Writing for Life
“My college writing wasn’t the last word; it turns out it was the first word. I recognize myself in those thoughts stretching back 25 years ago to my freshman Expos essay, and I see how they’ve stayed with me as a thread through my career.”
Open the door to discovery
Adam Goodheart ‘92
Chen Wu ‘06
“You don’t have to know exactly what you’re going to say when you sit down and write. I certainly don’t.” Adam Goodheart ‘92’s humility should hearten all novice writers, given his successful career as an American historian at Washington College with articles featured in publications like The New York Times, not to mention a celebrated recent book on the civil war that garnered him an invitation to the Obama White House. Goodheart highlights the invisible journey that ideas take through the human mind, a journey that is often muddy and contradictory until we put our thoughts down on the page.
Chen Wu ‘06, Director of the Office of Transformation for the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and author of several journal articles on diabetes and cancer, shares Goodheart’s experience of the discovery power inherent in writing: “From the standpoint of trying to organize your thoughts, writing really does crystallize realizations about the world. It’s a tool for understanding.”
Embrace the challenge to grow
The writing experience offers a practical process to expand and refine your perspectives about yourself. Carol Dweck, a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, suggests in a 2010 article titled “Even Geniuses Work Hard” that there is a lasting sense of personal fulfillment to having a growth mindset. In this mindset, challenging work is viewed as a chance to grow: “I have seen students with a growth mindset meet difficult problems, ones they could not solve yet, with great relish.” This growth mindset in the writing process is key. Melissa Borja ‘04, Assistant Professor in the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, is currently working on a book about refugee resettlement policy. She remarks, “Writing isn’t just the finished product, it’s a process. Being a good writer is about knowing how to conduct that journey effectively by being patient with the process.” These daily investments in the writing process over time accumulate into a larger journey of personal growth. Jeremy Doner ’94 notes, “I started to see every area of life, writing included, as a collaborative process. I opened my process up more. I solicited help. I got input. It always leads me to write something better, to become someone better.” Pete Groeneveld ‘91 shares Doner and Borja’s experience of the writing process as an opportunity to be challenged and stretched to see ourselves with fresh eyes: “As you write, you realize how hard it is to convey ideas. You think everyone will see your self-evident truth, but then you realize all different types of readers are coming at your text from all different perspectives.” The writing process invites our perspectives to expand, seasoning our writing and lives with openness to growth and change.
Melissa Borja ‘04
Make your mark on the world
David Gray ‘93
Through writing we make meaningful contributions to what we care about most. Borja recalls, “When I started doing my own research, I realized writing is meaningful because I’m choosing the question and I’m choosing the ideas to communicate.” Those choices about what we write, in turn, become our own individual touchstones for meaning in life. David Gray ’93 sits on the directorial team of an education consulting firm specializing in curricular design, experiential learning, and team coaching. With articles in the MIT Sloan Management Review and the Financial Times, Gray reflects on his early writing, noting: “My college writing wasn’t the last word; it turns out it was the first word. I recognize myself in those thoughts stretching back 25 years ago to my freshman Expos essay, and I see how they’ve stayed with me as a thread through my career.” Borja echoes this experience as well:, “I think that knowing what brings meaning to your life and how you want to serve the world—writing is going to be a part of it in one way or another.”