

Shortly after noticing what he described as "an odd detail" in two of economist and actor Ben Stein's novels, he decided to write and tell him about it. After the initial connection, the two met and Stein helped Long find work in Washington, D.C.

"He's a generous, kind, smart man who has given me more than I could ever give him. We wrote a TV pilot together, he let my son run his website, he introduced me to a Hollywood legend or two," said Long of Stein.

‘The Music Man'

Today Long lives in Burke, Va., with his wife, Julia, and their three children. In addition to his freelance writing career, he teaches graduate courses in public relations writing and speechwriting at Georgetown University -- where he was nominated for an outstanding professor award the last two years.

Long's advice for effective communication is relatively simple.

"Waiting for inspiration will waste your time. Just get something on paper. It'll be better than you think. Don't try to sound like a professor. Pretend like you're explaining it to your kid in junior high. And when you're delivering material, don't ever, ever try to wing it. Rehearse until you're sick of it."

Despite working for a number of high-profile individuals from diverse industries, Long remains humble and understands the professional nature of his job.

"It's all work. Treat it all like work. To do otherwise is a mistake."

"Everyone does something well. I'm just lucky to get to participate in this realm, I really am. I came from a wide spot in the road, and I am still shocked when I get to work with some of the folks I know."

Long frequently gives lectures to writing professionals and companies on effective communication techniques. Part of his lecture is based on the musical "The Music Man."

"The Music Man himself allowed the parents to see the best in their children. He didn't change the children, he just helped people see the best part of the kids."

"I'm a ghost writer -- that is, I write up other people's ideas so they can present them in a speech or an essay. If I write something up that's organized and easy to understand, my client will believe that it is written in his or her ‘voice.' That's because they wish and hope to be especially communicative. So I give them the best version of themselves."

"Some people are shocked that folks like me exist. They think it's unethical or dishonest. But we don't put words in the mouths of politicians and business leaders, we just help them do the best presentation of their own ideas."

Southeast Missouri

Though Long's transformation from math and science to writing might seem odd, looking back on his time in Southeast Missouri, as well as his parents, it begins to make sense.

"Dad was a brilliant speaker and writer with a musician's gift for putting words together. Mom was and is bold beyond measure. I was lucky to get those two qualities from them."

"As I grew up I imagined that all the ‘smartness' was to be found elsewhere, and in the cities. Instead, I found out that common sense, decency and civility are far more prevalent in rural America. Political correctness is largely a big-city-born substitute for the simple respect we have for each other in the country."

lpresson@semissourian.com

388-3649