Reflective Essay: A Career As A Writer

Since I returned to college after raising my family, my history as a writer has been primarily business-oriented. I have been out of high school a very long time, and my classes in college so far have not involved a lot of writing. I work as a paralegal, so my business communications are detailed, but concise. My writing tends to be supported by research, and I disclose my sources, but do not necessarily formally cite them. Besides business writing, I occasionally send friendly emails written in a conversational tone. Because my work can be rather intense and dry, I enjoy reading mystery novels for pleasure. I think the mystery appeals to me because of my legal background, and the suspense keeps me interested. I like reading fiction because I feel I escape to another place when I read. As far as writing projects, I wrote a high school term paper many years ago. In my work, my longer writing projects tend to report facts in memorandum format, with my own comments added to note questions, concerns, issues, etc. My writing projects are then used by the attorneys with whom I work to develop

I have always imagined that good writers get things done quickly, with one attempt, and need only editing of already brilliant ideas, thoughts, and words. When I write, I feel I really have no clue what I am doing, and I have to try, try again, rewrite, reorganize, rethink, and finally, eventually, I arrive at a point where I have delivered something coherent, meaningful, and informative. From this article, I learned about the importance to just start writing, putting thoughts to paper, and accepting that it is okay, even if I am embarrassed to show those thoughts to anyone else at that point. Trusting myself as a writer, and knowing that it is completely acceptable to write a “shitty first draft” will make the process much less