My biography half-jokes that I write in "first person to ensure you can see my bias – I tend to like myself". I wrote that in part to make light of my discomfort with writing about myself. A discomfort that I was reminded of the past few weeks as I've been doing biographies for various speaking engagements in classrooms.
This past week I had to do my final edits on a book chapter I've written about my experiences as a Hamiltonian, similar discomfort writing about myself. Thankfully this book allows me to write in first person.
I don't know really what you call it, I'll call it irony. It is ironic that I'm very comfortable writing about others but never about myself.
In the past month have helped a few friends by editing their resumes, job applications, academic applications, and even an awards nomination package. In each of these my friends have remarked that I've been very helpful in describing their skills attributes and abilities.
I've written two reference letters this fall, I found these easy to write - it helped the people's writing about are both excellent candidates for the positions they were seeking.
These were good writing exercises for me; I've been concerned about my writing abilities of late. Writing the day-to-day meetings of City Hall is important work, this I recognize. However, there isn't much variety in this writing, and I feel my writing is become boring because it has become routine.
So to my friends, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to your success in a very small way. Thank you for your trust. And next time you thank me for finding time because you think I'm so busy, remember that I benefitted from the opportunity to write something different.
Top photo: One of my agenda binders covering a typical meeting at City Hall.