The OWU English Department Blog
When I got the group email from Professor Butcher asking if someone wanted to introduce Martha Park for the Sagan National Colloquium, I waited a couple of hours before responding. āIf no one has responded, then I can do it,” I wrote.Ā The idea made me nervous because I don’t like public speaking.…
Ā 1.Ā Take a writing class with a workshop. Itās nice to read othersā work and have your own work reviewed by others so you can make it better.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā 
2. Try different writing genres. Iām a fiction writer, but I was surprised at how interesting I found it when I took writing classes that werenāt in fiction and I got to broaden my horizons and develop more styles, so I donāt feel so boxed into one category.…
When I was in college back in the sixties, the only telephone in our dorm was a payphone at the end of the hall. If anyone called (your parents, a girlfriend), the RA usually would answer the phone and then yell out, āHey, Musser! Your motherās calling!ā So everyone in the hall knew who was calling you.…
When I applied to be on the English Department Student Board, I didnāt realize that a part of our job was to evaluate the English faculty for their performance review. The first step of the process is that student board representatives from all departments are invited to attend a meeting with the Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC) to learn about how their feedback fits into faculty review.…
1. DO THE READING
I shouldnāt even have to say this, but I do. You may be laughing, but itās serious! Itās a little obvious when you donāt. Nothing is worse than being in class when you didnāt do the reading and no one is talking. It is terribly awkward; itās worse than when I called my 3rd-grade teacher āmom.ā…
Iāve always had an interesting relationship with writing. I often have periods of loving it so much that I canāt stop writing and then other periods of not liking it at all. The difficulty lies in what I like to write. Usually, when I come up with a story idea, I think of the exciting event that kicks off the story or that ends it.…
When it comes to writing I have always done things differently than what teachers say to do–start with characters, plot, theme, et cetera. I donāt always think before I start writing. Once Iāve got the beginning, I go until I find the middle and the end. My mind flows so fast and I get lost in my own world itās like when I get absorbed in TV.…
The story of how I came to minor in English is very different than the story of my major. I had to try several different majors before I found the right one. I came to OWU to be a Biology teacher, but I soon realized college Biology wasnāt like high school Biology–it was very hard, and I was grossed out by everything in the lab.…