Writing essays
27/05/24 02:08
When I was in my late teens, I set several goals for myself. I wanted to complete my academic education, including at least one graduate degree, in my mid twenties. After that, I planned to write a book and get it published by the time I turned 30. It is interesting now, as I look back from my seventies, now naive I was with those goals. First of all, my goals didn’t include what turned out to be the most important parts of my life: a loving and supportive marriage, children and grandchildren, and a meaningful career. I accomplished those unseen goals and they have been very meaningful to my life’s journey. I also completed my academic education in a timely manner. I was awarded an earned doctorate a few days before my 25th birthday. I didn’t consider that after that accomplishment I would discover some significant holes in my education and end up needing more serious academic work later in my career. Many of the other goals of that early list, however, still have not been accomplished.
I haven’t published a book. I haven’t written a book-length manuscript. Didn’t do it by the time i was 30. Didn’t do it by the time I was 50. Didn’t do it by the time I was 70. The fact that I have never been the author of a book doesn’t seem to have made me feel unsuccessful in life. I do have a list of publications, and on that list is one small document, a piece of curricula for adult education, that was published as a small book. It can hardly be called a book and I didn’t really write it. I was editor for a series of publications. One of the contract writers who was working under me failed to complete the contract and under the terms of the contract, that work belonged to the publisher. As editor, I completed the work and it was printed under my name as per the contract. The book didn’t sell well. The resource is still available online, but it isn’t doing very well in that format, either.
With the exception of a few publications in journals including one article in a professional journal, a series of magazine articles, and a poem that enjoyed a series of publications in several magazines in several languages, including braille, what I have written is educational curricula, all written as a free-lance contract writer.
I have, however, maintained this discipline of journal writing for many years. I started the process to practice the art of writing and to learn to think of myself as a writer. It has worked that way for me. I consider myself to be an essayist.
I own several books of essays by other writers, so I know that some have collected their essays, edited them, and published them as books. I have in the back of my mind that I might do that some day, but I have yet to put together a collection. the essayist and poet Ross Gay has at least two books of essays that have been published, made best seller lists, and won awards. He undertook the discipline of writing a short essay every day. The essays are about half the length of the ones I write and he didn’t maintain the discipline of daily writing. I think he missed the fourth day. His collection “The Book of Delights” contains 101 essays written over the span of 13 months. At least two of them are on the fact that he had trouble keeping the discipline and blew off writing many days. Nonetheless, he did prepare the collection for publication, found a publisher, and has produced a widely popular volume. I haven’t done any of that.
I don’t need to compare myself to other writers, however. And I don’t think that publishing a book is among my priorities and goals right now. I might simply accept that what I envisioned in my twenties was a bit different from the life I have lived and that is normal and acceptable.
I do, however, like to think of myself as an essayist. Part of that has to do with my love of exploring the origins of words and my continuing fascination, started as a college student, with the history of philosophy. The term essay was first used as an English term by the philosopher and writer Frances Bacon. Although, like other academics of his time (the early 1600’s), he published works in Latin, his book “The Advancement of Learning” published in 1605 is the first really important philosophical book to be written in English. In that work, Bacon uses the word essay. It is likely that he did so as a bit of a tip of the hat to the 16th century philosopher Michel de Montaigne. Borrowing a French word for a work in English was and continues to be popular. There are a lot of terms in English that came from French. Essay one of them thanks to Bacon.
In French, the word essay means “trial, attempt, or endeavor.” That is the way Bacon used the word. Later it came to have a new meaning in English: “a short, discursive literary composition.” I like the double meaning. By volume of words, the majority of my writing has taken the form of short discursive literary compositions. This is yet another of them. But in my mind, they are also trials, attempts, and endeavors. I think of them as incomplete ideas. If I were to publish some of my journal articles, I think I would be tempted to hone and revise them and make them much more polished. Maybe I would complete what began as trials and experiments. For now I like to think of the essays I write as initial offerings. Perhaps some of the ideas expressed here will be further explored by me or by others. Maybe even a few of them will become the foundation of a book one day, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. For now, I’m quite content to continue experimenting. I am, after all, an essayist: one who makes trials and attempts.
From a linguistic perspective, the word essay shares its roots with the English word examine. One of the dictionaries I use says that the term essay implies unpolished writing. I like the idea of unpolished. I can occasionally polish an essay for publication, which is essentially what I do when I write for a newspaper or magazine. Most of the time, however, I leave my work in the rough, unpolished. Since you are reading this sentence, you have tolerated my unpolished ideas. I advise you not to expect me to get them polished anytime soon.
I haven’t published a book. I haven’t written a book-length manuscript. Didn’t do it by the time i was 30. Didn’t do it by the time I was 50. Didn’t do it by the time I was 70. The fact that I have never been the author of a book doesn’t seem to have made me feel unsuccessful in life. I do have a list of publications, and on that list is one small document, a piece of curricula for adult education, that was published as a small book. It can hardly be called a book and I didn’t really write it. I was editor for a series of publications. One of the contract writers who was working under me failed to complete the contract and under the terms of the contract, that work belonged to the publisher. As editor, I completed the work and it was printed under my name as per the contract. The book didn’t sell well. The resource is still available online, but it isn’t doing very well in that format, either.
With the exception of a few publications in journals including one article in a professional journal, a series of magazine articles, and a poem that enjoyed a series of publications in several magazines in several languages, including braille, what I have written is educational curricula, all written as a free-lance contract writer.
I have, however, maintained this discipline of journal writing for many years. I started the process to practice the art of writing and to learn to think of myself as a writer. It has worked that way for me. I consider myself to be an essayist.
I own several books of essays by other writers, so I know that some have collected their essays, edited them, and published them as books. I have in the back of my mind that I might do that some day, but I have yet to put together a collection. the essayist and poet Ross Gay has at least two books of essays that have been published, made best seller lists, and won awards. He undertook the discipline of writing a short essay every day. The essays are about half the length of the ones I write and he didn’t maintain the discipline of daily writing. I think he missed the fourth day. His collection “The Book of Delights” contains 101 essays written over the span of 13 months. At least two of them are on the fact that he had trouble keeping the discipline and blew off writing many days. Nonetheless, he did prepare the collection for publication, found a publisher, and has produced a widely popular volume. I haven’t done any of that.
I don’t need to compare myself to other writers, however. And I don’t think that publishing a book is among my priorities and goals right now. I might simply accept that what I envisioned in my twenties was a bit different from the life I have lived and that is normal and acceptable.
I do, however, like to think of myself as an essayist. Part of that has to do with my love of exploring the origins of words and my continuing fascination, started as a college student, with the history of philosophy. The term essay was first used as an English term by the philosopher and writer Frances Bacon. Although, like other academics of his time (the early 1600’s), he published works in Latin, his book “The Advancement of Learning” published in 1605 is the first really important philosophical book to be written in English. In that work, Bacon uses the word essay. It is likely that he did so as a bit of a tip of the hat to the 16th century philosopher Michel de Montaigne. Borrowing a French word for a work in English was and continues to be popular. There are a lot of terms in English that came from French. Essay one of them thanks to Bacon.
In French, the word essay means “trial, attempt, or endeavor.” That is the way Bacon used the word. Later it came to have a new meaning in English: “a short, discursive literary composition.” I like the double meaning. By volume of words, the majority of my writing has taken the form of short discursive literary compositions. This is yet another of them. But in my mind, they are also trials, attempts, and endeavors. I think of them as incomplete ideas. If I were to publish some of my journal articles, I think I would be tempted to hone and revise them and make them much more polished. Maybe I would complete what began as trials and experiments. For now I like to think of the essays I write as initial offerings. Perhaps some of the ideas expressed here will be further explored by me or by others. Maybe even a few of them will become the foundation of a book one day, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. For now, I’m quite content to continue experimenting. I am, after all, an essayist: one who makes trials and attempts.
From a linguistic perspective, the word essay shares its roots with the English word examine. One of the dictionaries I use says that the term essay implies unpolished writing. I like the idea of unpolished. I can occasionally polish an essay for publication, which is essentially what I do when I write for a newspaper or magazine. Most of the time, however, I leave my work in the rough, unpolished. Since you are reading this sentence, you have tolerated my unpolished ideas. I advise you not to expect me to get them polished anytime soon.
