Assignment 1

LESSON 1: SERIOUS WRITERS: MASTER THE CRAFT
ASSIGNMENT: Write a short essay on the benefits to you as a writer of keeping a notebook, diary, journal, or blog. Note why you keep one and how it has helped you to continue in your pursuit of the mastery of the craft of writing. Use at least one new word you have never used in your writing before. At end of the essay (bottom), note the new word you have used and give some definitions. Try to have your assignment posted by Friday, September 1, so I can grade them before we move into the next lesson.


Wherever I go, I take a notebook. One of the primary laws of nature is that the best ideas come to us at the most inconvenient times (like when I'm walking between classes on campus), so having a notebook on hand allows me to capture what I'm thinking. I am scatterbrained, and the idea undoubtedly will be lost if I don't write it down immediately.

Sometimes, I think an idea is so dumb or weird that I could never make anything out of it, so I don't write it down, but I always end up regretting it. A good writer needs an arsenal of thoughts, from the everyone-can-relate-to-this to the completely and utterly absurd.

Other times I hesitate about writing things down because they're controversial or even cruel, the ideas that creep into my mind and make me think, Oh great, now I'm going to Hell. But I need to write those down too; every perspective is useful in writing, even the most ignoble. Perhaps this brand of idea would be useful for developing an antagonist in a story, or writing a sarcastic, "A Modest Proposal"-style essay.

I've kept notebooks since I was four years old. The only thing more fun than writing in them is going back and reading how my mind has developed over the years. I've always said that if my house were on fire and I could rescue one item, I would save my box of notebooks. Unfortunately, I probably wouldn't be able to get out of the burning house in time lugging something that heavy. I'm sure there's some irony there somewhere...

Ignoble: dishonorable, base, or despicable