Your Writing Practice Isn’t A Warmup
Make every word you write publishable. My lesson from an early job interview.
Just because we call it a writing practice doesn’t mean you can’t publish your daily writing.
Make your writing practice count.
I learned this valuable lesson as a very young job seeker applying for a secretarial position back in the horse and buggy days. To pass the entry requirements, I had to prove my mettle as a typist by passing a typing test.
During one interview, I sat with my best foot forward, crossing my fingers and every other appendage that I’d face a decent typewriter for the grueling three or five-minute ordeal.
Typically, the interviewer would supply a page of standard paragraphs and then count the mistakes when the timer pinged. Nerves taxed my already wonky typing skills, but this particular day, my prospective employer said why waste a good typist on useless text?
He handed me a letter he wanted to send out that morning and asked me to type it in final.
Perhaps the sheer common sense of the request gave me confidence, but I aced the letter, got the job, and filed away the brilliance of the lesson for use my entire life.
