Well, Doc wanted me to answer this question. Due to my love of passing his classes, I feel obliged to answer.
Donald Murray was 82 years old when he died. Is there anything in his last few columns that you can learn from in your own career as a professional writer?
I liked his style, but adapting someone's style to your own, just happens when you read thier work. Though I love his light conversation style, there is nothing to adapting such a style. What I truly learned from him, and I think I should try to integrate into my own life, I found in his obituary.
My parents and teachers got together and decided I was stupid," he wrote last year. "My response was to develop a private mantra: 'I'm stupid but I can come in early and stay late.' Surprise. It worked. Good work habits will beat talent every time."
I try to use this idea at work too. This is just a great mantra. Hopefully I have talent, but incase I don't I can still succeed as a writer.
About Me
- Ben Harley
- Lisle, Illinois, United States
- I am a blue-collar student. I study communcations so classes are more trade related than academia normally allows. I am finishing up with me schooling and not sure where I am going after that. I really think I need a few years off, and am hoping to find them in Costa Rica teaching ESL. After that, who knows? I enjoy news writing but also have a passion for layout. In a perfect world you would already know who I am, because you have already read my short story collections five times.
1 comment:
Well, I think it's always good to have something to love ...
I liked the mantra, too. Murray worked like a dog to get that light conversational style. Sometimes I think it requires more discipline than the scholarly gobbledygook I learned in grad school.
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