Do You Look like a Writer?

Naturally, I teach my students to write, but what gets more attention is inspiring them to look employable. Before job fairs and interviews, I’ve taught men to choose, tie, and wear a tie, and women to update their hair styles and choose modest, professional, flattering clothing. Want a real job? Then learn to look like a grown-up. If you’ve been an adult for a while, it could be time to update your hair style and the cut of your jackets.

This advice for male students reminded me to pass this idea along: http://artofmanliness.com/2011/09/22/style-tips-for-college-men/

So let’s encourage writers to the same career success. Most of us were nerds in high school. Many hang onto that image, even priding themselves on not caring for their looks. For some, it’s a defense, either fearing rejection, not realizing how good they’d really look if they gave the picture the right frame, or not knowing they could ask for help with this. Some even hide under a mop of hair and shapeless clothes to avoid a social life. Some would do something more for their looks but assume it would take too much time.

Actually, a great hair cut and a planned wardrobe can be great timesavers. And sure, you can be sloppy and get away with it. People will only think you’re eccentric. Aren’t all writers a little nuts? But writers are artists, and many of us consider beauty a cardinal virtue. Why not wear that on our sleeves? Why not look our best and even learn public speaking skills?

So if you haven’t changed your appearance since high school, try an experiment. Get a makeover artist to design a real hairstyle and see how you like it. Learn to use makeup effectively. Find out how it feels to let your beauty shine on the outside. (I had help myself: editing for image consultants has been one of the perks of my job.) I think you’ll find it raises your confidence and encourages your creativity. It can become a career breakthrough to be noticed in a crowd and discovered to be brainy as well. Go ahead–have it all!

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Text © Gwyn Nichols 2011. All rights reserved. WritersResort.com

What’s Your Style?

This one is for those of you who already write in complete, yet not inexhaustible sentences, and wonder whether you have any style.

Of course, you do–just as you have a personality style, a speaking style, a breathing rhythm, a driving style. You can’t help it. You are an original because you are the only one. Whether you want to tweak your writing style is up to you. (My favorite book on style is Trimble’s Writing with Style.)

David L. L. Houston enumerates some of the features that distinguish one author’s style from another, and I liked his style. What’s Your Style?

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Text © Gwyn Nichols 2011

Hamlet in Prison

Jack Hitt’s hour-long report  for This American Life on Hamlet performed by prisoners, originally broadcast in 2002, has inspired me all week with its deep insights about Hamlet and encouragement for my own students, a few of whom have come from prison.

Nobody points out the ex-cons in my classes–I wouldn’t know that detail if they didn’t confide in me themselves. A couple have broken my heart by returning to prison or to the streets, but most are determined to take their second chance and become a blessing to their families. Like this reporter, I don’t necessarily want to know what they’ve done in the past. For me, their life begins here and now.

And I’d love to have all of my students think of my class-as one prisoner/performer said of his experience with teacher/director, Agnes Wilcox–”For a few hours a week, we get to feel human again.”

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Text © Gwyn Nichols 2011