Faculty

It’s almost lunchtime on a Tuesday morning, and although undergraduate students are studying silently just outside the door, the Davis Centre library’s conference room is abuzz with chatter.Scattered throughout the room are doctoral students reading and chatting as part of Dissertation Boot Camp – an intensive four-day program designed to help graduate students make progress on their writing projects.

In the last few weeks I’ve been listening to the Mortified podcast, which features adults reading their adolescent diaries in front of a live audience, with no exaggeration, no embellishment, “just god-given awkwardness”. Every episode is guaranteed to produce cringing smiles.

I kept a diary of my own for six years, running from grade nine through my first year of university.

I did a co-op term as a technical writer at a high tech company here in Waterloo.

The job of a technical writer varies from company to company, but essentially it involves writing text that allows customers to understand how to use technology. In my case I was documenting software changes, and the process went something like this:

During my undergraduate years at the University of Toronto, I took a class on a Roman poet named Catullus. For a long semester I laboured over his poetry, trying to wrestle his sophisticated Latin phrases into easy English.  From all the hundreds of lines of his poetry that I worked on, one word stands out in my memory: palmulas.

I was standing next to someone at the crosswalk out in front of South Campus Hall and I noticed the word “Forward” tattooed across her ankle. Single words inked on skin are a huge trend right now, and a quick search shows that the words people choose represent a summary of life goals, belief systems, or ideals.  

One of the things we do at the Writing Centre is show you the tools available online that can help you develop your writing skills. Here are ten of my favourites.

Drop-in hours at the libraries are best spent helping students with their assignments. What I like most about being a tutor is that I am constantly reminded that I have an entire work term of no homework. I’m living in the world of education’s liminal space: sitting on the sidelines not being affected!

Using a Pen to Get Past Writer’s Block

As I sit staring at my laptop, little black characters march neatly across the screen.