I spend my days working in a cubicle, labelled as the 'junior technical writer' of the office. I've spent 4 years studying technical writing. My bookshelf is full of technical communication text books, reference books, and commentaries. I'll be joining the Society for Technical Communication sometime this summer or fall.
But yet I come home, read the blogs of my friends, and am immediately struck by the inherent quality present in their writing, a quality sorely lacking in mine. I can chunk information, reverse engineer documents, manage corporate knowledge-bases, but when it comes to writing convincing, compelling, and enjoyable text, I fail.
I was getting very depressed earlier. Reading a blog which was closer, by leaps and bounds, to C.S. Lewis (my literary and stylistic idol) than I have ever achieved. "I'm supposed to be the professional writer of the group!" was what crossed my mind. Then God hit me.
Greed, pride, and rebellion all were large parts of my life during my first years at the college (and the preceeding secondary-school years) and now it is showing. People ask what I do for a living and I respond, out of habit, that I am a technical writer. I've usually had enough verbal eloquence to convince them that it might actually be a possibility; Thankfully, they very rarely ask me to write an article or report. I'm not good at it. I could pull up a page and stare blankly at it for hours, at a total loss for how to start it. If a piece is completed and I think it's good, I'll usually come back later at a time of humility and see a page pockmarked with horrific grammatical and spelling errors. This is humiliating in personal life but it is damaging at school and downright dangerous at work where my employment hangs in the balance.
The point, finally, is that I've got a long while to go before I will be what I claim to be. God's given me other skills and many opportunities to put them to use but I remain determined, until He tells me otherwise in our discussions, to improve my writing abilities until I am a capable technical writer.
(How's that for an uncommentable blog post! haha)
[Edit: Yes, this post was regarding a post by Faye. I thought I had linked to her previously. Needless to say, she's the one making a reference to Rodin's "Gateway to Hell" in a comment, haha (note: I intend to have a cast of "The Hand of God" somewhere in my house when I move out).
Friday, May 26, 2006
A while to go
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5 comments:
Uncommentable?
Pffft... =P
Hello Jono. In regards to reading other "unprofessional" literary works and how this makes you feel inferior, dissatisfied, and incompetent when looking at your own work, all I have to say is "Snork." Well, that and a few other things. First, the majority of all great artists HATE their own work and are never satisfied with it, even when all others are so blown away by the superiority of the "unfinished" work that they collapse in reverence (ex. Rodin's Gateway to Hell). I suspect it is therefore a common, if not defining trait of artists in any subject to always desire greater things from themselves. Second, my first thought upon reading your blog for the first time and every time thereafter was, "Oh crap this is professional-artsy." Moreover, it's not just gloss with no substance- I think I've learned more about you in the few months I've spent glancing at your blog than I ever learned from hanging out with you for years. Your words are compelling, inspiring, and frequently witty. Take off the dark sunglasses and take up satisfaction in your work. Your skills are from God and you give him pleasure when you use them to the best of your ability- now, at this moment in time, not just later when you've "mastered" them. Rant over.
Faye makes me jealous too. Well not too much. That would be bad. She is a very talented writer though. (If I'm wrong in guessing Faye it won't hurt me either).
Anyways, I'll second the "uncommentable? pffft"
And throw in a prayer.
Dear Jesus, thanks for monitoring Jono's thoughts. Thanks that you're with us all the time Holy Spirit. Bless Jono and his writing. May they glorify you and may his skills grow to excellence. Thank you for his heart and his intentions. Guard those too that he might not fall prey to seeing himself as less than you do, or to pride.
Thanks for making him such a great friend to others. They need him and are blessed knowing him.
Guess who's back, Jonny?!?
Yup, me.
I just wanted to say that I *heart* ya'll for 'stealing' my phrase. I'll be nice & not demand the customary 5 bucks in American dollars...besides, that's just for Jonny, because he does it so much. =P
Jonny--
On our way down to Kansas City, we listened to Relient K's Mmmhmm several times & each time the song "More than Useless" came on, I thought of you & this post. Just thought maybe you'd like to listen to it. I can email ya the lyrics sometime if you'd like.
Gotta go; the guys want to take me back to Mason now. Talk to ya soon.
Adios.
~Alli
PS: check all three of my blogs for updates on the KC trip within the next couple of days. i guarantee that you'll die laughing multiple times with each entry. an' this alone really ought to make up for all the times i died laughing at you. =D
jono.
if you want a pity party, you're not about to get one.
main reason?:
you're stellar, blog or no blog.
and agreeing with the rest of the commenters, you are definitely a friend worth having! i can't tell you how much i appreciated your speech at our wedding, though i've tried. well composed, well executed, well said. but this is not about technicalities. it was from the heart and resulted in something better and more meaningful than if you had included a dozen quotes from CS Lewis or counterparts, or ran it through a thesaurus, spell-check, and grammar glossary.
but you never need to do that anyways.
see you tonight!
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