Working With Words
A weblog devoted to spurring a conversation among those who use words to varying degrees in their daily work. Hosted by John Ettorre, a Cleveland-based writer and editor. Please email me at: john.ettorre@gmail.com. "There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility of being real." --James Salter
Monday, November 24, 2008
About Me
- Name: John Ettorre
- Location: Cleveland, Ohio
I'm a Cleveland, Ohio-based writer, editor and writing coach, with more than 25 years of experience, including stints in Chicago and Washington, D.C. My work has appeared in more than 100 print and online publications, from the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor to local and regional publications. My work has been recognized by awards (including an Emmy) from four journalism groups.
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10 Comments:
Where am I?
vs.
Where do I want to be?
Great questions. It's about seeing the vision and doing the work.
Glad you found some value in it, Michelle.
Hmn. If you look under the hood, this is basically a pro-Horatio Alger mythos being touted. "Hard work and hard work alone leads to success." A fairly classic conservative line.
Which ignores the factors of luck, being in the right place at the right time, even to the level of kismet.
Furthermore, it ignores that without SOME native talent, these people examined at the pinnacles of success wouldn't have gotten that far. If it's all hard work no talent, a dog could do it.
So, what we're left with is that the formula for success is a combination of talent AND hard work. Something my mother taught me. This is news, how exactly?
(Sorry to be bit a cynical in the morning, John. I just find it remarkable how often this "hard work alone" mythos is spun out by certain elements, apparently to inspire us all to be successful CEOs. They don't seem to care if anyone doesn't actually aspire in that direction. Ah well.)
No, Art, I wasn't remotely endorsing or even applauding the basic points in this article. Merely using it as a joke at my expense. Har har.
Ah, I see. well, ya gots me. LOL
Art, please don't take me too seriously all the time. Just some of the time, amigo. And you have yourself a great Thanksgiving, will you?
Why didn't I get anywhere? I once swished 24 memos in a row.
You're a man of rare talent, Mike. Hope you and MB get to celebrate the holidays with your entire crew of kids.
Just to prove I'm sort of a nice guy, here's an argument from the opposite direction:
Literature is for everybody, writing isn't
Art, nice catch. I also found that piece interesting and was going to post it later this week, so thanks for beating me to it. As for you being a nice guy, no need to prove that to us. We already know you as a sometimes grumpy and always skeptical person, which is the mark of most extremely smart & discerning people. We recognized you as a likeminded soul almost from the first time you commented a couple years ago. This blog is an informal come-as-you-are house, doubly so around the holidays. No need to comb your hair or apologize for the hole in your jeans, metaphorical or otherwise. We're just oh so thankful to have you around. You too, everyone else.
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