Category: On Writing

Finally

Source: This $20 Gadget Fixes the MacBook’s Most Annoying Problem

Once upon a time, way back in the day when people typed two spaces after a period, some dowdy old typing teacher sporting a facelift via her severe bun probably told you the “rules” of writing a resume. It mustn’t be longer than a page. All resumes begin with an “objective.” You should always be extremely formal and do not abbreviate or use contractions. You didn’t believe her when she said your skirt was too short, did you? So why are you still listening to her today?

It’s possible that resume served you well back in high school when all you really had to show was your afternoons and weekends gig at Taco Bell. But now?  Watching true and proper grown ups trying to cram a couple decades worth of education and experience into 8 1/2 x 11 makes my brain hurt. And Oh My Zod, when I have to actually read them. So. Freaking. Boring.

So first, forget everything that teacher told you (except the part where she said to spell everything right and, of course, don’t lie). The truth is that even a formulaic resume can (and should) be interesting. As a technical writer, I’ve written hundreds of resumes, mostly for submissions to government and public sector industries in responses to requests for proposals. The requirements for response range from wide open to forms (think tax returns). Yet for every pile of proposals on a selection committee’s desk, it was my job to make my firm’s proposal stand out. I’ve always taken this same goal to task when writing an individual’s resume.

When I did some filler/side work for a company called Career Pro Plus (owned by a great lady, Barbara Adams), I wrote, almost exclusively, resumes for individuals wanting to enter the Senior Executive Service, which is the highest level of government that is not appointed by the president. In addition to the formulaic Federal resume format, candidates must also submit Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) using 5 character-limited essays that narrate specific examples demonstrating 28 competencies through the person’s experience in leading change, leading people, building coalitions, business acumen, and driving results driven.

Sound challenging? I actually had a lot of fun with them and, just like any other resume, the ones that got noticed (and won the jobs) were interesting to read. How? Well, I could probably give enough tips to fill a series of blog entries, but let’s just start with the basics.

1. Use active voice
   • On both your resume and cover letter, look specifically for these and remove/replace as many of these as possible: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been
   • Don’t say “I am running the department” when you can say “I run the department”
2. Tell a story / give context
   • When you say you planned a dinner party, you know what that means because you were there; however, it doesn’t mean much to the reader
   • If you say “I planned and executed a four-course meal for 27 people with two days notice resulting in two immediate re-bookings for parties of 50+ people” the reader can picture it
   • The example above uses a simple formula that’s great for describing examples of experience – Situation, Task, Activity, Result (STAR)… give context, describe the task, add some details, and give the results
3. Be measurable
   • The “give the results” portion of STAR – now that’s the real meat for any potential employer – so don’t skip it
   • When reviewing resumes, I may find it relevant that someone served on a committee to introduce Six Sigma to their company if I’m specifically looking for that keyword, but tell me that effort saved the firm $1.2 million dollars and you have my undivided attention even if I’m not all about the Six Sigma (yet)
4. Pro Tip
   • So this may be more of a pet peeve, but for goodness sake, Gmail addresses are free –  so don’t use your thisismystupidemailname@gmail.com address

Hopefully this is helpful to some people. If you’re interested in having your resume professionally written, I do recommend the folks over at Career Pro Plus. They write corporate resumes in addition to Federal resumes (both for SES and regular submissions for government positions). Also, if you’re a writer looking for a neat challenge, they’re always on the lookout for strong writers. It’s fun and flexible, but does require you be available during business hours.

“I seek a place free from distraction allowing me to be alone with my thoughts and the blank page.” Five bloggers tell us about their writing spaces.

Source: A Place to Find Our Words: Bloggers and Their Writing Spaces

Mexican-born artist Arturo Vega is best known as the designer behind The Ramones’ iconic logo. He was also the band’s stage illumination director and a New Yorker, from 1971 until his death in 2013…

Source: Ramones Designer Arturo Vega’s Irreverent ‘Insult’ Paintings

I would categorize myself as an Extroverted Introvert (yes, it’s a thing). Most people would be surprised at the Introvert part because I’m generally very social. However, like most Introverts, I absolutely must have my recharge time. Now, even being social, I’m not one who enjoys talking on the phone under most circumstances. Yesterday was one of those days, tho, when I simply did not want to talk to anyone. At all. No texts, no emails, nothing. I decided to bury myself in writing and sat down to write a blog post.

And so I sat there, intermittently playing Candy Crush and waking my computer to look at a blank screen. I didn’t want to write a blog post. I mean I really didn’t want to. Irritated at what I labeled writer’s block, I put the laptop aside, grabbed my journal, and started writing about not wanting to write. Lemme tell ya, the words flowed like hot lava. WTH? I realized, in and through my furious journaling, that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to write — I didn’t want to talk to my blog audience.

This epiphany made me look at other times I thought I suffered from writer’s block. Could it be, I wonder, that I slip into writing for a specific audience instead of just writing the story? Hrm.. me thinks we’re onto something.

Perhaps I’ve been in the technical/business/non-fiction writing realms too long. The first rule in that type of writing is to know your audience. With fiction, there are no rules. Okay, I know that’s not literally true – there are definitely some rules, or at least guidelines. Obviously if you’re writing a genre like children’s lit, you need to write for that type of reader, letting this guide your language choices and style and rhythm and whatnot. But in the grander scheme, do fiction writers write for their audiences? I’m intrigued by this idea and have made mental notes start keeping a closer eye on it. For a true extrovert, having an audience in mind may actually help. All of this stream of consciousness is purely theory salted with speculation. I’d be interested in knowing if anyone else experiences this type of mental block. The next time I’m trying to avoid writing I’ll have to do a bit of research to see if there’s anything out there on this topic.

There is ALWAYS something to do in Columbia, South Carolina, which is one of my favorite things about living here. Today we chose a regular family favorite, the Soda City, our awesome weekly street market, where we ran into a friend of my husband’s from college, local artist Sean McGuinness. We didn’t bring the puppies this time since we were meeting a friend for lunch, but Soda City is a great, dog-friendly event that lets Fido get his social fix, too. Unfortunately, Riverfront Park remains closed from the historic flooding we had last Fall, but I’m looking forward to this summer we can combine a run along the canal with the dogs and a trip to Soda City.

Along with the street market we visited a few of the great stores along Main Street. Valentine’s Day weekend or not, we would have stopped Sylvan’s Jewelers, to see their recent remodel, which is stunning – I was so happy to see the character of the original store remain. I’ll have to post about them again when they update their website with new pics. After showing infinite patience while we did some Valentine’s Day shopping, the kids begged for a stop into Mast General Store to sample the barrel candy, and how could we possibly deny them? Point of interest: Mast General is dog-friendly, so feel free to let Fido get his shopping on, too!

For lunch, we chose Michael’s Cafe, which is definitely a favorite of mine as evidenced by how many of our Girls on the Run lunchtime meetings “happen” to get scheduled there. We met up with a friend who lives downtown and I finally got to see her lovely apartment with all its exposed brick… sadly, just as she packs up to move back to DC. Living in the downtown Columbia area has become the ‘thing’ to do, and this has really revitalized the area in the past few years. Turns out I know several people in the building, but that shouldn’t surprise me since Columbia, while a large capital city, feels a lot like a small town.

Overall, we had a very nice Saturday morning to kickstart the weekend. We have lots of domestic/family stuff to do or we could have enjoyed ourselves downtown all day. There just so much about ‘Famously Hot’ Columbia to talk about and to recommend – way more than this tiny sampling.  We have the State Museum, the art museum, the zoo, the children’s museum, the Nickelodeon Theatre, the historic district, the Vista, Five Points, Koger Center, the SC Philharmonic, the Trustus Theatre, Colonial Life Arena, the Town Theatre, the Village Square Theatre… it goes on and on. And the restaurants! Haven’t even started listing the restaurants. I feel the same way about my other home of Knoxville, Tennessee and could probably support a blog writing about just those two places. Maybe I’ll make a couple categories and make them semi-regular topics and show my cities some love.