Focus. Something of which I am in short supply. At times I feel my parents missed a diagnosis of ADD, but that's a bit of an exaggeration. I had plenty of focus when I was younger. Now, not so much. Where does this lack of focus come from? Did it spring up the moment I turned eighteen? Possibly. Eighteen was the age when I met the first obstacle to success: my own head.
At eighteen, I had just graduated from high school, had no job, and had yet to start college. While in high school I had not cultivated any marketable skill. I had been in theatre, which had been the sole focus of my high school career for two and a half years. In Odessa, TX there was not much an inexperienced eighteen year-old high school theatre nerd could do, at least not much he/she could do and get paid. I had to find a job. It was time for me to becomeresponsible; no, it was time for me to become practical. I hate being practical. Being practical meant doing something I didn't enjoy. As I canvassed the city for jobs, I discovered the double-edged sword of the employment sector: Everyone wants experience, even in restaurants. I couldn't even get a job bussing tables at Chili's (later I did get a serving job there, but only after acquiring some experience in serving at the wonderfully quaint Pojo's Restaurant), and I was determined not to work in fast food.
For more than a month, I applied to plenty of places, and now that I look back on that time I realize I had absolutely no interest in the places I was applying. I didn't care, which was probably apparent in my face, and no one wants to hire someone who looks bored. Speaking of which, I learned that interviews are not something I'm very good at. As I said before, I'm horrible at selling myself. In fact, I'm horrible at selling anything I don't believe in. (AHA! That's it!)
Well, isn't that surprising. I'd never put those two things together before. Never before had I thought my confidence was the problem with lack of job-seeking skills. I tend to focus on my inadequacies, not my strengths, and so I don't boast because I feel there's nothing to boast about.
Intriguing what can be discovered through writing, which is something I hope my students learn.
And speaking of writing....
That's exactly the direction I believe my blog needs to head in. Hence, the title of this post and the small alteration to the title of my blog (now if only I can figure out how to change the URL).
Over the years, I have been approached by a few friends and family members to assist them with their writing. And just over a week ago, I was asked if there were any books out there (that I knew of) that could help with writing essays. As I turned to my library, I discovered a disconcerting fact: I don't have too many books on writing that are not college textbooks, and those are dreadfully tedious, dry, and boring. None of which I'd recommend to a friend, and if I could get away with it, I would not recommend them to my students either. College textbooks are far too bulky and dry to capture the attention of most students.
The only books in my library that I would recommend are the old, dated, and yet still useful The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. The first is a bit old-fashioned but is infinitely smaller and more digestible than most composition textbooks, and the second is the best writing book I've ever come across, but it's focus is on creative writing, not on the type of writing most college students are asked to do.
Since then, I've been looking for small, inexpensive, yet fun books on writing. Thanks to a colleague, I was loaned a couple of very intriguing books by Karen Elizabeth Gordon: The Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed and The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. I've glanced over both and found the writing to be fresh, witty, and helpful. But both books still focus on the sentence, not the essay. The search for an intriguing composition book still continues. Any help in this area would be appreciated.
As a remedy for this, I decided that I could use this blog to help others with their writing and for the bargain price of free.
Of course, now the problem remains, of which problem to focus on first.... To be decided...
At eighteen, I had just graduated from high school, had no job, and had yet to start college. While in high school I had not cultivated any marketable skill. I had been in theatre, which had been the sole focus of my high school career for two and a half years. In Odessa, TX there was not much an inexperienced eighteen year-old high school theatre nerd could do, at least not much he/she could do and get paid. I had to find a job. It was time for me to become
For more than a month, I applied to plenty of places, and now that I look back on that time I realize I had absolutely no interest in the places I was applying. I didn't care, which was probably apparent in my face, and no one wants to hire someone who looks bored. Speaking of which, I learned that interviews are not something I'm very good at. As I said before, I'm horrible at selling myself. In fact, I'm horrible at selling anything I don't believe in. (AHA! That's it!)
Well, isn't that surprising. I'd never put those two things together before. Never before had I thought my confidence was the problem with lack of job-seeking skills. I tend to focus on my inadequacies, not my strengths, and so I don't boast because I feel there's nothing to boast about.
Intriguing what can be discovered through writing, which is something I hope my students learn.
And speaking of writing....
That's exactly the direction I believe my blog needs to head in. Hence, the title of this post and the small alteration to the title of my blog (now if only I can figure out how to change the URL).
Over the years, I have been approached by a few friends and family members to assist them with their writing. And just over a week ago, I was asked if there were any books out there (that I knew of) that could help with writing essays. As I turned to my library, I discovered a disconcerting fact: I don't have too many books on writing that are not college textbooks, and those are dreadfully tedious, dry, and boring. None of which I'd recommend to a friend, and if I could get away with it, I would not recommend them to my students either. College textbooks are far too bulky and dry to capture the attention of most students.
The only books in my library that I would recommend are the old, dated, and yet still useful The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. The first is a bit old-fashioned but is infinitely smaller and more digestible than most composition textbooks, and the second is the best writing book I've ever come across, but it's focus is on creative writing, not on the type of writing most college students are asked to do.
Since then, I've been looking for small, inexpensive, yet fun books on writing. Thanks to a colleague, I was loaned a couple of very intriguing books by Karen Elizabeth Gordon: The Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed and The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. I've glanced over both and found the writing to be fresh, witty, and helpful. But both books still focus on the sentence, not the essay. The search for an intriguing composition book still continues. Any help in this area would be appreciated.
As a remedy for this, I decided that I could use this blog to help others with their writing and for the bargain price of free.
Of course, now the problem remains, of which problem to focus on first.... To be decided...
No comments:
Post a Comment